Voters weigh 5 ballot proposals, including redistricting, environment

ALBANY — Voters weighed in Tuesday on five statewide ballot propositions that would change how election districts are drawn, protect the environment, make it easier to register to vote and to cast mail-in ballots, and increase the jurisdiction of a New York City civil court. But final official results are at least a week away.

With more than 80% of election districts reporting statewide Tuesday, Proposal 2 to give New Yorkers the right to a healthful environment and Proposal 5 to expand the jurisdiction of a New York City claims court had strong support.

But more voters were opposing Proposal 1 to change the redistricting process, Proposal 3 to allow registration to vote within 10 days of an election, and Proposal 4 to expand mail-in voting to allow absentee voting without an excuse such as being out of the county on Election Day.

Tuesday night’s total will only account for votes cast during early voting and on Election Day. Final results of voting likely won’t be known until at least Nov. 9, when all 62 counties are able to open and count absentee ballots postmarked or delivered before the polls closed Tuesday.

The ballot propositions that have already been approved by two consecutively elected legislatures would amend the state constitution in far-reaching ways.

Proposition 1 applies to redistricting — the process every 10 years in which new election districts are drawn for state Legislature and congressional elections based on U.S. Census data.

Proposition 1 would end elements of a 2014 constitutional amendment that created a bipartisan redistricting commission. It would eliminate the requirement that the two co-executive directors of the commission be members of different parties, a provision that was intended to provide more influence for the minority party — currently Republicans — in redistricting.

A separate provision of the proposition would change a measure that applies when one party — in this case, the Democratic Party — control the Senate and Assembly. Proposition 1 would end a requirement that two-thirds of the full Legislature would need to approve their own election district lines if the commission fails to get its plan passed. Proposition 1 would lower that threshold to a 60% vote.

Proposition 1 would also give constitutional protection to continue to count people who are in the country illegally as residents when drawing new election districts. The measure would also give constitutional protection to a state law that counts prisoners as residents of their last home address, rather than the address of the prison.

It would also freeze the number of seats in the Senate at 63.

Proposition 2 would create the right of clean air and water and a healthful environment. Supporters say the proposal will help combat what they called environmental racism in which incinerators and other polluters have often been placed in low-income neighborhoods. Opponents say it could block some private-sector development and require governments to move or renovate polluting facilities, which could be expensive for taxpayers.

Proposition 3 would allow voters to register to vote within 10 days of an election. Supporters say this will increase voter participation, while opponents argued the current threshold is a guard against fraud.

Proposition 4 would allow "no excuse" absentee voting. Supporters say this will provide a popular option for voters to avoid crowded polls where viruses such as COVID-19 could be spread. Some Republicans have argued mail-in voting could create fraud.

Proposition 5 would increase the jurisdiction of the New York City Civil Court by updating the monetary value for claims it could hear to $50,000, from the current $25,000 maximum.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.