The New York state budget process continues with lawmakers holding hearings on each part of the process in Albany. During a recent hearing, Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny argued for more funding for elections boards – especially to update aging infrastructure.
Czarny asked that lawmakers provide more flexibility in the grants they provide and longer time periods for them so election commissioners can do long-term planning to continually upgrade election infrastructure.
“We are usually one of the least funded departments in our county governments and a lot of times those funds are evaporate even quicker in non-presidential years," Czarny said. "But we still have several elections that we're running this year and our costs don't really go down.”
Czarny notes more than half of the state’s 62 counties have election infrastructure that is more than 15 years old. He also said New York is one of the few states that does not have annual funding for county boards of elections saying they have to ask for it every year and he hopes this could be addressed in the future.
Election commissioners are preparing for the eventual move of many local elections from odd years to even years as well as increased vote-by-mail use.
