This blog post was written by Susan Lerner from Common Cause/NY and a member of Let NY Vote for our 2018 PowHer The Vote campaign.

Nearly one year after #MeToo the country has been engaged in an ongoing crash course in the discrimination and harassment women face. Governor Cuomo even touched on it in his State of the State last January, declaring: “[New York] acknowledges the longstanding bias and abuse against women – and New York says it stops, it stops now, and we will show you the way forward for other governments and industry to follow and that is the New York way.”

If Albany lawmakers are actually ready to eliminate longstanding biases and advance women, it’s time to get serious about changing our archaic voting laws.

Currently, New York is one of 13 states that do not have some sort of early voting. This is a nonpartisan issue: conservative states like Louisiana and Texas have welcomed early voting – and reaped the rewards.

Early voting would make voting more accessible for eligible New Yorkers, whether they live in a rural area, a suburban town or crowded city. Additionally, it would ease pressure on poll sites and workers, save time on Election Day, reduce registration errors, and improve voter satisfaction.

Most importantly, it would open up certain poll sites up to two weeks before election day, allowing working parents and caregivers–the majority of whom are women–the opportunity to vote at a convenient time.

A 2008 and 2010 study done by Lake Street Research shows that unmarried women with kids turn out to vote in lower percentages than married and single women because simply do not have the time.

We can no longer afford to exclude women from the polls. Now is the moment to elect candidates who support early voting. We can’t wait.