Give the DOJ some credit, at least someone there is being diligent in pestering New York about why they still have not complied with the MOVE Act’s requirements to mail ballots 45 days before a federal election passed in 2009.  This story shows that DOJ has been pestering New York with a series of emails and phone calls about compliance with MOVE. Simply, New York still has not fixed the problem, still hasn’t changed their law to give 45 days for ballots to mail.  The reasons for this are many.  One reason is that New York has a long history of failure to comply with federal law and litigation with DOJ characterized by floating deadlines and multi-year plans to fix problems.  

At the story, you can read a letter from DOJ to the state of New York.  It shows a measure of proactive steps by some in the Voting Section, and this is a welcome change.  But remember, this is the same Voting Section that failed to act in the special congressional election in the 23-rd Congressional District  when New York failed to comply with federal law.    The DOJ brought a lawsuit when ballots didn’t go out on time in March 2009 for the New York 20th, but not the New York 23-rd later in the year.