Tuesday, April 14, 2026, 10:30 a.m. (New York City time), Council Chambers - City Hall
Committee: Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislation
The Committee on Governmental Operations, State & Federal Legislation held a joint oversight hearing with the Committee on Criminal Justice on voting access for eligible voters detained on Rikers Island. Chairs Gale Brewer and Selvena N. Brooks-Powers presided, and Public Advocate Jumaane Williams testified that most of the roughly 7,000 people on Rikers are pretrial detainees who retain the right to vote but face barriers exercising it. The committee also heard two bills: Intro 786 (sponsored by Chair Brooks-Powers), requiring the Department of Correction to establish ballot-curing procedures and reporting with the Board of Elections, and Intro 797 (sponsored by the Public Advocate), requiring annual reporting on voter registration and voting in City jails. The Department of Correction and the Board of Elections testified that state election law limits voting by people in custody to absentee/early mail ballots, while advocates and the Vote in NYC Jails Coalition called for polling sites at Rikers and stronger civic education. No votes were taken during the portion of the hearing captured in the transcript.
0:33 Thank you. Good morning. Goo
0:33 dmorning. Welcome to New York
0:34 City Council hearing on the
0:35 committee on governmental
0:37 operation state and federal
0:39 legislation joint with
0:40 criminal justice at this time,
0:41 please. Sounds all electronics
0:42 and do not approach the dais.
0:45 If you need to testify. Please
0:46 see a sergeant at arms any
0:47 other questions or concern
0:48 syou reach a sergeant at arms.
0:49 Thank you for your cooperation
0:50 chairs you begin. So good
0:55 morning. I'm Gale Brewer, the
0:56 chair of the committee on
0:58 governmental operations, state
0:59 and federal legislation.
1:02 I would like to welcome the
1:03 representatives from the
1:04 administration, members of the
1:05 public and my colleagues who
1:07 have joined us. We have so far
1:09 , Council Member in our murano
1:10 and dinner wits. And then in a
1:14 few minutes I will join joint
1:16 will be remarks from the
1:18 awesome, awesome criminal
1:20 justice.
1:21 Chair today's here and we
1:22 will be conducting oversight
1:23 of voting on rikers island
1:26 voting is our most basic
1:30 ,right? The right from which
1:31 all other rights flow
1:34 . But on rikers island very
1:35 few people appear able to
1:37 exercise that right? Today we
1:38 will examine why it is so
1:41 difficult for people on rikers
1:42 island to vote. Most people
1:45 are held on rikers r eligible
1:48 to vote over 80% of the nearly
1:51 7000 people currently on
1:52 rikers. They're all being held
1:56 pretrial and retain the right
1:59 to vote. Let me be clear
2:00 ,voters held on records who
2:01 were serving time for a
2:04 misdemeanor offenses also
2:05 maintained their voting rights
2:06 as well as those who have not
2:08 been convicted of anything
2:09 there waiting for court
2:13 . But current law and
2:13 practices or effectively
2:15 preventing the vast majority
2:17 of these individuals from
2:17 casting their votes by law.
2:23 Currently incarcerated voters
2:24 can only vote by absentee or
2:27 early mail ballots
2:30 . They must request a ballot
2:31 by filling out a physical
2:34 absentee ballot requests form
2:35 or an early mail ballot
2:39 request form or applying
2:40 through the online portal,
2:41 which is not easy to find on
2:45 the island, the physical
2:46 foremost must be delivered
2:48 either through the postal
2:49 system.
2:50 Or by the department of
2:53 correction staff been once the
2:55 applications are approved the
2:56 ballots must then be delivered
3:01 to rikers island either
3:01 through the mail or picked up
3:02 by d. O. C. Staff correctio
3:06 nstaff only makes one trip to.
3:07 The board of elections per
3:10 week.
3:11 And mail at rikers island is
3:13 slow
3:13 . Making this a tedious
3:16 process voting using early or
3:19 mail ballots requires a voter
3:20 to place a complete ballot in
3:24 an envelope, seal a ballot
3:26 affirmation envelope and sign
3:28 it
3:28 . Any error on the ballot and
3:30 globe will result in the we
3:32 rejecting the
3:33 . Ballot. If a ballot is
3:36 rejected, though the board of
3:37 elections is required to send
3:38 a notice about the errors and
3:40 give the voter an opportunity
3:41 to cure any defects if they
3:44 are curable and you'll hear
3:45 more about this by a adrienne
3:47 th a wonderful build that my
3:51 colleague has
3:52 . These notices are sent to
3:53 either the person's address of
3:55 registration
3:56 . Or the address of the
3:57 application, which as you can
3:58 imagine not be the place where
4:00 the voter is currently
4:05 incarcerated
4:05 . If the defect is not curable
4:06 the elections board is
4:08 required to inform the voter
4:10 about alternate ways to vote,
4:13 such as filing an affidavit
4:14 ballot at a local polling
4:16 place. That's not.
4:19 Possible or obtaining a New
4:21 absentee or early mail ballot.
4:24 However, no surprise to you
4:26 neither. All these options are
4:28 realistically available to
4:29 incarcerate the voters.
4:32 In the June 2024 primary o
4:34 fa hundred 55 early and
4:39 on rikers, only 72 wereere
4:47 returned and counted, and
4:48 that's after a lot of work by
4:52 volunteers.
4:53 While the board of elections
4:54 is responsible for conductin
4:55 gvoter registration and
4:57 processing request for early
4:58 mail in absentee ballots for
5:00 voters on rikers island, they
5:02 cannot do it without the
5:03 cooperation of the board of a
5:08 correction
5:09 . In turn relies heavily on
5:12 outside volunteers to conduct
5:13 a voter registration and help
5:16 in fill out ballots and ballot
5:20 request forms
5:21 . But since correction decides
5:22 which facility volunteers can
5:24 visit and limited number of
5:26 visits, volunteers can make it
5:27 is not clear how often a given
5:29 unit is.
5:30 Visited and there are many
5:31 units and houses on rikers
5:35 island. Well, it seems like
5:36 the board of elections and the
5:38 department of correction have
5:39 been making an effort to work
5:40 together to make the process
5:42 more efficient than they have
5:43 been. I want to give credit
5:44 where credit is through
5:46 clearly more needs to be done
5:48 to ensure that every eligible
5:49 voter on rikers has the
5:52 opportunity to register to
5:55 vote to get an absentee ballot
5:55 if they want 1 to ensure their
5:59 boat is actually counted
6:00 . And I have to say for those
6:01 of us who've been working on
6:02 this for a while we feel the
6:04 only way to do. This is t
6:04 ohave polling places.
6:08 In addition to doing
6:09 oversight. We will also be
6:10 here in two pieces of
6:12 legislation. First we will
6:13 hear intro 7 8 6 sponsored
6:16 . By chair Brooks Powers,
6:18 which would amend the
6:19 procedures, David and
6:21 reporting on curing ballots as
6:23 I indicated earlier for voters
6:25 in correction custody. We will
6:28 also be hearing intra number 5
6:31 4 1 sponsored by public epic
6:32 damani Williams, which would
6:34 require reporting on voting in
6:37 jails, I would like to thank
6:39 the following counsel staff
6:40 for their week their work on
6:42 this hearing from the
6:44 government operations
6:45 committee, dzhokhar e. Frazier
6:45 , erica cohen and sigma hamid
6:49 and for my staff. I want t
6:51 othank the very special,
6:54 cynthia horning and everyone
6:55 who made this hearing run
6:56 smoothly and now I don't think
6:59 anybody else has joined us, I.
7:00 Would like to turn it over
7:03 to the indomitable chair,
7:04 Brooks power to give her
7:08 opening statement. Thank you
7:08 so much and good morning. I'm
7:11 councilmember silvina Brooks,
7:12 Powers, chair of the.
7:15 Committee on criminal
7:16 justice. I want to thank chair
7:20 Brewer for coach chairing
7:21 today's joint oversight
7:22 hearing on voting and rikers
7:25 and thank everyone for being
7:26 here. I'm really excited about
7:27 today's conversation. I've
7:28 been talking to chair Brewer
7:29 about this for some time now
7:34 the right to vote is
7:34 fundamental and in New York
7:37 individuals who are detained,
7:39 pretrial or serving time for
7:42 misdemeanor offenses remain
7:43 eligible to vote
7:45 . At rikers island, the vast
7:47 majority of individuals are
7:48 eligible to participate in our
7:53 elections yet significant
7:54 barriers continue to prevent
7:57 many from exercising that
7:59 right today's hearing will
8:00 examine those barriers,
8:02 including challenges related
8:04 to voter registration curing
8:07 ballots, access to information
8:10 ballot delivery and return and
8:12 the coordination between the
8:15 department of correction and
8:15 board of elections. We will
8:18 hear from the department of
8:20 correction, the board of
8:22 elections advocates and the
8:23 public about how the current
8:25 system is working in practice
8:27 where it is falling short and
8:29 what steps can be taken t
8:31 oensure that eligible voters in
8:33 custody are able to
8:34 participate in our democracy.
8:37 We will also explore how other
8:39 jurisdictions have approached
8:41 voting in jails and what
8:43 lessons be applied here in New
8:47 York City,
8:47 we are also considering two
8:48 pieces of legislation as it's
8:49 been mentioned in 760
8:53 sponsored by myself would
8:54 require the department of
8:55 correction to work with the
8:57 board of elections t
8:59 oestablish procedures for
9:00 curing ballots and to report
9:02 on outcomes related to ballot
9:03 defects and rejections.
9:06 Intro number 787, sponsored
9:07 by the public would require
9:10 annual reporting on voter
9:11 registration and voting
9:13 activities in City jails
9:16 together these bills aimed t
9:18 oimprove transparency and
9:19 ensure that eligible voters in
9:23 custody are not disenfranchise
9:24 due to administrative barriers
9:27 ensuring access to the ballot
9:29 for eligible voters in our
9:30 custody is not only a legal
9:33 obligation but also a matter
9:36 of fairness and integrity I
9:37 nour democratic process as a
9:40 former advisor of the the
9:44 supported efforts to expan
9:46 dcivic engagement and voter
9:48 access, including for justice
9:50 impacted communities I know
9:51 how critical this work is I
9:54 look forward to a productive
9:57 discussion on how we can
9:59 strengthen access to voting
10:01 improved coordination across
10:03 agencies and ensure that every
10:04 eligible New yorker has the
10:06 opportunity to make their
10:09 voice heard. I would like to
10:10 thank my staff and committee
10:11 staff for their hard work,
10:14 chad benjamin, policy analyst
10:16 jeremy white men senior
10:17 counsel to the committee,
10:20 casey lyski, financial
10:22 analysts. Martin, my deputy
10:23 chief of staff kierra powell,
10:26 my communications director and
10:28 renee taylor, my chief of
10:31 staff. I think everyone again
10:32 who is joining us today and
10:33 look forward to have
10:34 thoughtful and constructive
10:35 discussion on voting on rikers
10:38 . Thank you, chair.
10:39 Thank you very much and now
10:40 turn over to the public
10:41 evidence to talk about his
10:43 bill or anything else I would
10:44 like to discuss
10:48 . Thank you so much, maybe the
10:49 knicks. Aah! I appreciate the
10:51 opportunity to.
10:52 Speak. Morning, maya said
10:53 mentioned my name is germany.
10:54 Williams on the public
10:55 advocate for the City of New
10:56 York. I'd like to thank cheer
10:58 s, Brewer and Brooks Powers and
10:59 the members of the committsee
11:00 are holding this important
11:04 hearing there are close t
11:07 o7000 people who are detained
11:08 in rikers island, most of whom
11:09 this. I just mentioned are
11:11 actually eligible to vote
11:12 those people who have been
11:13 convicted of family cannot
11:15 vote what incarcerated most
11:16 people in rikers are being
11:18 detained, pretrial or serving
11:19 time for minutes and therefore
11:21 eligible to cast about I
11:23 tdespite this unfortunate only
11:24 a fraction of the incarcerated
11:26 population, the jails vote as
11:27 the majority of the rikers
11:29 population's black and brown.
11:30 And it's hard not to hear the
11:31 echoes of jim crow in thi
11:33 seffective disenfranchisement
11:34 of thousands of potential
11:37 voters and even if it's not
11:37 fully jim crow. And if you
11:38 have the right and you can't
11:39 exercise it, it's the same
11:43 ninto the jails to assis
11:46 tpeople in registering to vote
11:48 and requesting absentee
11:51 ballots, even with assistance,
11:51 registering to vote on parent
11:53 presents unique challenges and
11:54 what district is a person who
11:56 has been locked up for months
11:58 .register.
11:58 What address should they use
12:01 a person might lose their
12:01 apartment as a result of being
12:02 detained, for example, in the
12:03 high turnover rate of the jail
12:05 population of the means that a
12:07 person, mrs deadlines ahead of
12:08 election day. Additionally,
12:09 with the no access to the
12:11 internet and limited social
12:11 interaction with people who
12:12 are not in their housing unit,
12:15 people are generally deprived
12:16 of information while
12:17 incarcerated, which makes it
12:18 more difficult to be engaged
12:19 in elections distrust with the
12:20 government also deter people
12:23 from voting, though volunteers
12:24 can help about people on by
12:26 bikers registered to vote, it
12:26 is still the responsibility of
12:29 the deliberative absentee
12:30 ballots to the jail population
12:32 and to count those completed
12:35 ballots. This seem
12:35 straightforward but often
12:36 isn't advocates report that
12:37 the are we were to leave
12:38 completely with the
12:40 registration forms absentee
12:41 ballots and completed ballots
12:43 from eligible, incarcerated
12:46 New yorkers in the outside
12:47 world a person whose ballot
12:48 was rejected. Have you heard
12:49 would be notified and they
12:50 would have the opportunity to
12:52 address any issues the same a
12:53 soften not true as those of
12:54 those in rikers island and
12:57 practice some of those who
12:59 receive a who requested about
13:02 to receive it and only some of
13:03 those ballots are counted,
13:05 leaving only a small
13:05 percentage of the population
13:07 actually actually able to vote
13:11 . This would not be acceptable
13:11 in the outside world and we
13:13 should not accept it inside
13:15 right either. New York City
13:16 can and should be no more as I
13:18 mentioned. I'm glad that we
13:19 are doing some, but there was
13:20 a lot more needs to be done
13:23 . There are all the
13:23 municipalities like all county
13:25 that send bipartisan electric
13:27 commissioners election and
13:28 election officials in person,
13:29 along with trained volunteers
13:30 so their local jail to process
13:33 registration forms, ballot
13:34 applications and balance
13:37 themselves, camera more
13:37 barriers to these reporter
13:39 registration volunteers t
13:40 oenter the facilities by not
13:41 making them wait hours t
13:43 oenter the jail overly
13:45 restricting that. What? Border
13:46 education materials they can
13:49 bring in what would it truly
13:50 addresses lack of access is
13:50 hosting a polling place in the
13:52 rikers island itself with
13:53 those detained there can vote
13:55 in person without worrying
13:56 about requesting an absentee
13:58 ballot or having it rejected.
14:01 Today we are hearing dr. Piece
14:01 of legislation that will giv
14:02 eus a better scope of the
14:05 voting landscape bill into a
14:07 hundred 97 we require the
14:08 department of correction t
14:09 oreport animal on boulder
14:10 registration inside City jails
14:11 , including the number of
14:12 completed boulder registration
14:14 forms desegregated by facility
14:16 and demographic information as