The Upper School Civics Club hosted a lunch forum this month with guest speaker Henry Berger, Special Counsel to the Mayor. Berger, whose career spans four decades of election law practice, discussed the landscape of election law reform in New York state and explained some of the reasons that implementing reform can become a protracted process.

 

Berger opened the conversation by asking students whether they considered voting a right or a privilege, and made the case that this polarity changes the perspective on reform and how to make it easier for people to vote. He touched on issues such as early voting, voter registrations, requiring voter IDs, absentee ballots and campaign financing as considerations for election law reform. In each instance, he explained New York state laws and how they compare to different states. He noted that balancing the political piece, considering the impact on voters and figuring out how to pay for proposed reforms are among the obstacles in making progress with reform initiatives.

 

Cybersecurity was among the topics raised by student participants, and Berger explained why New York elections have been fairly secure but did provide some examples of voter impersonation or fraud that he has seen in the past. When Berger asked how many of the participating students had registered to vote, it turned out that only one was eligible to register to vote prior to the next election. The group also discussed civic engagement opportunities in high schools as a way of preparing new voters for active engagement.

 

The Civics Club is an Upper School club, spearheaded by Isabelle Russo ’19. The club has been holding weekly meetings and sharing regular email briefings to engage Upper School students in conversations about civic engagement.