First off, thank you to Friday's blogger for his commentary on today's blogger.  A few weeks back during a periodic Zoom of the Queens Civic Engagement Committee held by the office of Queens Borough President Donovan Richards, the topic was expansion of voting.  I had shared in the chat a 2016 commentary I wrote about how low turnout in the election that year evidenced a need to expand voting.  Today, concludes the early voting ahead of Election Day Tuesday.  I support early voting and expanded mail (absentee ballot) voting to encourage more eligible citizens to exercise their right to vote.  Anyone reading this who has yet to vote, please do so come Tuesday.  It really matters.

Not sure why but the prior two years, this space covered other matters ahead of election day but three years ago the blog opined, Voting Makes A Difference.  It truly does!  On Wednesday, Gotham provides me a forum to talk about Tuesday's result; email Lisa Waterman if you want to join us that day.  I continue to advocate making it as easy as possible to vote.

Some of the best examples of reforms I proposed in an editorial I posted 4 decades ago.  I still find great merit in those recommendations, including:

*instant voter registration when one votes, 

*extending voting hours (early voting represents that to some extent) and 

*making Election Day a national holiday.

As I wrote three years back, "Add to that online voting – the technology exists! Think about on-line banking and other secure on-line activity we engage in, including driver license renewals."

Voting Matters!