BY SAM SPOKONY | Aside from their choice in the mayor’s race, there was one thing that many New Yorkers agreed about on Election Day — they could barely read the ballots.
The six-point font used by the city’s Board of Elections (BOE) caused both figurative headaches and literal eye strain throughout the day, as many voters took to social media to gripe about the tiny print.
But state Assemblymember Brian Kavanagh replied with a tweet of his own Tuesday, reminding New Yorkers that he has sponsored pending legislation that would require the BOE to use the largest possible print size on ballots — up to 12-point font for candidates’ names, and up to 11-point font for all other words.
“Poll workers have told me that up to half of all voters are saying that they can’t read the ballots,” Kavanagh told NYC Community Media in a phone interview Tuesday evening. “That’s just unacceptable.”
The East Village assemblymember asserted his belief that if the bill were to become law, the BOE would in fact use a more reasonable font size, allowing voters to see their ballots without squinting.
Kavanagh’s bill was passed by the Assembly in both 2012 and 2013, but has yet to make it through the state Senate — something Kavanagh chalked up to “some minor differences in language” on the Assembly and Senate versions of the bill.
But he remained optimistic about the future of the legislation, especially since Tuesday’s voter complaints will bring plenty of buzz back to the issue.
“I think the Senate will work with us on it,” Kavanagh said.
