Taking it to the Streets: Rallies Against Voter Disenfranchisement and Con Edison Rate Hikes

On Wednesday February 19, U.S. Representative George Latimer (NY-16) was joined by local elected officials and voting rights advocates in White Plains to denounce the Safeguard American Voting Eligibility (SAVE) Act. This legislation is expected to be brought up in the U.S. House of Representatives next week.

“This bill would be better named the Stop Voter Engagement Act because that is what it will do. U.S. citizens have the right to vote in national elections, period. We should be making it easier for people to vote, not harder,” said Rep. Latimer. “It is already illegal for noncitizens to vote, it happens incredibly rarely, and if it does, there is a legal penalty. Instead, this disastrous bill will make it harder for women and college students to vote.”

The SAVE Act would require documentary proof of citizenship, like a birth certificate or a passport to register to vote and require states to remove an individual’s registration from a voter roll if there is not documentary proof or verified information that the person is a U.S. citizen. This legislation could disenfranchise many voters in our state and around the country, lead to citizens being taken off voter rolls, and undermine trust in our election system. It also increases the burden on state and county election officials to implement and ensure compliance, without any additional funding.

"With the SAVE Act, legislators are proposing changes to our elections that would severely limit access to the ballot for eligible Americans, especially voters of color, rural voters, military members, and women. The proposed SAVE Act's requirement of providing documentation to prove American citizenship to vote in federal elections is voter suppression. Laws are already in place to thwart illegal voter registration by non-citizens,” said Kathy Meany, President, League of Women Voters of Westchester. “The SAVE Act would put up barriers to voting by requiring every single American citizen to provide very specific documents, by either presenting a passport or an original copy of their birth certificate in person when registering to vote, and anytime they update their voter registration. The SAVE Act is not about safeguarding elections - it is about silencing voters. We must join together to oppose this legislation and protect people's freedom to vote. Every citizen should contact their Congress member to oppose the SAVE Act. Do not delay. Take action now!”

State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, “It is unacceptable that Congress is considering a bill that, under the guise of election protection, will prevent tens of millions of Americans from voting and fulfilling their constitutional rights. There is no evidence to support that non-citizens are attempting to vote in the United States, as H.R. 22 claims. We must be clear that this bill will do real harm against tens of millions of American citizens who are entitled to vote. We should never create unnecessary, politically motivated barriers to voting, whether to those who changed their names, those whose names are different from others, or for any other made-up reason. New York has gone to great lengths to reduce barriers to participation, and this bill is a stain on our democracy and our right to vote. I urge every American and every New Yorker to call their Congress member and tell them to vote no on this bill.”

"I thank Congressman Latimer for taking on this important issue. The SAVE Act is not just unnecessary—it’s an outrageous attack on voting rights built in ignorance. This legislation is a solution in search of a problem, and the real threat to our democracy isn’t noncitizen voting—it’s the continued effort to suppress legitimate voters under the guise of 'election integrity.' The SAVE Act disproportionately impacts marginalized groups, including married couples who changed their last names, young voters without passports, low-income individuals, and elderly voters who lack original birth certificates. These people are all citizens, and they all have a right to vote,” said Westchester County Executive Ken Jenkins.

Rally Against Con Edison Rate Hikes

State Senator Shelley B. Mayer was joined by over 100 Westchester residents on Friday, Feb. 14 for her ‘No Love for Con Ed’ press conference and rally to call out Con Edison (ConEd) and the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) for unaffordable delivery rates currently faced by New Yorkers and to urge rejection of ConEd’s rate application for another major rate hike. Senator Mayer and the attendees demanded changes to the way rates are approved and for the PSC to put ratepayers first when setting rates.

Despite sky-high bills due to ConEd’s last rate hike beginning in 2023 ($457.5M electric rate increase over three years and $187.2 million gas rate increase over three years for ConEd), on January 31st, ConEd filed another $2 billion request to increase rates. If approved, the proposal would increase electric bills by an average of 11.4% and gas bills by 13.3% starting in 2026. According to Con Ed’s filing, the typical gas heating customer would see an increase in their gas delivery averaging over $550 more for heat per year. This amounts to a 25.1% increase on the delivery bill or a 19% increase on the total bill. Even without these additional increases, Westchester residents are seeing delivery charges that are often double or triple the cost of the actual usage.

State Senator Shelley B. Mayer said, "I hear daily from constituents who, despite every effort to conserve energy, face outrageous utility bills with unaffordable delivery charges. The Public Service Commission is not fulfilling its responsibility to establish delivery rates for gas, electric, and other regulated utilities that are ‘fair, just, and reasonable.’ The PSC and ConEd must be held accountable.

"I am proud to sponsor legislation in the State Senate that will directly address the high utility costs, including my bill to prevent utility companies from recovering from ratepayers salaries greater than the Governor's salary (currently $250,000) and legal fees and other costs incurred during their participation in the rate case in excess of $100,000; and another bill (which has passed the Senate three times) that targets key elements of the rate-setting process – the rate of return on equity and common equity ratio – to reign in the profits utility companies earn at the expense of ratepayers.

"I am grateful to every constituent who has reached out to me about their outrageous ConEd bills and to every person who attended the event. The PSC has failed to adequately protect consumers and the utility companies have protected shareholder profits at the expense of New Yorkers. It is shameful, and I will keep fighting and advocating for every New Yorker and especially Westchester residents."