What we know:
- In an executive order signed Wednesday, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo granted some 35,000 paroled felons the right to vote.
- State Republicans blocked a bill in the state Senate granting this right.
- Gov. Cuomo said “I’m unwilling to take no for an answer,” Cuomo said at the annual convention of the Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network in New York City. “I’m going to make it law by executive order.”
- Republicans disagree and already started pouncing on Cuomo over the new measure. Republican Senate Leader John Flanagan said Wednesday that the order was bad public policy and could potentially be illegal because the governor ignored the Legislature
“It is unconscionable to deny voting rights to New Yorkers who have paid their debt and have re-entered society,” – Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), New York
