State Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh.
Aside from their choice in the mayor’s race, there was one thing most 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 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 Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh replied with a tweet of his own on Tuesday, reminding New Yorkers that he sponsors legislation that would require the BOE to use the largest possible print size on ballots — up to a 12-point font for candidates’ names and up to an 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 this newspaper in a phone interview on Tuesday evening. “That’s just unacceptable.”
The East Village assemblyman asserted his belief that if the bill were to become law, the fonts used by the BOE would allow 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.”
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,” said Kavanagh.
