I read with great interest Joseph Burns' Sept. 16 plea to the Court of Appeals to reverse the Appellate Division, Third Department and strike down a 2021 law that permits local boards of elections to start the process of counting absentee ballots before Election Day ("The New Absentee Canvassing Law Must Go"). Rather than segregating mounds of mailed-in votes until a week or more after the election, New York joins the ranks of states where complete results can be known relatively soon after Election Day. Burns thinks this is "radical"; I think it is progress.

Burns also complains about a procedure that requires a ballot to be counted if a board's commissioners do not agree on its validity. The new law gives the "win" to the voter, not the one partisan commissioner standing in the way. Putting the voter first is also progress. And candidates can seek court supervision during this process.