Conservative billionaire cosmetics heir Ronald Lauder is taking on Gov. Kathy Hochul over her push to allow universal no-questions-asked mail-in voting — even though voters rejected the move in November.
The super PAC Safe Together in New York, bankrolled by Lauder, is currently airing a radio ad blasting Hochul over her continued support for a permanent option for everyone to be able to vote by mail.
Albany had approved a law that temporarily allowed the measure during the COVID pandemic to prevent transmission of the deadly bug at the polls.
But the state Board of Elections struggled with the massive expansion of mail-in balloting during the 2020 general election, including sending the wrong information to thousands of voters.
A year later, a referendum calling to make the option permanent for all registered voters — not just those who are ill or immobile — was defeated at the polls.
But Hochul won’t let it die, vowing last month to make the controversial ballot proposal a top priority in the 2022 legislative session.
“What really makes me sick is professional politicians like Kathy Hochul,” says a man suffering from a cold in the six-figure radio ad.
His spouse responds, “Yeah, I saw she decided she knows better than the 1.6 million voters who said no to playing games on voting and redistricting.”
The guy complains, “Hochul. Who voted to make her governor?”
His wife replies, “Nobody did, Dear. She’s just Andrew Cuomo’s parting gift to New York.”
Hochul took office after ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned in disgrace in August amid a sexual-harassment scandal.
“Tell Kathy Hochul to keep her hands off your vote,” a third voice says in the ad.
Republicans and conservatives have long complained that mail-in balloting is more susceptible to voter fraud.
Lauder has plowed $5.6 million into the PAC, which in 2020 targeted state Democratic pols who voted for a law to relax bail for most criminal defendants. A longtime political activist and donor, Lauder unsuccessfully ran for New York City mayor in 1989.
Hochul, as with her fellow Democrats, has defended the expansion of mail-in balloting as a way of increasing voter participation.
In response to the ad, a Hochul campaign spokesman referred The Post to the governor’s previous comments about the issue Dec. 16.
“A high priority of mine, particularly the assault on voting rights that’s going around the country, I want them to know that New York state will be a leader,” Hochul said at the time. “We have not been a leader in the past.”
Hochul, who complained that it took too long to authorize early voting in New York, added, “I believe that everyone should be able to vote by mail.
“That is a radical proposition to some, and others, it just makes sense.
“Why are there barriers to people exercising the most basic right of a democracy — for people to elect the leaders they choose? It’s been successful in other states.”
She said mail-in balloting has been particularly successful in Oregon, where more than 80 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the 2020 presidential election.
Hochul said New York would cough up the money to help local boards of elections implement mail-in balloting.
The Republican and Conservative parties had organized an effective campaign to urge New Yorkers to vote against the proposed constitutional amendment, as Democrats appeared still in turmoil over Cuomo’s departure.
