Provides that a person designated as a candidate for two or more party nominations for an office to be filled at the time of a general election who is not nominated at a primary election by one or more such parties may decline a nomination not later than the last day to certify the ballot or to determine the candidates and questions that shall appear on the ballot; relates to the timing for certain candidates to decline a designation or nomination under certain circumstances.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8970
SPONSOR: Yeger TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to the timing for a candi-
date to decline a nomination
PURPOSE:
Establishes a later deadline for the declination of a nomination by a
candidate who was unsuccessful in a primary but still has one or more
other ballot lines in the general election; and clarifies that the addi-
tional circumstances by which a candidate may decline nominations also
applies to local offices.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
§ 1: Extends the deadline for the declination of a nomination by a
candidate who was unsuccessful in a primary but still has one or more
other ballot lines in the general election until the statutory deadline
for the certification of ballot by the Board of Elections.
§ 2: Effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Following a primary election there is a very brief window and limited
circumstances in which an unsuccessful candidate may decline any other
ballot lines on which the candidate's name would appear in the general
election. In many cases the deadline can be before the results of the
primary are certified by the Board of Elections. Thus, candidates who
might not wish to continue running in November have to make an unneces-
sarily early decision by when to decline the remaining lines. This might
have made sense when primaries occurred in September, but is no longer
necessary now that primaries occur in June. This later deadline to be
established by this Act would allow candidates to make these determi-
nations after the primary results have been certified.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8970
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
August 13, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. YEGER -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the timing for a candi-
date to decline a nomination
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 6 and the opening paragraph of subdivision 7 of
2 section 6-146 of the election law, subdivision 6 as added by chapter 276
3 of the laws of 2021 and the opening paragraph of subdivision 7 as added
4 by chapter 178 of the laws of 2022, are amended to read as follows:
5 6. A person designated as a candidate for two or more party nomi-
6 nations for an office to be filled at the time of a general election who
7 is not nominated at a primary election by one or more such parties may
8 decline the nomination of one or more parties not later than [ten days
9 after the primary election] the last day to certify the ballot pursuant
10 to section 4-112 of this chapter or to determine the candidates duly
11 nominated for public office and the questions that shall appear on the
12 ballot pursuant to section 4-114 of this chapter.
13 A person designated as a candidate for nomination or for party posi-
14 tion, or nominated for an office, may, in a certificate signed and
15 acknowledged by such person and filed no later than the last day to
16 certify the ballot pursuant to section 4-110 or section 4-112 of this
17 chapter or the last day to determine the candidates duly nominated for
18 public office and the questions that shall appear on the ballot pursuant
19 to section 4-114 of this chapter, decline the designation or nomination
20 under the following circumstances:
21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13444-01-5
