Provides that a manual recount shall not apply to a political party designating or nominating candidates for the first time, to candidates nominated by party caucus, nor to candidates for judicial offices.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A7454
SPONSOR: Dickens TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to a manual recount of
certain elections
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To suspend the requirement of manual recounts for political party posi-
tions when the margin of victory is less than .05%.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Amends Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 9-208 of the election law by
adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows: Paragraph(a)of this
subdivision shall not apply to a political party designating or nominat-
ing candidates for the first time, to candidates nominated by party
caucus, nor to candidates for judicial offices.
JUSTIFICATION:
New York requires an automatic recount if the margin of victory is 20
votes or less, or less than 0.5%. Last year, because of the margin of
victory rule, many counties had to manually count votes for political
party positions. This requires extended employee hours to recount these
votes, even when there was no major variance in the margin of victory
from the original vote.
In 2022, Manhattan, Board of Election employees had to do hand count and
tally ballots for party races that included approximately 18 Judicial
Delegates and 18 Alternate Delegates and several County Committee candi-
dates. This resulted in approximately 50 staff working 12-hour days for
one month. Upon completion, the recount and tally revealed none of the
results had changed from the original tally. This section of the
election law results in an onerous and unnecessary task for the Board of
Elections and is a waste of taxpayer revenue. Therefore, it should be
suspended immediately.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None. This amendment is a cost-saving legislative act.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7454
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 23, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. DICKENS -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to a manual recount of
certain elections
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 9-208 of the election law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
3 (e) Paragraph (a) of this subdivision shall not apply to a political
4 party designating or nominating candidates for the first time, to candi-
5 dates nominated by party caucus, nor to candidates for judicial offices.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11473-01-3
