NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A4433
SPONSOR: Silver (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to early
voting
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to establish early voting in primary, gener-
al and special elections in the State of New York.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends § 3-400(9) of the election law to provide
that election inspectors and poll clerks, if necessary, at early voting
locations shall be local board of elections employees or duly appointed
individuals as chosen by the commissioners of such board of elections on
an equal and bipartisan basis under law.
Section 2 of the bill amends § 4-117 of the election law to ensure that
early voting information, including days, hours and locations are mailed
to registered voters as part of the "mail check" process,'
Section 3 of the bill amends § 8-104 of the election law to add a new
Paragraph (k) which provides that voting at all early voting sites shall
be conducted in the same manner as on election day.
Section 4 of the bill amends § 8-104 by adding a new subdivision 7 to
require that the same polling place protocols that are observed on
election day be extended to all early voting days.
Section 5 of the bill amends § 8-508(2)(b) of the election law to
provide that a space for challenged early voters be included on the
'challenge report".
Section 6 of the bill adds a new title VI (§ 8-600 & 8-602) to the
election law entitled "Early Voting" and sets forth the parameters of
such early voting.
§ 8-600 states:
*Early voting shall take run from the third Thursday before a general
election until the Thursday before the general election.
*Early voting shall Lake run from the second Thursday before a primary
or special election until the Thursday before the primary or special
election.
*Local boards of elections shall designate at least four polling places
in each county for early voting (5 including the board of elections
itself) and that such polling places shall be geographically located so
as to provide all voters in each county an equal opportunity to cast a
ballot.
It is time that New York State joins the 32 other states and the
District of Columbia and institute early voting. All New Yorkers,
regardless of work schedule or personal and professional commitments
should have the ability to vote in each and every election. Early voting
will make voting easier, more convenient, and most importantly, more
accessible in our State.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A689A of 2013-14
FISCAL IMPLICATION:
There will be additional costs associated with staffing early voting
locations as well as with printing and counting paper ballots associated
with early voting, in addition to other unstated costs.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4433
2015-2016 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 30, 2015
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SILVER, CUSICK, WRIGHT, GOTTFRIED, GLICK,
CYMBROWITZ, BRENNAN, PERRY, COLTON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
ABINANTI, BRAUNSTEIN, BUCHWALD, CAHILL, COOK, DINOWITZ, GALEF, HEVESI,
JAFFEE, KIM, LUPARDO, MAGNARELLI, MARKEY, PAULIN, RAMOS, SCARBOROUGH,
SCHIMEL, SIMOTAS, SKOUFIS, SOLAGES, THIELE -- read once and referred
to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to early voting
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 3-400 of the election law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 9 to read as follows:
3 9. Notwithstanding any inconsistent provisions of this section,
4 election inspectors or poll clerks, if any, at early voting locations,
5 shall consist of either board of elections employees who shall be
6 appointed by the commissioners of such board or duly qualified individ-
7 uals, appointed in the manner set forth in this section. Appointments
8 to the offices of election inspector or poll clerk in each early voting
9 location shall be equally divided between the major political parties.
10 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 4-117 of the election law, as amended by
11 chapter 288 of the laws of 2009, is amended to read as follows:
12 1. The board of elections, between August first and August fifth of
13 each year, shall send by first class mail on which is endorsed "ADDRESS
14 CORRECTION REQUESTED" and which contains a request that any such mail
15 received for persons not residing at the address be dropped back in the
16 mail, a communication, in a form approved by the state board of
17 elections, to every registered voter who has been registered without a
18 change of address since the beginning of such year, except that the
19 board of elections shall not be required to send such communications to
20 voters in inactive status. The communication shall notify the voter of
21 the days and hours of the ensuing primary and general elections, includ-
22 ing the days and hours for early voting and the locations therefor, the
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02563-01-5
A. 4433 2
1 place where he appears by his registration records to be entitled to
2 vote, the fact that voters who have moved or will have moved from the
3 address where they were last registered must re-register or, that if
4 such move was to another address in the same county or city, that such
5 voter may either notify the board of elections of his new address or
6 vote by paper ballot at the polling place for his new address even if
7 such voter has not re-registered, or otherwise notified the board of
8 elections of the change of address. If the location of the polling place
9 for the voter's election district has been moved, the communication
10 shall contain the following legend in bold type: "YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS
11 BEEN CHANGED. YOU NOW VOTE AT..........". The communication shall also
12 indicate whether the polling place is accessible to physically disabled
13 voters, that a voter who will be out of the city or county on the day of
14 the primary or general election or a voter who is ill or physically
15 disabled may obtain an absentee ballot, that a physically disabled voter
16 whose polling place is not accessible may request that his registration
17 record be moved to an election district which has a polling place which
18 is accessible, the phone number to call for applications to move a
19 registration record or for absentee ballot applications, the phone
20 number to call for the location of registration and polling places, the
21 phone number to call to indicate that the voter is willing to serve on
22 election day as an election inspector, poll clerk, interpreter or in
23 other capacities, the phone number to call to obtain an application for
24 registration by mail, and such other information concerning the
25 elections or registration as the board may include. In lieu of sending
26 such communication to every registered voter, the board of elections may
27 send a single communication to a household containing more than one
28 registered voter, provided that the names of all such voters appear as
29 part of the address on such communication.
30 § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 8-102 of the election law is amended by
31 adding a new paragraph (k) to read as follows:
32 (k) Voting at each early voting site shall be conducted in a manner
33 consistent with the provisions of this article, with the exception of
34 the tabulation and proclamation of election results which shall be
35 completed according to subdivisions eight, nine, and ten of section
36 8-600 of this article.
37 § 4. Section 8-104 of the election law is amended by adding a new
38 subdivision 7 to read as follows:
39 7. This section shall apply on all early voting days as provided for
40 in section 8-600 of this article.
41 § 5. Paragraph (b) of subdivision 2 of section 8-508 of the election
42 law, as amended by chapter 200 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read
43 as follows:
44 (b) The second section of such report shall be reserved for the board
45 of inspectors to enter the name, address and registration serial number
46 of each person who is challenged on the day of election or on any day in
47 which there is early voting pursuant to section 8-600 of this article,
48 together with the reason for the challenge. If no voters are chal-
49 lenged, the board of inspectors shall enter the words "No Challenges"
50 across the space reserved for such names. In lieu of preparing section
51 two of the challenge report, the board of elections may provide, next to
52 the name of each voter on the computer generated registration list, a
53 place for the inspectors of election to record the information required
54 to be entered in such section two, or provide at the end of such comput-
55 er generated registration list, a place for the inspectors of election
56 to enter such information.
A. 4433 3
1 § 6. Article 8 of the election law is amended by adding a new title 6
2 to read as follows:
3 TITLE VI
4 EARLY VOTING
5 Section 8-600. Early voting.
6 8-602. State board of elections; powers and duties for early
7 voting.
8 § 8-600. Early voting. 1. Beginning the third Thursday prior to any
9 general election for any public or party office, and the second Thursday
10 prior to any primary or special election for any public or party office,
11 and ending on the Thursday immediately preceding a general, primary or
12 special election for any public or party office, persons duly registered
13 and eligible to vote for candidates for such office shall be permitted
14 to vote in person by ballot for a candidate for such office. Voters who
15 cast a vote at an early voting site during the early voting period shall
16 be prohibited from voting on election day.
17 2. The board of elections of each county shall designate at least five
18 polling sites, including the board of elections itself, in each county
19 or borough in the city of New York, for persons to vote early pursuant
20 to this section. Such polling sites shall be geographically located so
21 as to provide all voters in the county an equal opportunity to cast a
22 ballot, insofar as is practicable. In the event that the board of
23 elections determines that the number of early voting sites is insuffi-
24 cient due to the number of voters who are voting early, the board of
25 elections may establish additional early voting sites for the conven-
26 ience of eligible voters wishing to vote at such early voting sites.
27 Further, the board of elections shall give adequate notice to eligible
28 voters of such additional early voting sites. The provisions of section
29 4-104 of this chapter shall apply to the designation of polling places
30 for early voting except where such provisions are inconsistent with this
31 subdivision.
32 3. Any person entitled to vote early may do so at any early voting
33 site established pursuant to subdivision two of this section in the
34 county where such voter is registered to vote provided, however, if it
35 is impractical for the county board of elections to provide each early
36 voting site all appropriate ballots for each election to be voted on in
37 the county or such board of elections is unable to ensure that such
38 voter has not previously voted early during such election, the board of
39 elections shall provide appropriate forms of ballots only for those
40 voters registered to vote in the area served by such early voting site
41 as designated by the board of elections.
42 4. Polls shall be open for early voting from eight o'clock in the
43 morning until eight o'clock in the evening each week day and from nine
44 o'clock in the morning until five o'clock in the afternoon on Saturday
45 and Sunday. Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit any
46 board of elections from extending hours for early voting past the times
47 specified herein.
48 5. The board of elections shall create a communication plan that is
49 easily accessible and understood by all voters. Such communications plan
50 shall utilize any and all media outlets, including social media. Infor-
51 mation to be provided shall include the location of all early voting
52 sites and a notation whether such sites are accessible to disabled
53 voters, dates and hours of operation, a clear and unambiguous message to
54 voters notifying them that if such voters cast a ballot during the early
55 voting period then they will not be allowed to vote on election day; and
56 if early voting polling places are regionalized pursuant to subdivision
A. 4433 4
1 three of this section, the location of the early voting polling place
2 serving the voters of any particular city, town or other political
3 subdivision.
4 6. The form of paper ballots, if used in early voting, shall comply
5 with the provisions of article seven of this chapter that are applicable
6 to voting by paper ballot on election day and such ballot shall be cast
7 in the same manner as provided for in section 8-312 of this article,
8 provided however that ballots cast during the early voting period shall
9 not be canvassed until nine o'clock in the evening on election day.
10 7. Voters casting ballots pursuant to this title shall be subject to
11 challenge as provided in sections 8-500, 8-502 and 8-504 of this arti-
12 cle.
13 8. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, at nine
14 o'clock in the evening on election day, the removable electronic or
15 computerized devices in use by all voting scanners used during the early
16 voting period shall be processed, in a manner not inconsistent with
17 article nine of this chapter, by bipartisan teams of board of elections
18 employees or election inspectors as designated by the board of
19 elections. Thereafter, tabulated results tapes shall be produced and a
20 canvass sheet reflecting the aggregated vote results of early voting
21 shall be completed and signed by said bipartisan canvass teams.
22 9. Notwithstanding any provisions of this chapter, at the end of each
23 day of early voting, any early voting ballots that were not able to be
24 scanned at any early voting site shall be scanned by a bipartisan team
25 of inspectors assigned to such early vote site. Any such ballots that
26 remain unscanned because the scanner was unavailable, or because of an
27 overvote or blank ballot warning on the ballot scanner screen, shall be
28 returned to the board of elections uncounted. At nine o'clock in the
29 evening on election day at the board of elections, such unscanned
30 ballots shall be canvassed by bipartisan teams of board of elections
31 employees or election inspectors as designated by the board of
32 elections. The votes from such ballots shall be recorded on tally sheets
33 and be signed by said bipartisan canvass teams. Results tabulated on
34 said tally sheets shall be added to the tabulated results tapes totals,
35 and the signed tally sheets shall be affixed to corresponding early
36 voting canvass sheets.
37 10. Upon the completion of the canvass of all early voting ballots
38 cast, the removable electronic or computerized devices used in all early
39 voting scanners shall be used to produce the unofficial tally of results
40 as required in section 9-126 of this chapter.
41 § 8-602. State board of elections; powers and duties for early voting.
42 Any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of the
43 provisions of this title shall be promulgated by the state board of
44 elections provided that such rules and regulations shall include
45 provisions to ensure that ballots cast early, by any method allowed
46 under law, are counted and canvassed as if cast on election day. The
47 state board of elections shall promulgate any other rules and regu-
48 lations necessary to ensure an efficient and fair early voting process
49 that respects the privacy of the voter. Provided further that such rules
50 and regulations shall require that the voting history record for each
51 voter be continually updated to reflect each instance of early voting by
52 such voter.
53 § 7. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
54 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
