Exempts public school buildings with instructional space from being designated as early polling locations; allows school districts to decline school building designations as early polling locations.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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396
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. STIRPE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to exempting certain
public school buildings from being designated as early polling
locations
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of the election law is
2 amended by adding a new paragraph (i) to read as follows:
3 (i) No public school building with instructional space shall be desig-
4 nated as an early polling location.
5 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 4-104 of the election law, as amended by
6 chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
7 3. A building exempt from taxation shall be used whenever possible as
8 a polling place if it is situated in the same or a contiguous election
9 district, and may contain as many distinctly separate polling places as
10 public convenience may require. The expense, if any, incidental to its
11 use, shall be paid like the expense of other places of registration and
12 voting. If a board or body empowered to designate polling places chooses
13 a public school building for such purpose, the board or agency which
14 controls such building must make available a room or rooms in such
15 building which are suitable for registration and voting and which are as
16 close as possible to a convenient entrance to such building and must
17 make available any such room or rooms which the board or body designat-
18 ing such building determines are accessible to physically disabled
19 voters as provided in subdivision one-a. Notwithstanding the provisions
20 of this subdivision, no board or body empowered to designate polling
21 places shall designate a public school building with instructional space
22 as an early polling location, and if such board or body designates a
23 public school building that does not have instructional space as an
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01513-01-5
A. 396 2
1 early polling location, the superintendent of such school district may
2 decline such designation. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general,
3 special or local law, if a board or body empowered to designate polling
4 places chooses a publicly owned or leased building, other than a public
5 school building, for such purposes the board or body which controls such
6 building must make available a room or rooms in such building which are
7 suitable for registration and voting and which are as close as possible
8 to a convenient entrance to such building, and must make available any
9 such room or rooms which the board or body designating such building
10 determines are accessible to physically disabled voters unless, not
11 later than thirty days after notice of its designation as a polling
12 place, the board or body controlling such building, files a written
13 request for a cancellation of such designation with the board or body
14 empowered to designate polling places on such form as shall be provided
15 by the board or body making such designation. The board or body
16 empowered to so designate shall, within twenty days after such request
17 is filed, determine whether the use of such building as a polling place
18 would unreasonably interfere with the usual activities conducted in such
19 building and upon such determination, may cancel such designation.
20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
