Lowers the voting age to 16 years; requires that students receive education in civics and be given the opportunity to register to vote in the classroom.
STATE OF NEW YORK
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9994
IN SENATE
April 21, 2026
___________
Introduced by Sens. BOTTCHER, BAILEY, COMRIE, JACKSON, PARKER, RAMOS,
RIVERA, SALAZAR -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to
be committed to the Committee on Elections
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the qualifications of
voters; and to amend the education law, in relation to civic education
and student voter registration
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 5-102 of the election law is
2 amended to read as follows:
3 1. No person shall be qualified to register for and vote at any
4 election unless [he] such person is a citizen of the United States and
5 is or will be, on the day of such election, [eighteen] sixteen years of
6 age or over, and a resident of this state and of the county, city or
7 village for a minimum of thirty days next preceding such election.
8 § 2. Paragraph (g) of subdivision 5 of section 5-210 of the election
9 law, as amended by chapter 113 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read
10 as follows:
11 (g) Notice that the applicant must be a citizen of the United States,
12 is or will be at least sixteen years old [when they submit an applica-
13 tion to register to vote which will be effective for elections occurring
14 on or after the applicant turns eighteen years of age] not later than
15 December thirty-first of the calendar year in which the applicant regis-
16 ters and a resident of the county or city to which application is made.
17 § 3. Subdivision 3 of section 8-504 of the election law, as renumbered
18 by chapter 373 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
19 3. After receiving the answers as above specified, of any applicant,
20 the board shall, if it believes the applicant to be qualified or the
21 challenge is withdrawn, permit [him] the applicant to vote. Otherwise,
22 the board shall point out to [him] the applicant the qualifications, if
23 any, in respect of which [he] the applicant shall appear deficient. If,
24 after such deficiencies have been so indicated, the applicant shall
25 persist in [his] the claim to vote, an inspector shall administer to
26 [him] the applicant the following oath, which shall be known as "The
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03234-01-5
S. 9994 2
1 Qualification Oath": "You do swear (or affirm) that you are [eighteen]
2 sixteen years of age, that you are a citizen of the United States and
3 that you have been a resident of this state, and of this county (of the
4 city of New York) (village) for thirty days next preceding this
5 election, that you still reside at the same address from which you have
6 been duly registered in this election district, that you have not voted
7 at this election, and that you do not know of any reason why you are not
8 qualified to vote at this election. You do further declare that you are
9 aware that it is a crime to make any false statement. That all the
10 statements you have made to the board have been true and that you under-
11 stand that a false statement is perjury and you will be guilty of a
12 misdemeanor."
13 § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 801 of the education law, as amended by
14 section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020, is amended and a
15 new subdivision 6 is added to read as follows:
16 1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and
17 obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intel-
18 lectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obli-
19 gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
20 of the State of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in
21 patriotism, citizenship, civic education and values, our shared history
22 of diversity, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human
23 rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity
24 of genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
25 road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to
26 1850, to be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state. The
27 boards of education and trustees of the several cities and school
28 districts of the state shall require instruction to be given in such
29 courses, by the teachers employed in the schools therein. All pupils
30 attending such schools, over the age of eight years, shall attend upon
31 such instruction. All pupils in the ninth and higher grades shall
32 receive civic education for at least eight full class periods, in
33 accordance with the department's 9-12 social studies framework.
34 Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
35 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over eight
36 years of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
37 established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
38 tion in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to
39 instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools of the
40 city or district in which such pupils reside.
41 6. a. The regents, in collaboration with the state board of
42 elections, shall make available to each high school two forms to be
43 distributed to all pupils who shall be sixteen years of age on or before
44 December thirty-first of each year. Such forms shall be distributed on
45 one date between the second and fifth school day in the month of January
46 of each year.
47 b. The first form to be distributed pursuant to this subdivision shall
48 be a standard voter registration form as prescribed by section 5-210 of
49 the election law. Such form shall be completed for each eligible pupil,
50 by school administrators who shall complete each field of the registra-
51 tion form except the fields pertaining to citizenship status, party
52 affiliation, signature and date. The content of the registration form
53 shall be explained to all pupils to whom forms are distributed and
54 pupils shall be directed to correct any incorrect information previously
55 completed by school administrators.
S. 9994 3
1 c. The second form to be distributed pursuant to this subdivision
2 shall be entitled "Voter Registration Opt-Out Form" and shall contain
3 the following statement: "I, the undersigned, decline to register as a
4 voter in the State of New York at this time, and defer my choice of
5 registration in the State of New York to a future date of my choosing."
6 Such form shall be created by the regents in collaboration with the
7 state board of elections.
8 d. Pupils shall be given classroom time to have the opportunity to
9 complete either the standard voter registration form or the voter regis-
10 tration opt-out form. After pupils have had time to complete both forms,
11 school administrators shall collect both forms from all pupils to whom
12 the forms were distributed. School administrators shall be required to
13 dispose of all voter registration forms for pupils who elect to not
14 register to vote.
15 § 5. This act shall take effect on the same date as a concurrent
16 resolution amending the constitution, entitled "CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF
17 THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing amendments to section 1 of article 2
18 of the constitution, in relation to the voting age"; provided, however,
19 that the amendments made to paragraph (g) of subdivision 5 of section
20 5-210 of the election law made by section two of this act, shall take
21 effect immediately.
