New York State Assembly

Bill No.:  

 
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A01259 Summary:

BILL NO	A01259
SAME AS	SAME AS S01014
SPONSOR	Lunsford
COSPNSR	Glick, Gonzalez-Rojas, Jacobson, Seawright, Sillitti, Simon, Tapia, Walker, Bronson, Clark, Reyes, Taylor
MLTSPNSR
Amd §9-208, El L
Provides that recounts of ballots conducted by the board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by the board can be either done manually or via the use of any automated tool authorized for such use by the board of elections, which is independent from the voting system it is being used to recount, of all ballots for a particular contest where the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5% but greater than 0.25%; allows for losing candidates to deny a recount before any recount is conducted.

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A01259 Actions:

BILL NO	A01259
01/13/2023	referred to election law
05/24/2023	reported referred to ways and means
01/03/2024	referred to ways and means

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A01259 Committee Votes:

Committee:ELECTION LAW   Chair:Walker      
DATE:05/24/2023AYE/NAY:16/0  Action: Favorable refer to committee Ways and Means        
Walker
Aye
Norris
Aye
Dinowitz
Aye
Brabenec
Aye
Carroll
Aye
Mikulin
Aye
Taylor
Aye
Tague
Aye
Jacobson
Aye
Brook-Krasny
Aye
Sillitti
Aye
Mamdani
Aye
Burgos
Aye
Gallagher
Aye
Rivera
Aye
Chandler-Waterm
Aye

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A01259 Floor Votes:

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A01259 Text:

 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          1259
 
                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 13, 2023
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  LUNSFORD,  GLICK,  GONZALEZ-ROJAS, JACOBSON,
          SEAWRIGHT, SILLITTI, SIMON, TAPIA, WALKER -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Election Law
 
        AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation  to  recounts  of  ballots
          conducted  by  the  board  of  elections  or  a  bipartisan  committee
          appointed by the board

          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, as
     2  added by section 1 of part JJ of chapter 55 of  the  laws  of  2020,  is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    4.  (a)  The board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by
     5  the board shall conduct a full manual  recount  of  all  ballots  for  a
     6  particular contest:
     7    i. Where the margin of victory is [twenty] ten votes or less; or
     8    ii. Where the margin of victory is [0.5%] 0.25% or less; or
     9    iii. In a contest where one million or more ballots have been cast and
    10  the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes.
    11    (b)  The board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by the
    12  board shall conduct a full recount, manually or via the use of any auto-
    13  mated tool authorized for such a use by the board of elections, which is
    14  independent from the voting system it is being used to recount, of   all
    15  ballots    for  a particular contest where the margin of victory is less
    16  than or equal to 0.5% but greater than 0.25%.
    17    (c) For the purposes of this section, the term margin of victory shall
    18  mean the margin between all votes cast in the entire  contest  following
    19  the recanvass of votes.
    20    [(c)] (d) Where the contest involves portions of two or more counties,
    21  the  margin  of  victory  shall  be  determined  by  the  state board of
    22  elections based on the most recent recanvass  results  for  the  contest
    23  submitted by the boards of elections of the counties involved.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01912-01-3
        A. 1259                             2
 
     1    [(d)]  (e)  The result of the [manual] recount of ballots shall super-
     2  sede the returns filed by the inspectors of  election  of  the  election
     3  district in which the canvass was initially made.
     4    (f)  Any candidate who is deemed to be losing a contest by the margins
     5  set forth  in  this  subdivision  shall,  prior  to  any  recount  being
     6  conducted,  have  the ability to reject a recount and concede victory of
     7  such contest.
     8    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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