Sets out the procedures and requirements for special elections; implements a timetable for the special primary and special election, including the number of signatures required for the petition.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1610
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 10, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. ROSENTHAL, DINOWITZ, PAULIN, EPSTEIN -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law and the public officers law, in
relation to creating a special primary election to take place prior to
a special election and mandating the governor to proclaim all special
elections within ten days of the vacancy
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 6-114 of the election law is amended to read as
2 follows:
3 § 6-114. Party nominations; special election. Party nominations for an
4 office to be filled at a special election shall be made [in the manner
5 prescribed by the rules of the party] at a special primary election
6 pursuant to section 6-161 of this article, at which the candidate
7 receiving the most votes shall be the nominee of the party.
8 § 2. The election law is amended by adding a new section 6-161 to read
9 as follows:
10 § 6-161. Special primary elections. 1. The special primary election
11 shall take place on the first Tuesday occurring at least thirty days but
12 no more than thirty-six days prior to the special election.
13 2. Designating petitions for a primary nomination shall be subjected
14 to the same form and rules set out in sections 6-132 and 6-134 of this
15 article. Designating petitions shall be filed within twelve days of the
16 date the governor proclaims the need for a special election.
17 3. Notwithstanding section 6-136 of this article, the required amount
18 of signatures for a designating petition, pursuant to this section,
19 shall be five hundred for a state senatorial district and two hundred
20 fifty for an assembly district.
21 4. Petitions for independent nominations shall be filed within fifteen
22 days of the date the governor proclaims the need for a special election.
23 Notwithstanding section 6-138 of this article, the required amount of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04165-01-5
A. 1610 2
1 signatures for a designating petition, pursuant to this section, shall
2 be one thousand for a state senatorial district and five hundred for an
3 assembly district.
4 § 3. Subdivisions 1, 3 and 4 of section 42 of the public officers law,
5 subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 5 of the laws of 2019, subdivision 3
6 as amended by chapter 164 of the laws of 2022 and subdivision 4 as
7 amended by chapter 320 of the laws of 2021, are amended and a new subdi-
8 vision 4-b is added to read as follows:
9 1. A vacancy occurring three months before the general election in any
10 year in any office authorized to be filled at a general election, except
11 in the offices of governor [or], lieutenant-governor, state senator or
12 member of assembly, shall be filled at the general election held next
13 thereafter, unless otherwise provided by the constitution, or unless
14 previously filled at a special election.
15 3. Upon the failure to elect to any office, except that of governor or
16 lieutenant-governor, at a general or special election, at which such
17 office is authorized to be filled, or upon the death or disqualification
18 of a person elected to office before the commencement of [his or her]
19 such person's official term, or upon the occurrence of a vacancy in any
20 elective office which cannot be filled by appointment for a period
21 extending to or beyond the next general election at which a person may
22 be elected thereto, the governor shall, unless otherwise provided for by
23 authorized local law, resolution or ordinance, make proclamation of a
24 special election to fill such office within ten days of the occurrence
25 of a vacancy, specifying the district or county in which the election is
26 to be held, and the day thereof, which shall be: a. [not less than
27 seventy nor more than eighty] ninety days or on the first Tuesday
28 following the ninety days from the date of the proclamation to fill a
29 vacancy in the office of a representative in congress or for a vacancy
30 in any other office that is not in the state senate or assembly; and b.
31 not less than forty days nor more than fifty days from the date of the
32 proclamation to fill a vacancy in the state senate or assembly,
33 provided, however, that the governor may issue a proclamation to fill
34 any subsequent vacancy in the state senate or assembly for the same date
35 as any previously scheduled special election as long as the proclamation
36 is issued at least thirty days before the occurrence of the special
37 election.
38 4. a. A special election shall not be held to fill a vacancy in the
39 office of a representative in congress unless such vacancy occurs on or
40 before the first day of July of the last year of the term of office, or
41 unless it occurs thereafter and a special session of congress is called
42 to meet before the next general election, or be called after [three
43 months before the general election in such year.
44 b. A special election shall not be held to fill a vacancy in the
45 office of state senator or in the office of member of assembly, unless
46 the vacancy occurs before the first day of April of the last year of the
47 term of office, or unless the vacancy occurs in either such office of
48 senator or member of assembly after such first day of April and a
49 special session of the legislature be called to meet between such first
50 day of April and the next general election or be called after three
51 months before the next general election in such year.
52 c. A special election shall not be held to fill a vacancy in any other
53 office subject to a proclamation by the governor pursuant to subdivision
54 three of this section unless the vacancy occurs before the first day of
55 April of the last year of the term of office] September nineteenth of
56 such year.
A. 1610 3
1 [d.] b. If a special election to fill an office shall not be held as
2 required by law, the office shall be filled at the next general
3 election.
4 4-b. If a vacancy occurs in the office of state senator or in the
5 office of member of assembly between one hundred eighty and ninety days
6 prior to an annual primary election or if a vacancy occurs between one
7 hundred eighty and ninety days prior to a general election, the special
8 election shall be held on the day of the annual primary election or
9 general election respectively, with the special primary election to be
10 held on the first Tuesday occurring at least thirty days but no more
11 than thirty-six days prior to the special election.
12 § 4. If any section of this act or any part thereof shall be adjudged
13 by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment
14 shall not affect, impair or invalidate the remainder or any other
15 section or part thereof.
16 § 5. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
17 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
