Directs the state board of elections to implement a ballot tracking system for use by absentee ballot voters to track the status of their ballots; directs that funding be provided from the Help America Vote Act Implementation Account.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10994
IN ASSEMBLY
September 9, 2020
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Walker,
Peoples-Stokes) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election
Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to directing the state
board of elections to implement a ballot tracking system for use by
absentee ballot voters to track the status of their ballots
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 8-414
2 to read as follows:
3 § 8-414. Absentee ballots; tracking of. 1. Not later than July first,
4 two thousand twenty-one, the state board of elections shall implement a
5 ballot tracking system that registered voters can utilize to track the
6 status of absentee ballots. Such system shall track absentee ballots
7 utilizing voter roll data from the state and the United States Postal
8 Services' Intelligent Mail Barcode data specific to election mail. The
9 state board of elections shall make the ballot tracking system available
10 for use by each county board. Such system shall be accessible to the
11 general public through a clearly designated webpage or link on the state
12 board of elections' website and through a link on the website of each
13 county board.
14 2. (a) The ballot tracking system shall enable a registered voter to
15 search for information on the status of his or her absentee ballot by
16 entering the voter's name, the address at which the voter is qualified
17 to vote and a valid personal identification number (PIN). Data entered
18 to search for the ballot status must match the data on the voter's
19 absentee ballot application.
20 (b) Voters wishing to track the status of their absentee ballots shall
21 register with the ballot tracking system using the data on the voter's
22 absentee ballot application. Each voter registered with the system shall
23 create an individual PIN.
24 3. The ballot tracking system shall display the status of the voter's
25 absentee ballot, including:
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD17173-03-0
A. 10994 2
1 (a) notification that the county board received the voter's applica-
2 tion for an absentee ballot;
3 (b) the date the absentee ballot was provided to the United States
4 Post Office for delivery to the voter;
5 (c) the address to which the absentee ballot was sent;
6 (d) the date, based on information from the United States Postal
7 Service, that the voter's ballot is expected to be delivered to the
8 voter;
9 (e) a notification if the voter's ballot is returned as undeliverable
10 to the county board by the United States Postal Service;
11 (f) if the completed absentee ballot has been received by the county
12 board, a notification that the county board received it; and
13 (g) a notification that the voter's completed ballot has been counted,
14 or, if the ballot cannot be counted, a notification of the reason why
15 the ballot could not be counted and instructions of any steps that the
16 voter can take in order to have the ballot counted.
17 4. Funding for the implementation of the absentee ballot tracking
18 system shall be provided to the state board of elections from the Help
19 America Vote Act Implementation Account.
20 5. As used in this section "county board" means the board of elections
21 of the county or city in which the applicant for an absentee ballot is a
22 qualified voter.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.