STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
4866
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 28, 2019
___________
Introduced by Sen. MYRIE -- 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 email notification of a
change in location of a polling place
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 4-104 of the election law is
2 amended to read as follows:
3 2. If the board of elections, after designating a polling place, and
4 after sending written notice of such polling place to each registered
5 voter, designates an alternative polling place, it must, at least five
6 days before the next election or day for registration, send by mail and
7 email a written notice to each registered voter notifying him or her of
8 the changed location of such polling place. If such notice is not possi-
9 ble the board of elections must provide for an alternative form of
10 notice to be given to voters at the location of the previous polling
11 place.
12 § 2. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 4-104 of the election
13 law, as amended by chapter 95 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as
14 follows:
15 (a) Whenever the number of voters eligible to vote in an election in
16 any election district is less than one hundred, the polling place desig-
17 nated for such district may be the polling place of any other district
18 which could properly be designated as the polling place of the first
19 mentioned district pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, except
20 that the polling place designated for any such district may be the poll-
21 ing place of any other district in such city or town provided that the
22 distance from such first mentioned district to the polling place for
23 such other district is not unreasonable pursuant to rules or regulations
24 prescribed by the state board of elections and provided that the total
25 number of persons eligible to vote in such other district in such
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02389-01-9
S. 4866 2
1 election, including the persons eligible to vote in such first mentioned
2 districts, is not more than five hundred. The inspectors of election and
3 poll clerks, if any, of such other election district shall also act in
4 all respects as the election officers for such first mentioned districts
5 and no other inspectors shall be appointed to serve in or for such first
6 mentioned districts. A separate poll ledger or computer generated regis-
7 tration list, separate voting machine or ballots and separate canvass of
8 results shall be provided for such first mentioned districts, except
9 that if the candidates and ballot proposals to be voted on by the voters
10 of such districts are the same, the election districts shall be combined
11 and shall constitute a single election district for that election. If
12 the polling place for any election district is moved for any election,
13 pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision, the board of elections
14 shall, not later than ten nor more than fifteen days before such
15 election, mail, by first class mail, to each voter eligible to vote in
16 such election district at such election, a notice setting forth the
17 location of the polling place for such election and specifying that such
18 location is for such election only, and email the same notification to
19 any voter that has supplied the board with a valid email address.
20 § 3. Paragraph (k) of subdivision 5 of section 5-210 of the election
21 law is amended by adding a new subparagraph (xiii) to read as follows:
22 (xiii) A space for the applicant to provide an email address to which
23 official correspondence from the state board of elections may be sent.
24 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
25 have become a law.
