STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
7194
IN SENATE
January 10, 2020
___________
Introduced by Sen. BENJAMIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to voter registration form
distribution and assistance
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 18 of section 5-211 of the election law, as
2 amended by a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the election law
3 relating to voter registration form distribution and assistance, as
4 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 1128-A and A. 2599-A, is
5 amended to read as follows:
6 18. (a) (i) On or before January first, two thousand twenty, all
7 institutions of the state university of New York and the city university
8 of New York shall create and make available to all students a webpage
9 for voter education on each such institution's website, containing a
10 link to an application for voter registration, a link to an application
11 for an absentee ballot, contact information for the county board of
12 elections, and the name and contact information for the administrator
13 responsible for voter registration assistance on each campus.
14 (ii) Each such institution shall, at the beginning of the school year,
15 and again in January of a year in which the president of the United
16 States is to be elected, provide an application for voter registration
17 and an application for an absentee ballot to each student in each such
18 institution. [Such institutions shall also offer each student an appli-
19 cation for an absentee ballot. Such institutions shall provide the same
20 degree of assistance as required of participating agencies.] Each insti-
21 tution shall be considered in compliance with [these] the requirements
22 of this subparagraph for each student to whom the institution electron-
23 ically transmits a message containing the link to the webpage for voter
24 education [and], the link to an application for voter registration and
25 the link to an application for an absentee ballot, if such information
26 is in an electronic message devoted exclusively to voter registration.
27 (iii) Each such institution shall provide the same degree of assist-
28 ance as required of participating agencies.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01179-06-9
S. 7194 2
1 (b) [Each institution] The state university of New York and the city
2 university of New York, on behalf of each institution within its system,
3 shall on or before [January] June first, two thousand twenty, and each
4 subsequent year, submit a report disaggregated according to each insti-
5 tution to the state board of elections that includes:
6 (i) the efforts of the institution to register voters in the preceding
7 calendar year;
8 (ii) a date-stamped screen shot of the webpage for voter education
9 that contains the required information under paragraph (a) of this
10 subdivision;
11 (iii) the number of students who were registered for course work in
12 the preceding twelve months at such institution and the number of
13 [students who clicked] clicks on the links to online voter registration
14 and absentee ballot applications; and
15 (iv) any other efforts or recommendations the institution plans to
16 implement to improve access to voter registration and absentee ballot
17 voting for students at the institution.
18 (c) The state board of elections shall make the reports provided
19 pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision publicly available on its
20 website.
21 § 2. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same
22 manner as a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the election law
23 relating to voter registration form distribution and assistance, as
24 proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 1128-A and A. 2599-A, takes
25 effect.
