STATE OF NEW YORK
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4658
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
February 8, 2021
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Introduced by Sens. PARKER, BRESLIN, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, LIU, MAY,
PERSAUD, STAVISKY -- 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 the boundaries of
election districts and the designation of polling places
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 4-104 of the election law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 5-a to read as follows:
3 5-a. Whenever a contiguous property of a college or university
4 contains three hundred or more registrants (excluding registrants in
5 inactive status) who are registered to vote at an address on such
6 contiguous property, the polling place designated for such registrants
7 shall be on such contiguous property or at a location approved by the
8 college or university.
9 § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 4-100 of the election
10 law, as amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read
11 as follows:
12 a. Each election district shall be in compact form and may not be
13 partly within and partly without a ward, town, city, a village which has
14 five thousand or more inhabitants and is wholly within one town, the
15 contiguous property of a college or university which contains three
16 hundred or more registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status)
17 who are registered to vote at an address on such contiguous property, or
18 a county legislative, assembly, senatorial or congressional district.
19 Except as provided in paragraph b of this subdivision, election district
20 boundaries, other than those boundaries which are coterminous with the
21 boundaries of those political subdivisions and college or university
22 properties mentioned in this paragraph, must be streets, rivers, rail-
23 road lines or other permanent characteristics of the landscape which are
24 clearly visible to any person without the need to use any technical or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03331-02-1
S. 4658 2
1 mechanical device. An election district shall contain not more than nine
2 hundred fifty registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status) or,
3 with the approval of the county board of elections, not more than eleven
4 hundred fifty registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status),
5 but any election district may be divided for the convenience of the
6 voters.
7 § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of the election
8 law, as amended by chapter 344 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read
9 as follows:
10 (a) The board of elections shall designate polling places for early
11 voting, which may include the offices of the board of elections, for
12 persons to vote early pursuant to this title; provided, however, that
13 the municipality with the highest population in each county based on the
14 latest federal decennial census shall have at least one polling place
15 designated for early voting, and to the extent practicable if such muni-
16 cipality has public transportation routes, such polling place shall be
17 situated along such transportation routes. There shall be so designated
18 at least one early voting polling place for every full increment of
19 fifty thousand registered voters in each county; provided, however, the
20 number of early voting polling places in a county shall not be required
21 to be greater than ten unless required by any other provision of law,
22 and a county with fewer than fifty thousand voters shall have at least
23 one early voting polling place. Whenever a contiguous property of a
24 college or university contains three hundred or more registrants
25 (excluding registrants in inactive status) who are registered to vote at
26 an address on such contiguous property, such contiguous property or a
27 location approved by the college or university shall be designated as an
28 early voting polling place.
29 § 4. This act shall take effect January 1, 2024.
