Bill Text: NY A01385 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Requires the board of elections to print in bold type the date and time of all upcoming primary and general elections on address verification notices sent out prior to elections.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-10-07 - signed chap.200 [A01385 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A01385-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                         1385--A
                                                                Cal. No. 226
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 15, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. PERRY, JACOBSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
          ORTIZ  --  read  once and referred to the Committee on Election Law --
          reported from committee, advanced to  a  third  reading,  amended  and
          ordered reprinted, retaining its place on the order of third reading
        AN  ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the notice of the days
          and hours for voting in primary and general elections
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  1  of  section 4-117 of the election law, as
     2  separately amended by chapters 3 and 5 of the laws of 2019,  is  amended
     3  to read as follows:
     4    1. The board of elections, not less than sixty-five days nor more than
     5  seventy  days  before  the  primary election in each year, shall send by
     6  mail on which is endorsed such language designated by the state board of
     7  elections to ensure postal authorities do  not  forward  such  mail  but
     8  return it to the board of elections with forwarding information, when it
     9  cannot  be  delivered as addressed and which contains a request that any
    10  such mail received for persons not residing at the  address  be  dropped
    11  back in the mail, a communication, in a form approved by the state board
    12  of  elections, to every registered voter who has been registered without
    13  a change of address since the beginning of such year,  except  that  the
    14  board  of elections shall not be required to send such communications to
    15  voters in inactive status. The communication shall notify the  voter  in
    16  bold  print  of  at least sixteen point font contained in such notice of
    17  the days and hours of the ensuing primary  and  general  elections,  the
    18  place  where  he or she appears by his or her registration records to be
    19  entitled to vote, and also in other than bold  type  of  the  fact  that
    20  voters  who  have  moved  or will have moved from the address where they
    21  were last registered must either notify the board of elections of his or
    22  her new address or vote by paper ballot at the polling place for his  or
    23  her  new  address even if such voter has not re-registered, or otherwise
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06676-02-9
        A. 1385--A                          2
     1  notified the board of elections of the change of address. If the primary
     2  will not be held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in Septem-
     3  ber, the communication shall contain a conspicuous notice in all capital
     4  letters  and  bold  font notifying the voter of the primary date. If the
     5  location of the polling place for the voter's election district has been
     6  moved, the communication shall contain  the  following  legend  in  bold
     7  type:  "YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED. YOU NOW VOTE AT..........".
     8  The communication shall also  indicate  whether  the  polling  place  is
     9  accessible  to  physically disabled voters, that a voter who will be out
    10  of the city or county on the day of the primary or general election or a
    11  voter who is ill or physically disabled may obtain an  absentee  ballot,
    12  that  a  physically disabled voter whose polling place is not accessible
    13  may request that  his  registration  record  be  moved  to  an  election
    14  district which has a polling place which is accessible, the phone number
    15  to  call  for applications to move a registration record or for absentee
    16  ballot applications, the phone number to call for the location of regis-
    17  tration and polling places, the phone number to call  to  indicate  that
    18  the  voter is willing to serve on election day as an election inspector,
    19  poll clerk, interpreter or in other capacities, the phone number to call
    20  to obtain an application for registration by mail, and such other infor-
    21  mation concerning  the  elections  or  registration  as  the  board  may
    22  include.  In  lieu  of  sending  such  communication to every registered
    23  voter, the board of elections may  send  a  single  communication  to  a
    24  household  containing  more than one registered voter, provided that the
    25  names of all such voters appear as part of the address on such  communi-
    26  cation.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of December next succeed-
    28  ing the date on which it shall have become a law.