Bill Text: NY A04316 | 2009-2010 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Requires fire districts to provide absentee ballots for fire district elections; makes related provisions.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2010-05-17 - amended on third reading 4316a [A04316 Detail]
Download: New_York-2009-A04316-Amended.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
4316--A
Cal. No. 325
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
February 3, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GALEF, ENGLEBRIGHT, MAGEE, KOLB, ALFANO, ERRIGO,
PAULIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BARRA, BOYLAND, CALHOUN,
COOK, CROUCH, DUPREY, FINCH, GIGLIO, JORDAN, LUPARDO, McKEVITT,
J. MILLER, MOLINARO, ORTIZ, REILLY, ROBINSON, SAYWARD, SWEENEY,
THIELE, TOWNSEND -- read once and referred to the Committee on Local
Governments -- 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 town law, in relation to absentee ballots for fire
district elections
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 175-b of the town law, as
2 amended by chapter 401 of the laws of 1996, are amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. The board of fire commissioners of any fire district in which offi-
5 cers are elected[, may, by resolution,] SHALL provide for absentee
6 ballots for fire district elections, in accordance with the provisions
7 of this section. [Such resolution shall take effect at the first such
8 election held more than sixty days after its adoption and shall continue
9 in effect for all such elections until a subsequent resolution providing
10 otherwise shall, in like manner, have taken effect.]
11 2. a. An applicant for such an absentee ballot shall submit an appli-
12 cation setting forth (1) his or her FULL name, DATE OF BIRTH and resi-
13 dence address, including the street and number, if any, or town and
14 rural delivery route, if any MAILING ADDRESS IF DIFFERENT FROM THE RESI-
15 DENCE ADDRESS AND HIS OR HER TOWN OR CITY AND AN ADDRESS TO WHICH THE
16 BALLOT SHALL BE MAILED; (2) that he or she is or will be, on the day of
17 the election, a qualified voter of the district in which he or she
18 resides in that he or she is or will be, on such date, over eighteen
19 years of age, a citizen of the United States and has or will have
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01660-04-0
A. 4316--A 2
1 resided in the district for thirty days next preceding such date; (3)
2 that he or she is registered in the town; (4) that he or she will be
3 unable to appear to vote in person on the day of the election for which
4 the absentee ballot is requested because he or she is, or will be on
5 such day (a) a patient in a hospital, or unable to appear personally at
6 the polling place on such day because of illness or physical disability
7 or (b) [because his or her duties, occupation or business will require
8 him or her to be outside of the county of his or her residence on such
9 day, (c) because he or she will be on vacation outside the county of his
10 or her residence on such day; or, (d)] absent from his or her voting
11 residence because he or she is detained in jail awaiting action by a
12 grand jury or awaiting trial or is confined in JAIL OR prison after
13 conviction for an offense other than a felony. Such application must be
14 received by the district secretary at least seven days before the
15 election if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or the day before
16 the election, if the ballot is to be delivered personally to the voter
17 or his or her agent.
18 b. [(1) Where such duties, occupation or business are of such a
19 nature as ordinarily to require such absence, a brief description of
20 such duties, occupation or business shall be set forth in such affida-
21 vit. (2) Where such duties, occupation or business are not of such a
22 nature as ordinarily to require such absence, such application shall
23 contain a statement of the special circumstances on account of which
24 such absence is required.
25 c. Where the applicant expects in good faith to be absent on the day
26 of the election because he or she will be on vacation elsewhere on such
27 day, such application shall also contain the dates upon which he or she
28 expects to begin and end such vacation, the place or places where he or
29 she expects to be on such vacation, the name and address of his or her
30 employer, if any, and if self-employed, a statement to that effect.
31 d. Where the absence is because of detention or confinement to jail,
32 such affidavit shall state whether the voter is detained awaiting action
33 of the grand jury or is confined after conviction for an offense other
34 than a felony.
35 e. Where a person is or would be, if he or she were a qualified
36 voter, entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee ballot under
37 the provisions of this section, his or her spouse, parent or child, if a
38 qualified voter and a resident of the same district, shall be entitled
39 to vote as an absentee voter upon personally making and signing an
40 application in accordance with the preceding provisions of this subdivi-
41 sion and showing that he or she expects to be absent from the district
42 on the day of the district election by reason of accompanying or being
43 with the spouse, child or parent who is or would be, if he or she were a
44 qualified voter, so entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee
45 ballot, and, in the event no application is made by such spouse, child
46 or parent, such further information as the fire district shall require.
47 f.] Such application shall include the following statement to be
48 signed by the voter.
49 I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of
50 my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material
51 false statement in the foregoing statement of application for absentee
52 ballots, I shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
53 Date.....................Signature of Voter.............
54 [g.] C. An applicant whose ability to appear personally at the polling
55 place of the district of which he or she is a qualified voter is
56 substantially impaired by reason of permanent illness or physical disa-
A. 4316--A 3
1 bility and whose registration record has been marked "permanently disa-
2 bled" by the board of elections pursuant to the provisions of the
3 election law shall be entitled to receive an absentee ballot pursuant to
4 the provisions of this section without making separate application for
5 such absentee ballot, and the secretary of the fire district, upon being
6 advised by the board of elections on or with the list of registered
7 voters that the registration record of a voter is marked "permanently
8 disabled", shall send an absentee ballot to such voter at his or her
9 last known address by first class mail with a request to the postal
10 authorities not to forward same but to return same in five days in the
11 event that it cannot be delivered to the addressee. The election
12 inspectors of the fire district shall make an appropriate entry on the
13 registration record indicating the fact that an absentee ballot has been
14 sent and the date of mailing.
15 S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
16 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
