Bill Text: NY A09508 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires the board of elections to mail notice of ensuing primary and general elections, registration status, polling place location and other information to active voters between the third Tuesday in April and the second Friday in May each year.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-04-26 - signed chap.175 [A09508 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A09508-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9508

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 15, 2022
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. WALKER -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Election Law

        AN  ACT to amend the election law, in relation to requiring the board of
          elections to mail notice of ensuing primary and general elections  and
          registration information to active voters between the third Tuesday in
          April and the second Friday in May each year

          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  amended  by  chapter  200  of  the  laws  of 2020, is amended to read as
     3  follows:
     4    1. The board of elections, [not less than  sixty-five  days  nor  more
     5  than seventy days before the primary election] between the third Tuesday
     6  in  April  and the second Friday in May in each year, shall send by mail
     7  on which is endorsed such language designated  by  the  state  board  of
     8  elections  to  ensure  postal  authorities  do not forward such mail but
     9  return it to the board of elections with forwarding information, when it
    10  cannot be delivered as addressed and which contains a request  that  any
    11  such  mail  received  for persons not residing at the address be dropped
    12  back in the mail, a communication, in a form approved by the state board
    13  of elections, to every registered voter who has been registered  without
    14  a  change  of  address since the beginning of such year, except that the
    15  board of elections shall not be required to send such communications  to
    16  voters  in  inactive status. The communication shall notify the voter in
    17  bold print contained in such notice of the days and hours of the ensuing
    18  primary and general elections, the place where he or she appears by  his
    19  or  her  registration  records to be entitled to vote, and also in other
    20  than bold type of the fact that voters who have moved or will have moved
    21  from the address where they were last registered must either notify  the
    22  board  of elections of his or her new address or vote by paper ballot at
    23  the polling place for his or her new address even if such voter has  not
    24  re-registered,  or  otherwise  notified  the  board  of elections of the
    25  change of address. If the primary will not be held on the first  Tuesday
    26  after  the second Monday in September, the communication shall contain a

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD15015-01-2
        A. 9508                             2

     1  conspicuous notice in all capital letters and bold  font  notifying  the
     2  voter  of the primary date. If the location of the polling place for the
     3  voter's election  district  has  been  moved,  the  communication  shall
     4  contain  the following legend in bold type: "YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN
     5  CHANGED. YOU NOW VOTE AT..........". The communication shall also  indi-
     6  cate  whether  the  polling  place  is accessible to physically disabled
     7  voters, that a voter who will be out of the city or county on the day of
     8  the primary or general election or a voter  who  is  ill  or  physically
     9  disabled may obtain an absentee ballot, that a physically disabled voter
    10  whose  polling place is not accessible may request that his registration
    11  record be moved to an election district which has a polling place  which
    12  is  accessible,  the  phone  number  to  call for applications to move a
    13  registration record or  for  absentee  ballot  applications,  the  phone
    14  number  to call for the location of registration and polling places, the
    15  phone number to call to indicate that the voter is willing to  serve  on
    16  election  day  as  an  election inspector, poll clerk, interpreter or in
    17  other capacities, the phone number to call to obtain an application  for
    18  registration   by  mail,  and  such  other  information  concerning  the
    19  elections or registration as the board may include. In lieu  of  sending
    20  such communication to every registered voter, the board of elections may
    21  send  a  single  communication  to  a household containing more than one
    22  registered voter, provided that the names of all such voters  appear  as
    23  part of the address on such communication.
    24    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.