Bill Text: NY A10700 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Requires absentee ballots to be provided to all qualified voters and relates to the delivery of absentee ballots.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-07-01 - referred to election law [A10700 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A10700-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          10700

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                      July 1, 2020
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  COMMITTEE  ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. L. Rosen-
          thal) -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law

        AN ACT to amend the election law,  in  relation  to  providing  absentee
          ballots  to  all  qualified  voters; and to repeal certain sections of
          such law relating thereto

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Sections 8-400 and 8-402 of the election law are REPEALED
     2  and a new section 8-400 is added to read as follows:
     3    § 8-400. Absentee voting. Notwithstanding any provision of law to  the
     4  contrary,  a  qualified  voter  may vote as an absentee voter under this
     5  chapter.
     6    § 2.  Section 8-406 of the election law, as amended by chapter 296  of
     7  the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:
     8    §  8-406.  Absentee  ballots[,]; delivery of. [If the board shall find
     9  that the applicant  is  a  qualified  voter  of  the  election  district
    10  containing  his residence as stated in his statement and that his state-
    11  ment is sufficient, it shall, as soon as practicable after it shall have
    12  determined his right thereto, mail to him at an  address  designated  by
    13  him,  or deliver to him, or to any person designated for such purpose in
    14  writing by him, at the office of the board,  such  an  absentee  voter's
    15  ballot  or  set  of  ballots  and an envelope therefor. If the ballot or
    16  ballots are to be sent outside of the United States to a  country  other
    17  than Canada or Mexico, such ballot or ballots shall be sent by air mail.
    18  However,  if  an  applicant  who is eligible for an absentee ballot is a
    19  resident of a facility operated or licensed by, or under  the  jurisdic-
    20  tion  of,  the department of mental hygiene, or a resident of a facility
    21  defined as a nursing home or residential health care  facility  pursuant
    22  to  subdivisions two and three of section two thousand eight hundred one
    23  of the public health law, or a resident of a hospital or other  facility
    24  operated  by  the  Veteran's  Administration  of the United States, such
    25  absentee ballot need not be so mailed or delivered to any such applicant
    26  but, may be delivered to the voter in the manner prescribed  by  section
    27  8-407  of this chapter if such facility is located in the county or city

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD16826-02-0
        A. 10700                            2

     1  in which such voter is eligible to vote.] 1. The board of elections  for
     2  all  counties or cities shall mail an absentee ballot and a return post-
     3  age guaranteed envelope to every registered and qualified voter residing
     4  in  such  county  or city. Such absentee ballot shall be mailed to every
     5  registered and qualified voter at the address given on his or her regis-
     6  tration records, or at an address specified by such  voter  pursuant  to
     7  subdivision  three of this section, no later than thirty days before the
     8  scheduled election is to be held.
     9    2. In the case of a primary election, the  board  of  elections  shall
    10  deliver  only  the ballot of the party in which the records of the board
    11  of elections show the absentee voter to be  enrolled.  In  the  event  a
    12  primary  election  is  uncontested  in  the  absentee  voter's  election
    13  district for all offices or  positions  except  the  party  position  of
    14  member  of  the ward, town, city or county committee, no ballot shall be
    15  delivered to such absentee voter for such  election;  and  the  absentee
    16  voter shall be advised why he or she is not being sent a ballot.
    17    3. Any voter, upon application, may request that their absentee ballot
    18  be  mailed  to them at an address other than their permanent address, if
    19  he or she expects to be absent from the county or city of residence  and
    20  unable to obtain their absentee ballot.
    21    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.