Bill Text: NY S01014 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

---

Bill Title: Provides that recounts of ballots conducted by the board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by the board can be either done manually or via the use of any automated tool authorized for such use by the board of elections, which is independent from the voting system it is being used to recount, of all ballots for a particular contest where the margin of victory is less than or equal to 0.5% but greater than 0.25%; allows for losing candidates to deny a recount before any recount is conducted.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S01014 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S01014-Introduced.html

---

                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1014

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                     January 9, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sens. COONEY, BROUK -- 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 recounts of ballots
          conducted  by  the  board  of  elections  or  a  bipartisan  committee
          appointed by the board

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

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 9-208  of  the  election  law,  as
     2  added  by  section  1  of  part JJ of chapter 55 of the laws of 2020, is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    4. (a) The board of elections or a bipartisan committee  appointed  by
     5  the  board  shall  conduct  a  full  manual recount of all ballots for a
     6  particular contest:
     7    i. Where the margin of victory is [twenty] ten votes or less; or
     8    ii. Where the margin of victory is [0.5%] 0.25% or less; or
     9    iii. In a contest where one million or more ballots have been cast and
    10  the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes.
    11    (b) The board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by  the
    12  board shall conduct a full recount, manually or via the use of any auto-
    13  mated tool authorized for such a use by the board of elections, which is
    14  independent  from the voting system it is being used to recount, of  all
    15  ballots  for a particular contest where the margin of  victory  is  less
    16  than or equal to 0.5% but greater than 0.25%.
    17    (c) For the purposes of this section, the term margin of victory shall
    18  mean  the  margin between all votes cast in the entire contest following
    19  the recanvass of votes.
    20    [(c)] (d) Where the contest involves portions of two or more counties,
    21  the margin of  victory  shall  be  determined  by  the  state  board  of
    22  elections  based  on  the  most recent recanvass results for the contest
    23  submitted by the boards of elections of the counties involved.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01912-01-3
        S. 1014                             2

     1    [(d)] (e) The result of the [manual] recount of ballots  shall  super-
     2  sede  the  returns  filed  by the inspectors of election of the election
     3  district in which the canvass was initially made.
     4    (f)  Any candidate who is deemed to be losing a contest by the margins
     5  set forth  in  this  subdivision  shall,  prior  to  any  recount  being
     6  conducted,  have  the ability to reject a recount and concede victory of
     7  such contest.
     8    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.