Bill Text: NY S02273 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended
Bill Title: Lowers the voting age to 16 years and requires that students receive education in civics and be given the opportunity to register to vote in the classroom.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S02273 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S02273-Amended.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2273--A 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE January 23, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sens. HOYLMAN, BAILEY, BENJAMIN, COMRIE, PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the qualifications of voters; and to amend the education law, in relation to civic education and student voter registration 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 5-102 of the election law is 2 amended to read as follows: 3 1. No person shall be qualified to register for and vote at any 4 election unless [he] such person is a citizen of the United States and 5 is or will be, on the day of such election, [eighteen] sixteen years of 6 age or over, and a resident of this state and of the county, city or 7 village for a minimum of thirty days next preceding such election. 8 § 2. Paragraph (g) of subdivision 5 of section 5-210 of the election 9 law, as amended by chapter 179 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read 10 as follows: 11 (g) Notice that the applicant must be a citizen of the United States, 12 is or will be at least [eighteen] sixteen years old not later than 13 December thirty-first of the calendar year in which he or she registers 14 and a resident of the county or city to which application is made. 15 § 2-a. Paragraph (g) of subdivision 5 of section 5-210 of the election 16 law, as amended by chapter 2 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as 17 follows: 18 (g) Notice that the applicant must be a citizen of the United States, 19 is or will be at least sixteen years old [when he or she submits an20application to register to vote which will be effective for elections21occurring on or after the applicant turns eighteen years of age] not 22 later than December thirty-first of the calendar year in which he or she EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02079-03-9S. 2273--A 2 1 registers and a resident of the county or city to which application is 2 made. 3 § 3. Subdivision 3 of section 8-504 of the election law, as renumbered 4 by chapter 373 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows: 5 3. After receiving the answers as above specified, of any applicant, 6 the board shall, if it believes the applicant to be qualified or the 7 challenge is withdrawn, permit him or her to vote. Otherwise, the board 8 shall point out to him or her the qualifications, if any, in respect of 9 which he or she shall appear deficient. If, after such deficiencies have 10 been so indicated, the applicant shall persist in his or her claim to 11 vote, an inspector shall administer to him or her the following oath, 12 which shall be known as "The Qualification Oath": "You do swear (or 13 affirm) that you are [eighteen] sixteen years of age, that you are a 14 citizen of the United States and that you have been a resident of this 15 state, and of this county (of the city of New York) (village) for thirty 16 days next preceding this election, that you still reside at the same 17 address from which you have been duly registered in this election 18 district, that you have not voted at this election, and that you do not 19 know of any reason why you are not qualified to vote at this election. 20 You do further declare that you are aware that it is a crime to make any 21 false statement. That all the statements you have made to the board have 22 been true and that you understand that a false statement is perjury and 23 you will be guilty of a misdemeanor." 24 § 4. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the education law, as 25 amended by chapter 574 of the laws of 1997, are amended and a new subdi- 26 vision 6 is added to read as follows: 27 1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and 28 obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intel- 29 lectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obli- 30 gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University 31 of the State of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in 32 patriotism, citizenship and civics, and human rights issues, with 33 particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery 34 (including the freedom trail and underground railroad), the Holocaust, 35 and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, to be maintained 36 and followed in all the schools of the state. The boards of education 37 and trustees of the several cities and school districts of the state 38 shall require instruction to be given in such courses, by the teachers 39 employed in the schools therein. All pupils attending such schools, over 40 the age of eight years, shall attend upon such instruction. All pupils 41 in the ninth and higher grades shall receive civic education for at 42 least eight full class periods, in accordance with the department's 9-12 43 social studies framework. 44 Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in 45 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools in grades 46 or classes corresponding to the instruction in the eighth and higher 47 grades of the public schools shall attend upon such courses. If such 48 courses are not so established and maintained in a private school, 49 attendance upon instruction in such school shall not be deemed substan- 50 tially equivalent to instruction given to pupils in the public schools 51 of the city or district in which such pupils reside. 52 3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such 53 courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship and civics, and human 54 rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity 55 of genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail- 56 road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 toS. 2273--A 3 1 1850, and in the history, meaning, significance and effect of the 2 provisions of the constitution of the United States, the amendments 3 thereto, the declaration of independence, the constitution of the state 4 of New York and the amendments thereto, and the period of instruction in 5 each of the grades in such subjects. They shall adopt rules providing 6 for attendance upon such instruction and for such other matters as are 7 required for carrying into effect the objects and purposes of this 8 section. The commissioner shall be responsible for the enforcement of 9 such section and shall cause to be inspected and supervise the instruc- 10 tion to be given in such subjects. The commissioner may, in his 11 discretion, cause all or a portion of the public school money to be 12 apportioned to a district or city to be withheld for failure of the 13 school authorities of such district or city to provide instruction in 14 such courses and to compel attendance upon such instruction, as herein 15 prescribed, and for a non-compliance with the rules of the regents 16 adopted as herein provided. 17 6. a. The regents, in collaboration with the state board of 18 elections, shall make available to each high school two forms to be 19 distributed to all pupils who shall be sixteen years of age on or before 20 December thirty-first of each year. Such forms shall be distributed on 21 one date between the second and fifth school day in the month of January 22 of each year. 23 b. The first form to be distributed pursuant to this subdivision shall 24 be a standard voter registration form as prescribed by section 5-210 of 25 the election law. Such form shall be completed for each eligible pupil, 26 by school administrators who shall complete each field of the registra- 27 tion form except the fields pertaining to citizenship status, party 28 affiliation, signature and date. The content of the registration form 29 shall be explained to all pupils to whom forms are distributed and 30 pupils shall be directed to correct any incorrect information previously 31 completed by school administrators. 32 c. The second form to be distributed pursuant to this subdivision 33 shall be entitled "Voter Registration Opt-Out Form" and shall contain 34 the following statement: "I, the undersigned, decline to register as a 35 voter in the State of New York at this time, and defer my choice of 36 registration in the State of New York to a future date of my choosing." 37 Such form shall be created by the regents in collaboration with the 38 state board of elections. 39 d. Pupils shall be given classroom time to have the opportunity to 40 complete either the standard voter registration form or the voter regis- 41 tration opt-out form. After pupils have had time to complete both forms, 42 school administrators shall collect both forms from all pupils to whom 43 the forms were distributed. School administrators shall be required to 44 dispose of all voter registration forms for pupils who elect to not 45 register to vote. 46 § 5. This act shall take effect on the same date as a concurrent 47 resolution amending the constitution, entitled "CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF 48 THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing amendments to section 1 of article 2 49 of the constitution, in relation to the voting age"; provided, however, 50 that the amendments made to paragraph (g) of subdivision 5 of section 51 5-210 of the election law made by section two-a of this act, shall take 52 effect on the same date and same manner as section 2 of chapter 2 of the 53 laws of 2019 takes effect.
