Bill Text: NY S06302 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Requires the board of elections to print in bold type the date and time of all upcoming primary and general elections on address verification notices sent out prior to elections.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2020-10-07 - signed chap.200 [S06302 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-S06302-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         6302--A

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                      June 3, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  MYRIE  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be  committed  to  the  Committee  on  Rules  --  committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN  ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the notice of the days
          and hours for voting in primary and general elections

          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  separately amended by chapters 3 and 5 of the laws of 2019,  is  amended
     3  to read as follows:
     4    1. The board of elections, not less than sixty-five days nor more than
     5  seventy  days  before  the  primary election in each year, shall send by
     6  mail on which is endorsed such language designated by the state board of
     7  elections to ensure postal authorities do  not  forward  such  mail  but
     8  return it to the board of elections with forwarding information, when it
     9  cannot  be  delivered as addressed and which contains a request that any
    10  such mail received for persons not residing at the  address  be  dropped
    11  back in the mail, a communication, in a form approved by the state board
    12  of  elections, to every registered voter who has been registered without
    13  a change of address since the beginning of such year,  except  that  the
    14  board  of elections shall not be required to send such communications to
    15  voters in inactive status. The communication shall notify the  voter  in
    16  bold print contained in such notice of the days and hours of the ensuing
    17  primary  and general elections, the place where he or she appears by his
    18  or her registration records to be entitled to vote, and  also  in  other
    19  than bold type of the fact that voters who have moved or will have moved
    20  from  the address where they were last registered must either notify the
    21  board of elections of his or her new address or vote by paper ballot  at
    22  the  polling place for his or her new address even if such voter has not
    23  re-registered, or otherwise notified  the  board  of  elections  of  the

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06676-05-9
        S. 6302--A                          2

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