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

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6302

                               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

        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 of at least sixteen point font contained in  such  notice  of
    17  the  days  and  hours  of the ensuing primary and general elections, the
    18  place where he or she appears by his or her registration records  to  be
    19  entitled  to  vote,  and  also  in other than bold type of the fact that
    20  voters who have moved or will have moved from  the  address  where  they
    21  were last registered must either notify the board of elections of his or
    22  her  new address or vote by paper ballot at the polling place for his or
    23  her new address even if such voter has not re-registered,  or  otherwise
    24  notified the board of elections of the change of address. If the primary
    25  will not be held on the first Tuesday after the second Monday in Septem-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD06676-03-9
        S. 6302                             2

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