Bill Text: NY A00274 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Lowers the voting age to 16 years; requires that students receive education in civics and be given the opportunity to register to vote in the classroom.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 17-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2024-01-03 - referred to election law [A00274 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A00274-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           274

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     January 4, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. CARROLL, COLTON, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, SEAWRIGHT,
          HYNDMAN,   STIRPE,   DINOWITZ,   WALKER,   SIMON,   HEVESI,    THIELE,
          PEOPLES-STOKES, TAYLOR, EPSTEIN, KIM, KELLES -- read once and referred
          to the Committee on Election Law

        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 2 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as
    10  follows:
    11    (g) Notice that the applicant must be a citizen of the United  States,
    12  is  or  will  be  at  least sixteen years old [when he or she submits an
    13  application to register to vote which will be  effective  for  elections
    14  occurring  on  or  after  the applicant turns eighteen years of age] not
    15  later than December thirty-first of the calendar year in which he or she
    16  registers and a resident of the county or city to which  application  is
    17  made.
    18    § 3. Subdivision 3 of section 8-504 of the election law, as renumbered
    19  by chapter 373 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
    20    3.  After  receiving the answers as above specified, of any applicant,
    21  the board shall, if it believes the applicant to  be  qualified  or  the
    22  challenge  is withdrawn, permit him or her to vote. Otherwise, the board

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00545-01-3
        A. 274                              2

     1  shall point out to him or her the qualifications, if any, in respect  of
     2  which he or she shall appear deficient. If, after such deficiencies have
     3  been  so  indicated,  the applicant shall persist in his or her claim to
     4  vote,  an  inspector  shall administer to him or her the following oath,
     5  which shall be known as "The Qualification  Oath":  "You  do  swear  (or
     6  affirm)  that  you  are  [eighteen] sixteen years of age, that you are a
     7  citizen of the United States and that you have been a resident  of  this
     8  state, and of this county (of the city of New York) (village) for thirty
     9  days  next  preceding  this  election, that you still reside at the same
    10  address from which you  have  been  duly  registered  in  this  election
    11  district,  that you have not voted at this election, and that you do not
    12  know of any reason why you are not qualified to vote at  this  election.
    13  You do further declare that you are aware that it is a crime to make any
    14  false statement. That all the statements you have made to the board have
    15  been  true and that you understand that a false statement is perjury and
    16  you will be guilty of a misdemeanor."
    17    § 4. Subdivision 1 of section 801 of the education law, as amended  by
    18  section 27 of part A of chapter 56 of the laws of 2020, is amended and a
    19  new subdivision 6 is added to read as follows:
    20    1.  In  order  to  promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and
    21  obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral  and  intel-
    22  lectual  qualities  which  are  essential in preparing to meet the obli-
    23  gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
    24  of the State of New York  shall  prescribe  courses  of  instruction  in
    25  patriotism,  citizenship, civic education and values, our shared history
    26  of diversity, the role of religious tolerance in this country, and human
    27  rights issues, with particular attention to the study of the  inhumanity
    28  of  genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
    29  road), the Holocaust, and the mass starvation in Ireland  from  1845  to
    30  1850, to be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state. The
    31  boards  of  education  and  trustees  of  the  several cities and school
    32  districts of the state shall require instruction to  be  given  in  such
    33  courses,  by  the  teachers  employed in the schools therein. All pupils
    34  attending such schools, over the age of eight years, shall  attend  upon
    35  such  instruction.  All  pupils  in  the  ninth  and higher grades shall
    36  receive civic education for  at  least  eight  full  class  periods,  in
    37  accordance with the department's 9-12 social studies framework.
    38    Similar  courses  of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
    39  private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over  eight
    40  years  of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
    41  established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
    42  tion in such school shall not  be  deemed  substantially  equivalent  to
    43  instruction  given  to  pupils  of like age in the public schools of the
    44  city or district in which such pupils reside.
    45     6.  a.  The  regents,  in  collaboration  with  the  state  board  of
    46  elections,  shall  make  available  to  each high school two forms to be
    47  distributed to all pupils who shall be sixteen years of age on or before
    48  December thirty-first of each year. Such forms shall be  distributed  on
    49  one date between the second and fifth school day in the month of January
    50  of each year.
    51    b. The first form to be distributed pursuant to this subdivision shall
    52  be  a standard voter registration form as prescribed by section 5-210 of
    53  the election law. Such form shall be completed for each eligible  pupil,
    54  by  school administrators who shall complete each field of the registra-
    55  tion form except the fields  pertaining  to  citizenship  status,  party
    56  affiliation,  signature  and  date. The content of the registration form
        A. 274                              3

     1  shall be explained to all pupils  to  whom  forms  are  distributed  and
     2  pupils shall be directed to correct any incorrect information previously
     3  completed by school administrators.
     4    c.  The  second  form  to  be distributed pursuant to this subdivision
     5  shall be entitled "Voter Registration Opt-Out Form"  and  shall  contain
     6  the  following  statement: "I, the undersigned, decline to register as a
     7  voter in the State of New York at this time,  and  defer  my  choice  of
     8  registration  in the State of New York to a future date of my choosing."
     9  Such form shall be created by the  regents  in  collaboration  with  the
    10  state board of elections.
    11    d.  Pupils  shall  be  given classroom time to have the opportunity to
    12  complete either the standard voter registration form or the voter regis-
    13  tration opt-out form. After pupils have had time to complete both forms,
    14  school administrators shall collect both forms from all pupils  to  whom
    15  the  forms were distributed.  School administrators shall be required to
    16  dispose of all voter registration forms for  pupils  who  elect  to  not
    17  register to vote.
    18    §  5.  This  act  shall  take  effect on the same date as a concurrent
    19  resolution amending the constitution, entitled "CONCURRENT RESOLUTION OF
    20  THE SENATE AND ASSEMBLY proposing amendments to section 1 of  article  2
    21  of  the constitution, in relation to the voting age"; provided, however,
    22  that the amendments made to paragraph (g) of subdivision  5  of  section
    23  5-210  of  the  election law made by section two of this act, shall take
    24  effect immediately.