Bill Text: NY A03338 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to designating early polling places.
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-1)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-27 - referred to election law [A03338 Detail]
Download: New_York-2025-A03338-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3338 2025-2026 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 27, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BORES, SIMONE, LUPARDO, EPSTEIN, SEAWRIGHT, WOER- NER, STERN, RA -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to designating early poll- ing places The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 4-104 of the election law, 2 subdivision 1 as amended by chapter 5 of the laws of 2019 and subdivi- 3 sion 3 as amended by chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, are amended to 4 read as follows: 5 1. Every board of elections shall, in consultation with each city, 6 town and village, designate the polling places in each election district 7 in which the meetings for the registration of voters, and for any 8 election may be held. The board of trustees of each village in which 9 general and special village elections conducted by the board of 10 elections are held at a time other than the time of a general election 11 shall submit such a list of polling places for such village elections to 12 the board of elections. A polling place may be located in a building 13 owned by a religious organization or used by it as a place of worship. 14 If such a building is designated as a polling place, it shall not be 15 required to be open for voter registration on any Saturday if this is 16 contrary to the religious beliefs of the religious organization. In such 17 a situation, the board of elections shall designate an alternate 18 location to be used for voter registration. Such polling places must be 19 designated by March fifteenth, of each year, and shall be effective for 20 one year thereafter. Such a list required to be submitted by a village 21 board of trustees must be submitted at least four months before each 22 general village election and shall be effective until four months before 23 the subsequent general village election. [No place in which a business24licensed to sell alcoholic beverages for on premises consumption isEXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02511-01-5A. 3338 2 1conducted on any day of local registration or of voting shall be so2designated.] If, within the discretion of the board of elections a 3 particular polling place so designated is subsequently found to be 4 unsuitable or unsafe or should circumstances arise that make a desig- 5 nated polling place unsuitable or unsafe, then the board of elections is 6 empowered to select an alternative meeting place. In the city of New 7 York, the board of elections shall designate such polling places and 8 alternate registration places if the polling place cannot be used for 9 voter registration on Saturdays. 10 3. A board or body empowered to designate polling places shall desig- 11 nate any public building as a polling place to the extent practicable, 12 provided, however, that in no case shall a public school building be 13 designated as an early voting polling location. If additional polling 14 places shall be needed, a building exempt from taxation or owned by an 15 entity receiving more than one million dollars in annual state grant 16 funding shall be used [whenever possible] as a polling place if it is 17 situated in the same or a contiguous election district, and may contain 18 as many distinctly separate polling places as public convenience may 19 require, unless the owner or operator of such building shall demonstrate 20 that such use is significantly incompatible with the primary function of 21 the entity. The expense, if any, incidental to its use, shall be paid 22 like the expense of other places of registration and voting. If a board 23 or body empowered to designate polling places chooses a public school 24 building for such purpose, the board or agency which controls such 25 building must make available a room or rooms in such building which are 26 suitable for registration and voting and which are as close as possible 27 to a convenient entrance to such building and must make available any 28 such room or rooms which the board or body designating such building 29 determines are accessible to physically disabled voters as provided in 30 subdivision one-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, 31 special or local law, if a board or body empowered to designate polling 32 places chooses a publicly owned or leased building, other than a public 33 school building, for such purposes the board or body which controls such 34 building must make available a room or rooms in such building which are 35 suitable for registration and voting and which are as close as possible 36 to a convenient entrance to such building, and must make available any 37 such room or rooms which the board or body designating such building 38 determines are accessible to physically disabled voters unless, not 39 later than thirty days after notice of its designation as a polling 40 place, the board or body controlling such building, files a written 41 request for a cancellation of such designation with the board or body 42 empowered to designate polling places on such form as shall be provided 43 by the board or body making such designation. The board or body 44 empowered to so designate shall, within twenty days after such request 45 is filed, determine whether the use of such building as a polling place 46 would unreasonably interfere with the usual activities conducted in such 47 building and upon such determination, may cancel such designation. 48 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
