Bill Text: NY A08296 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Enacts the "Count Every Vote Act of New York" which amends the procedure for the recanvass of votes in election districts; defines margin of victory for the purpose of triggering a hand recount of ballots.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-06-03 - print number 8296a [A08296 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A08296-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         8296--A

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    November 27, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of A. DINOWITZ, CARROLL -- read once and referred to
          the Committee on Election Law  --  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on
          Election  Law  in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee
          discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
          to said committee

        AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the procedure  for  the
          recanvass of votes in election districts

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as  "The  Count
     2  Every Vote Act of New York".
     3    §  2.  Subdivision 4 of section 9-208 of the election law, as added by
     4  section 1 of part JJ of chapter 55 of the laws of 2020,  paragraphs  (d)
     5  and  (e)  as  amended  by chapter 474 of the laws of 2023, is amended to
     6  read as follows:
     7    4. (a) The board of elections or a bipartisan committee  appointed  by
     8  the  board  shall  conduct  a  full [manual] hand recount of all ballots
     9  [for] cast on which a particular contest appeared:
    10    i. Where the margin of victory is twenty votes or less; or
    11    ii. Where the margin of victory is 0.5% or less; or
    12    iii. In a contest where one million or more ballots have been cast and
    13  the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes.
    14    (b) For the purposes of this section, the term margin of victory shall
    15  mean the [margin between all votes cast in the entire  contest]  differ-
    16  ence  between  the  number  of  votes cast for the winning candidate who
    17  received the fewest votes and the losing candidate who received the most
    18  votes; or the difference between  the  number  of  votes  cast  for  and
    19  against a ballot proposal following the recanvass of votes.
    20    (c) For the purposes of this section, the margin of victory percentage
    21  of  one-half of one percent (0.5%) or less shall be calculated by divid-
    22  ing the margin of victory defined in  paragraph (b) of this  subdivision

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13557-03-4
        A. 8296--A                          2

     1  by  the  total  number of ballots cast on which the contest appeared and
     2  then multiplying the quotient by one hundred.
     3    (d) Where the contest [involves] appeared on the ballot in two or more
     4  counties,  portions of two or more counties, or a portion of one or more
     5  counties and a portion of the city of New York, the margin  of  victory,
     6  as  defined in paragraph (b) of this subdivision, shall be determined by
     7  the state board of elections based on the most recent recanvass  results
     8  for  the  contest  submitted by the boards of elections of [the counties
     9  involved] those jurisdictions.  The margin of victory  percentage  shall
    10  be determined as required by paragraph (c) of this subdivision.
    11    [(d)]  (e)  No  board of elections shall commence a full [manual] hand
    12  recount of a particular contest unless and until such board of elections
    13  has completed and announced the results of  the  recanvass  required  by
    14  subdivision one of this section, for each applicable election district.
    15    [(e)]  (f)  The  result  of  the [manual] full hand recount of ballots
    16  required by paragraph  (a)  of  this  subdivision  shall  supersede  the
    17  returns  filed  by  the  inspectors  of election of [the] every election
    18  district in which the canvass was initially made.
    19    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.