Bill Text: NY S00417 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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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 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-12 - ADVANCED TO THIRD READING [S00417 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-S00417-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                           417

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                       (Prefiled)

                                     January 8, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by Sen. GIANARIS -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections

        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
    23  by  the  total  number of ballots cast on which the contest appeared and
    24  then multiplying the quotient by one hundred.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00720-01-5
        S. 417                              2

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