Bill Text: NY S00466 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to certain absentee ballots received by a board of elections that do not bear or display a dated postmark.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 7-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S00466 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-S00466-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 466 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN SENATE (Prefiled) January 6, 2021 ___________ Introduced by Sens. MYRIE, COMRIE, GOUNARDES, HOYLMAN, LIU, MAY, RAMOS -- 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 certain absentee ballots received by a board of elections that do not bear or display a dated postmark 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 8-412 of the election law, as 2 amended by chapter 140 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as 3 follows: 4 1. The board of elections shall cause all absentee ballots received by 5 it before the close of the polls on election day and all ballots 6 contained in envelopes [showing a cancellation mark of] submitted to the 7 United States postal service or a foreign country's postal service, or 8 [showing a dated endorsement of receipt by] another agency of the United 9 States government, with a date which is ascertained to be not later than 10 the day of the election and received by such board of elections not 11 later than seven days following the day of election to be cast and 12 counted. For purposes of this section, any absentee ballot received by 13 the board of elections by mail that does not bear or display a dated 14 postmark shall be presumed to have been timely mailed or delivered if 15 such ballot bears a time stamp of the receiving board of elections indi- 16 cating receipt by such board on the day after the election. The board of 17 elections shall affix to each absentee ballot envelope a unique bar code 18 that permits the board of elections to ascertain the date upon which an 19 absentee ballot is submitted to the United States postal service or a 20 foreign country's postal service, or another agency of the United States 21 government. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02497-01-1S. 466 2 1 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 8-412 of the election law, as amended by 2 chapter 140 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as follows: 3 1. The board of elections shall cause all absentee ballots received by 4 it before the close of the polls on election day and all ballots 5 contained in envelopes [showing a cancellation mark of] submitted to the 6 United States postal service or a foreign country's postal service, or 7 [showing a dated endorsement of receipt by] another agency of the United 8 States government, with a date which is ascertained to be not later than 9 the day of the election and received by such board of elections not 10 later than seven days following the day of election to be cast and 11 counted except that the absentee ballot of a voter who requested such 12 ballot by letter, rather than application, shall not be counted unless a 13 valid application form, signed by such voter, is received by the board 14 of elections with such ballot. For purposes of this section, any absen- 15 tee ballot received by the board of elections by mail that does not bear 16 or display a dated postmark shall be presumed to have been timely mailed 17 or delivered if such ballot bears a time stamp of the receiving board of 18 elections indicating receipt by such board on the day after the 19 election. The board of elections shall affix to each absentee ballot 20 envelope a unique bar code that permits the board of elections to ascer- 21 tain the date upon which an absentee ballot is submitted to the United 22 States postal service or a foreign country's postal service, or another 23 agency of the United States government. 24 § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 8-412 of the election law is renumbered 25 subdivision 3 and a new subdivision 2 is added to read as follows: 26 2. An absentee ballot that has no cancellation mark, a cancellation 27 mark with no date, or an illegible cancellation mark, and no other 28 information is available from the United States postal service or a 29 foreign country's postal service, or another agency of the United States 30 government to indicate the date on which the absentee ballot was mailed, 31 the absentee ballot shall be timely cast and canvassed if it is received 32 by the board of elections through the United States postal service or a 33 foreign country's postal service or another agency of the United States 34 government, no later than the seventh day after the election day and the 35 absentee ballot affidavit envelope is signed and dated on or before the 36 day of election. 37 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to 38 elections occurring on or after such effective date, provided, however, 39 that the amendments to subdivision 1 of section 8-412 of the election 40 law made by section one of this act shall be subject to the expiration 41 and reversion of such subdivision pursuant to section 7 of chapter 91 of 42 the laws of 2020 as amended, when upon such date the provisions of 43 section two of this act shall take effect.
