Bill Text: NY S01824 | 2017-2018 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Requires the board of elections to provide email notifications to voters whenever they change the location of a polling place.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-01-03 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S01824 Detail]

Download: New_York-2017-S01824-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          1824
                               2017-2018 Regular Sessions
                    IN SENATE
                                    January 11, 2017
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by  Sen. KENNEDY -- 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 email notification of a
          change in location of a polling place
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  2  of  section  4-104 of the election law is
     2  amended to read as follows:
     3    2. If the board of elections, after designating a polling  place,  and
     4  after  sending  written  notice of such polling place to each registered
     5  voter, designates an alternative polling place, it must, at  least  five
     6  days  before the next election or day for registration, send by mail and
     7  email a written notice to each registered voter notifying him or her  of
     8  the changed location of such polling place. If such notice is not possi-
     9  ble  the  board  of  elections  must  provide for an alternative form of
    10  notice to be given to voters at the location  of  the  previous  polling
    11  place.
    12    §  2.  Paragraph (a) of subdivision 5 of section 4-104 of the election
    13  law, as amended by chapter 95 of the laws of 1995, is amended to read as
    14  follows:
    15    (a) Whenever the number of voters eligible to vote in an  election  in
    16  any election district is less than one hundred, the polling place desig-
    17  nated  for  such district may be the polling place of any other district
    18  which could properly be designated as the polling  place  of  the  first
    19  mentioned  district  pursuant  to the provisions of this chapter, except
    20  that the polling place designated for any such district may be the poll-
    21  ing place of any other district in such city or town provided  that  the
    22  distance  from  such  first  mentioned district to the polling place for
    23  such other district is not unreasonable pursuant to rules or regulations
    24  prescribed by the state board of elections and provided that  the  total
    25  number  of  persons  eligible  to  vote  in  such other district in such
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00890-01-7
        S. 1824                             2
     1  election, including the persons eligible to vote in such first mentioned
     2  districts, is not more than five hundred. The inspectors of election and
     3  poll clerks, if any, of such other election district shall also  act  in
     4  all respects as the election officers for such first mentioned districts
     5  and no other inspectors shall be appointed to serve in or for such first
     6  mentioned districts. A separate poll ledger or computer generated regis-
     7  tration list, separate voting machine or ballots and separate canvass of
     8  results  shall  be  provided  for such first mentioned districts, except
     9  that if the candidates and ballot proposals to be voted on by the voters
    10  of such districts are the same, the election districts shall be combined
    11  and shall constitute a single election district for  that  election.  If
    12  the  polling  place for any election district is moved for any election,
    13  pursuant to the provisions of this subdivision, the board  of  elections
    14  shall,  not  later  than  ten  nor  more  than  fifteen days before such
    15  election, mail, by first class mail, to each voter eligible to  vote  in
    16  such  election  district  at  such  election, a notice setting forth the
    17  location of the polling place for such election and specifying that such
    18  location is for such election only, and email the same  notification  to
    19  any voter that has supplied the board with a valid email address.
    20    §  3.  Paragraph (k) of subdivision 5 of section 5-210 of the election
    21  law is amended by adding a new subparagraph (xiii) to read as follows:
    22    (xiii) A space for the applicant to provide an email address to  which
    23  official correspondence from the state board of elections may be sent.
    24    §  4.  This  act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
    25  have become a law.