STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8552
IN SENATE
March 11, 2022
___________
Introduced by Sen. MYRIE -- 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 requiring the board of
elections to mail notice of ensuing primary and general elections and
registration information to active voters between the third Tuesday in
April and the second Friday in May each year
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 4-117 of the election law, as
2 amended by chapter 200 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. The board of elections, [not less than sixty-five days nor more
5 than seventy days before the primary election] between the third Tuesday
6 in April and the second Friday in May in each year, shall send by mail
7 on which is endorsed such language designated by the state board of
8 elections to ensure postal authorities do not forward such mail but
9 return it to the board of elections with forwarding information, when it
10 cannot be delivered as addressed and which contains a request that any
11 such mail received for persons not residing at the address be dropped
12 back in the mail, a communication, in a form approved by the state board
13 of elections, to every registered voter who has been registered without
14 a change of address since the beginning of such year, except that the
15 board of elections shall not be required to send such communications to
16 voters in inactive status. The communication shall notify the voter in
17 bold print contained in such notice of the days and hours of the ensuing
18 primary and general elections, the place where he or she appears by his
19 or her registration records to be entitled to vote, and also in other
20 than bold type of the fact that voters who have moved or will have moved
21 from the address where they were last registered must either notify the
22 board of elections of his or her new address or vote by paper ballot at
23 the polling place for his or her new address even if such voter has not
24 re-registered, or otherwise notified the board of elections of the
25 change of address. If the primary will not be held on the first Tuesday
26 after the second Monday in September, the communication shall contain a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15015-01-2
S. 8552 2
1 conspicuous notice in all capital letters and bold font notifying the
2 voter of the primary date. If the location of the polling place for the
3 voter's election district has been moved, the communication shall
4 contain the following legend in bold type: "YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN
5 CHANGED. YOU NOW VOTE AT..........". The communication shall also indi-
6 cate whether the polling place is accessible to physically disabled
7 voters, that a voter who will be out of the city or county on the day of
8 the primary or general election or a voter who is ill or physically
9 disabled may obtain an absentee ballot, that a physically disabled voter
10 whose polling place is not accessible may request that his registration
11 record be moved to an election district which has a polling place which
12 is accessible, the phone number to call for applications to move a
13 registration record or for absentee ballot applications, the phone
14 number to call for the location of registration and polling places, the
15 phone number to call to indicate that the voter is willing to serve on
16 election day as an election inspector, poll clerk, interpreter or in
17 other capacities, the phone number to call to obtain an application for
18 registration by mail, and such other information concerning the
19 elections or registration as the board may include. In lieu of sending
20 such communication to every registered voter, the board of elections may
21 send a single communication to a household containing more than one
22 registered voter, provided that the names of all such voters appear as
23 part of the address on such communication.
24 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.