BILL NUMBER:S543

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the election law, in relation to the appointment of college and
university students as election inspectors

PURPOSE:
Permits boards of elections to hire college and university students as
elections inspectors without compliance with certain requirements.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Amends the election law to add a new subdivision 6-a to section 3-400
which authorizes local boards of election to recruit full-time
students from college and university in the city or county to serve
as election inspectors, even if they do not reside in that city or
county. Such student election inspectors would be exempt from the
current county residency requirements, but must be registered voters
residing in New York state, and meet all other existing statutory
requirements.

JUSTIFICATION:
Every year at election time, election districts around the state are
plagued by a shortage of trained staff to operate as elections
inspectors at local polling places. One consequence of this chronic
shortage is that several election districts are often forced to vote
              

in a single polling place, an inconvenience for voters who would
prefer to cast their ballots closer to home and an administrative
nightmare for election workers who must maintain and close down
several machines. In a presidential election year or a year with
several hotly contested races, these staffing shortages are felt more
acutely. In some areas of New York city, voters were forced to wait
for 2-3 hours to cast their ballots during the 2000 General Election.

To ensure that every New Yorker can fully participate in the election
process, we need to increase the number of trained election inspectors.
New recruitment is especially important now because many of the
current inspectors are senior citizens and will retire from their
poll watching duties in the next few years. I propose that New York
solve its election inspector shortage by exploiting a heretofore
untapped labor pool college students. By recruiting young people as
inspectors, New York will help alleviate a current crisis while
ensuring an adequate pool of polling place personnel for many years
to come.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2002 - A.4823 - Referred to Elections
2004 - A.3243 - Referred to Elections
2006 - S.4427 - Referred to Elections
2008 - S.2255 - Referred to Elections
2010 - S.1837 - Referred to Elections; Passed Senate

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:


This act shall take effect immediately.