BILL NUMBER:S56

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the election law, in relation to change of enrollment

PURPOSE:
Under current law, when a registered voter seeks to change
his/her party enrollment to a different party, enroll in a party
(when not previously enrolled in any party), or to end his/her
enrollment in a party, the effective change of that enrollment i.s
deferred until the first Tuesday following the general election. As a
result, voters wishing to make such changes of enrollment may have to
wait as long as thirteen months to see their changes of enrollment
take effect. Under this bill, changes of enrollment would take effect
twenty-five (25) days after such changes were applied for. This new
timeframe would coincide with the deadlines for voter registration
thus simplifying the process for both voters and county boards of
elections.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Subdivision 3 of Section 5-304
of the election law to make changes of enrollment effective
twenty-five (25) days after they are applied for.
Section 2 sets the effective date.

              

JUSTIFICATION:
Of paramount importance in a democratic society is not
just to be able to vote for the candidate of one's choice but also to
be able to select the candidates who appear on the ballot. In fact,
in many instances this selection is more significant than the general
election itself. In New York, voters get to partake in this selection
process by means of primary elections. Unfortunately, many voters
discover that they are unable to vote in the party primary of their
choice because they are not enrolled in a party or are not enrolled
in the party whose primary they wish to vote in. Voters who seek
changes of enrollment discover that such changes would not be
effective until after the November elections, not in time to be able
to vote in the Presidential Primaries themselves. For example, voters
who wished to change their party enrollment for any of the 2008
elections (including the February Presidential primary, the September
primary or the November election) would have had to apply for a
change of enrollment in early October of 2007, four months before the
Presidential primary. Though voters are disenfranchised in greater
numbers in the Presidential primaries than in the annual September
primaries, this problem is experienced
by voters every year in the September primary. Voters who
wished to change their party enrollment so that they could vote in
the 2008 September primary would have also had to apply for a change
of enrollment in early October of 2007, eleven (11) months before the
September primary. This bill would ensure that voters are fully able
to partake in all steps of the electoral process; including the
candidate selection process.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:


2009-10: S.4543 - Elections - A.408 - Election Law
2008:    A.8035 (Kavanagh) - Election Law
2007:    A.8035 (Kavanagh) - Election Law
2007:    A.2972  (Grannis) - Election Law
2006:    A.1829  (Grannis) - Election Law
2005:    A.1829  (Grannis) - Election Law
2004:    A.711   (Grannis) - Election Law
2003:    A.711   (Grannis) - Election Law
2002:    A.7041A (Grannis) - Election Law
2001:    A.7041  (Grannis) - Election Law

FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE:
None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect sixty days after it shall
have become a law.