BILL NUMBER:S875

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:

Section 1. Adds a new subdivision 6-a to section 3-400 of the election
law to authorize 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.

Section 2. Effective date.

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:  2014: S6535/A3515 - Elections/3rd Reading
Calendar

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.