S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
S. 1099 A. 775
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
S E N A T E - A S S E M B L Y
January 10, 2019
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IN SENATE -- Introduced by Sens. CARLUCCI, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BENJAMIN,
BIAGGI, BRESLIN, BROOKS, COMRIE, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCK-
HAM, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, KAMINSKY, KAPLAN, KAVANAGH, KENNEDY, KRUEGER,
LIU, MARTINEZ, MAY, MAYER, METZGER, MONTGOMERY, MYRIE, PARKER,
PERSAUD, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SAVINO, SEPULVEDA, SERRANO,
SKOUFIS, STAVISKY, STEWART-COUSINS, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered
printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Elections
IN ASSEMBLY -- Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, LAVINE, L. ROSENTHAL,
GLICK, ENGLEBRIGHT, CRESPO, LUPARDO, FAHY, COLTON, MOSLEY, ABINANTI,
ZEBROWSKI, OTIS, SIMON, ROZIC, JAFFEE, BUCHWALD, RYAN, CUSICK, PAULIN,
HEVESI, CARROLL, GALEF, RAMOS, LIFTON, VANEL, D'URSO, SEAWRIGHT,
WRIGHT, NIOU, BLAKE, BURKE, CRUZ, EICHENSTEIN, EPSTEIN, FALL, FRONTUS,
GRIFFIN, HEASTIE, JACOBSON, McMAHON, RAYNOR, REYES, THIELE, WEINSTEIN
-- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BRONSON, CAHILL, COOK, GOTTFRIED --
read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to voter registration
transfers
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 4, and 8 of section 5-208 of the election
law, subdivisions 1 and 8 as amended by chapter 200 of the laws of 1996,
subdivision 4 as added by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, are amended
and a new subdivision 9 is added to read as follows:
1. The board of elections shall transfer the registration and enroll-
ment of any voter APPEARING ON A STATEWIDE VOTER LIST PURSUANT TO SUBDI-
VISION ONE OF SECTION 5-614 OF THIS ARTICLE for whom it receives a
notice of change of address to another address in [the same county or
city] NEW YORK STATE, or for any voter who [casts] SUBMITS a ballot in
an affidavit ballot envelope which sets forth such a new address. Such
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01332-02-9
S. 1099 2 A. 775
notices shall include, but not be limited to, notices received from any
state agency which conducts a voter registration program pursuant to the
provisions of sections 5-211 and 5-212 of this title, that the voter has
notified such agency of a change of address in [the same city or county]
NEW YORK STATE unless the voter has indicated that such change of
address is not for voter registration purposes, notices of change of
address from the United States Postal Service through the National
Change of Address System, any notices of a forwarding address on mail
sent to a voter by the board of elections and returned by the postal
service, national or state voter registration forms, confirmation mail-
ing response cards, United States Postal Service notices to correspond-
ents of change of address, applications for registration from persons
already registered in [such county or city] NEW YORK STATE, or any other
notices to correspondents sent to the board of elections by such voters.
4. If such application for registration from a voter already regis-
tered in [such county or city] NEW YORK STATE also reflects a change of
enrollment, the board of elections shall treat such application as an
application for change of enrollment pursuant to section 5-304 of this
article.
8. If the board of elections receives notice of a change of address
within [such city or county] NEW YORK STATE from, or with respect to, a
person who it determines is not registered in [such county or city] NEW
YORK STATE, it shall forthwith send such person a notice to that effect
in a form approved by the state board of elections at the new address
set forth in such notice of change of address, together with a voter
registration form.
9. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL PROMULGATE REGULATIONS AS TO THE
PROCEDURES FOR TRANSFERRING A VOTER FROM ONE COUNTY TO ANOTHER.
§ 2. Subparagraph (ii) of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section
8-302 of the election law, as amended by chapter 164 of the laws of
2010, is amended to read as follows:
(ii) He or she may swear to and subscribe an affidavit stating that he
or she has duly registered to vote, the address in such election
district from which he or she registered, that he or she remains a duly
qualified voter in such election district, that his or her registration
poll record appears to be lost or misplaced or that his or her name
and/or his or her signature was omitted from the computer generated
registration list or that he or she has moved within [the county or
city] NEW YORK STATE since he or she last registered, the address from
which he or she was previously registered and the address at which he or
she currently resides, and at a primary election, the party in which he
or she is enrolled. The inspectors of election shall offer such an affi-
davit to each such voter whose residence address is in such election
district. Each such affidavit shall be in a form prescribed by the
state board of elections, shall be printed on an envelope of the size
and quality used for an absentee ballot envelope, and shall contain an
acknowledgment that the affiant understands that any false statement
made therein is perjury punishable according to law. Such form
prescribed by the state board of elections shall request information
required to register such voter should the county board determine that
such voter is not registered and shall constitute an application to
register to vote. The voter's name and the entries required shall then
be entered without delay and without further inquiry in the fourth
section of the challenge report or in the place provided at the end of
the computer generated registration list, with the notation that the
voter has executed the affidavit hereinabove prescribed, or, if such
S. 1099 3 A. 775
person's name appears on the computer generated registration list, the
board of elections may provide a place to make such entry next to his or
her name on such list. The voter shall then, without further inquiry,
be permitted to vote an affidavit ballot provided for by this chapter.
Such ballot shall thereupon be placed in the envelope containing his or
her affidavit, and the envelope sealed and returned to the board of
elections in the manner provided by this chapter for protested official
ballots, including a statement of the number of such ballots.
§ 3. Subdivision 1 of section 4-117 of the election law, as amended by
chapter 3 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
1. The board of elections, between August first and August fifth of
each year, shall send by mail on which is endorsed such language desig-
nated by the state board of elections to ensure postal authorities do
not forward such mail but return it to the board of elections with
forwarding information, when it cannot be delivered as addressed and
which contains a request that any such mail received for persons not
residing at the address be dropped back in the mail, a communication, in
a form approved by the state board of elections, to every registered
voter who has been registered without a change of address since the
beginning of such year, except that the board of elections shall not be
required to send such communications to voters in inactive status. The
communication shall notify the voter of the days and hours of the ensu-
ing primary and general elections, the place where he appears by his
registration records to be entitled to vote, the fact that voters who
have moved or will have moved from the address where they were last
registered must [re-register or, that if such move was to another
address in the same county or city, that such voter may] either notify
the board of elections of his new address or vote by paper ballot at the
polling place for his new address even if such voter has not re-regis-
tered, or otherwise notified the board of elections of the change of
address. If the primary will not be held on the first Tuesday after the
second Monday in September, the communication shall contain a conspicu-
ous notice in all capital letters and bold font notifying the voter of
the primary date. If the location of the polling place for the voter's
election district has been moved, the communication shall contain the
following legend in bold type: "YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED. YOU
NOW VOTE AT..........". The communication shall also indicate whether
the polling place is accessible to physically disabled voters, that a
voter who will be out of the city or county on the day of the primary or
general election or a voter who is ill or physically disabled may obtain
an absentee ballot, that a physically disabled voter whose polling place
is not accessible may request that his registration record be moved to
an election district which has a polling place which is accessible, the
phone number to call for applications to move a registration record or
for absentee ballot applications, the phone number to call for the
location of registration and polling places, the phone number to call to
indicate that the voter is willing to serve on election day as an
election inspector, poll clerk, interpreter or in other capacities, the
phone number to call to obtain an application for registration by mail,
and such other information concerning the elections or registration as
the board may include. In lieu of sending such communication to every
registered voter, the board of elections may send a single communication
to a household containing more than one registered voter, provided that
the names of all such voters appear as part of the address on such
communication.
S. 1099 4 A. 775
§ 4. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 5-400 of the election
law, as amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read
as follows:
(a) Moved his OR HER residence outside the [city or county in which he
is registered] STATE.
§ 5. Paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of subdivision 2 of section 5-400 of
the election law, paragraphs (b) and (d) as added by section 20 and
paragraph (c) as added and paragraph (d) as relettered by section 22 of
chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, are amended to read as follows:
(b) A notice that the registrant has moved to an address outside the
[city or county] STATE which is signed by the registrant and sent to the
board of elections.
(c) A notice signed by the registrant which states that such regis-
trant has moved to an address outside the [city or county] STATE and
that such change of address is for voter registration purposes.
(d) A notice from a board of elections or other voter registration
officer or agency that such person has registered to vote from an
address outside [such city or county] THE STATE.
§ 6. The opening paragraph of section 9-209 of the election law, as
amended by chapter 163 of the laws of 2010, is amended to read as
follows:
Before completing the canvass of votes cast in any primary, general,
special, or other election at which voters are required to sign their
registration poll records before voting, the board of elections shall
proceed in the manner hereinafter prescribed to cast and canvass any
absentee, military, special presidential, special federal or other
special ballots and any ballots voted by voters who moved within the
[county or city] STATE after registering, voters who are in inactive
status, voters whose registration was incorrectly transferred to another
address even though they did not move, voters whose registration poll
records were missing on the day of such election, voters who have not
had their identity previously verified and voters whose registration
poll records did not show them to be enrolled in the party in which they
claimed to be enrolled. Each such ballot shall be retained in the
original envelope containing the voter's affidavit and signature, in
which it is delivered to the board of elections until such time as it is
to be cast and canvassed.
§ 7. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
have become a law.
