S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8550
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             December 13, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. ABINANTI -- read once and referred to the Commit-
   tee on Election Law
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the election law, in relation to the procedure for the
   recanvass of vote in election districts
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section  1.  Subdivision  4  of  section 9-208 of the election law, as
 added by section 1 of part JJ of chapter 55 of  the  laws  of  2020,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   4.  (a)  The board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by
 the board shall conduct a full [manual]  HAND  recount  of  all  ballots
 [for] CAST ON WHICH a particular contest APPEARED:
   i. Where the margin of victory is twenty votes or less; or
   ii. Where the margin of victory is 0.5% or less; or
   iii. In a contest where one million or more ballots have been cast and
 the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, the term margin of victory shall
 mean  the  [margin  between  all  votes cast in the entire contest] VOTE
 DIFFERENCE THAT DETERMINES THE WINNER OR WINNERS OF THE CONTEST, OR THAT
 DETERMINES WHETHER A PROPOSITION IS APPROVED OR REJECTED BY  THE  VOTERS
 following the recanvass of votes.
   (c) FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, THE MARGIN OF VICTORY PERCENTAGE
 OF  ONE-HALF OF ONE PERCENT (0.5%) OR LESS SHALL BE CALCULATED BY DIVID-
 ING THE MARGIN OF VICTORY DEFINED IN  PARAGRAPH (B) OF THIS  SUBDIVISION
 BY  THE  TOTAL  NUMBER OF BALLOTS CAST ON WHICH THE CONTEST APPEARED AND
 THEN MULTIPLYING THE QUOTIENT BY ONE HUNDRED.
   (D) Where the contest [involves] APPEARED ON THE BALLOT IN TWO OR MORE
 COUNTIES, portions of two or more counties, OR A PORTION OF ONE OR  MORE
 COUNTIES  AND  A PORTION OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK, the margin of victory,
 AS DEFINED IN PARAGRAPH (B) OF THIS SUBDIVISION, shall be determined  by
 the  state board of elections based on the most recent recanvass results
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13549-03-1
              

 A. 8550                             2
 
 for the contest submitted by the boards of elections  of  [the  counties
 involved]  THOSE JURISDICTIONS.   THE MARGIN OF VICTORY PERCENTAGE SHALL
 BE DETERMINED AS REQUIRED BY PARAGRAPH (C) OF THIS SUBDIVISION.
   [(d)]  (E)  The  result  of  the [manual] FULL HAND recount of ballots
 REQUIRED BY PARAGRAPH  (A)  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION  shall  supersede  the
 returns  filed  by  the  inspectors  of election of [the] EVERY election
 district in which the canvass was initially made.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.