Assembly Bill A318

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Allows voters to take photographs of themselves and their ballot, or absentee ballot, while in a privacy booth, and to share and disseminate such photographs on social media

download bill text pdf

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - In Assembly Committee

  • Introduced
    • In Committee Assembly
    • In Committee Senate
    • On Floor Calendar Assembly
    • On Floor Calendar Senate
    • Passed Assembly
    • Passed Senate
  • Delivered to Governor
  • Signed By Governor

Do you support this bill?

Please enter your contact information

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.
Actions

2023-A318 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Senate Version of this Bill:
S661
Current Committee:
Assembly Election Law
Law Section:
Election Law
Laws Affected:
Amd §§8-300 & 17-130, El L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:
2017-2018: A4067, S5418
2019-2020: A1038, S1105
2021-2022: A4182, S365

2023-A318 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Allows voters to take photographs of themselves and their ballot, or absentee ballot, while in a privacy booth, and to share and disseminate such photographs on social media.

2023-A318 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf 

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    318
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              January 4, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A. L. ROSENTHAL -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Election Law
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to allowing voters to take
   photographs of themselves and their ballots while voting
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Section  8-300 of the election law is amended by adding a
 new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
   4. (A) A VOTER SHALL BE ALLOWED TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS OF THEMSELVES  AND
 THEIR  OWN  BALLOT,  OR  ABSENTEE BALLOT, WHILE IN A PRIVACY BOOTH. SUCH
 VOTER SHALL ALSO BE ALLOWED TO SHARE AND DISSEMINATE SUCH PHOTOGRAPHS ON
 SOCIAL MEDIA. FOR  PURPOSES  OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION  SOCIAL  MEDIA  SHALL
 INCLUDE,  BUT  SHALL  NOT  BE  LIMITED TO FORMS OF COMMUNICATION THROUGH
 WHICH USERS PARTICIPATE IN  ONLINE  COMMUNITIES  TO  SHARE  INFORMATION,
 IDEAS,  PERSONAL  MESSAGES,  AND  OTHER CONTENT. SOCIAL MEDIA SHALL ALSO
 INCLUDE TEXT MESSAGES AND THE  TRANSMISSION  OF  IMAGES  VIA  ELECTRONIC
 FORMS OF COMMUNICATION.
   (B)  ANY  PERSON  WHO INTERFERES WITH A VOTER'S PHOTOGRAPH PURSUANT TO
 PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS SUBDIVISION SHALL BE GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR.
   § 2. Subdivisions 10 and 11 of section 17-130 of the election law  are
 amended to read as follows:
   10. [Shows his] SOLICITS A VOTER TO SHOW HIS OR HER ballot after it is
 prepared  for  voting,  to  any person so as to reveal the contents[, or
 solicits a voter to show the same]; or,
   11. Places any mark  upon  his  ballot,  or  does  any  other  act  in
 connection  with his ballot with the intent that it may be identified as
 the one voted by him, OTHER THAN WHAT IS ALLOWED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION
 FOUR OF SECTION 8-300 OF THIS CHAPTER; or,
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01346-01-3

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.