S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   3992
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 8, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M. of A. CARROLL, PAULIN, DICKENS, REYES, SAYEGH, SIMON,
   DeSTEFANO, COOK,  EPSTEIN,  KELLES,  WOERNER,  L. ROSENTHAL,  LUPARDO,
   JACKSON,  RAJKUMAR,  FORREST,  BURDICK,  DINOWITZ,  BICHOTTE HERMELYN,
   THIELE, JACOBSON, FAHY,  DURSO,  GALLAGHER,  MAMDANI,  NORRIS,  TAGUE,
   BURGOS,  ANDERSON,  BRABENEC,  TAYLOR,  BARRETT,  McDONOUGH, ZINERMAN,
   COLTON, CLARK, SIMPSON, PRETLOW, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, DE LOS SANTOS, LUCAS,
   TAPIA, GANDOLFO,  GLICK,  ROZIC,  GIBBS,  SEAWRIGHT,  J. A. GIGLIO  --
   Multi-Sponsored  by  -- M.  of A. MIKULIN -- read once and referred to
   the Committee on Election Law
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation  to  construction  of  and
   requirements for voting machines and systems
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 7-104 of the election law is amended  by  adding  a
 new subdivision 28 to read as follows:
   28.  THE  BALLOT  SHALL  BE  MARKED  OR  PRINTED ON DURABLE PAPER. FOR
 PURPOSES OF THIS SECTION, "DURABLE PAPER" IS DEFINED AS PAPER CAPABLE OF
 WITHSTANDING MULTIPLE COUNTS AND RECOUNTS BY  HAND  OR  MACHINE  WITHOUT
 COMPROMISING  THE  FUNDAMENTAL  INTEGRITY OF THE BALLOTS, AND CAPABLE OF
 RETAINING THE INFORMATION MARKED OR PRINTED ON SUCH PAPER FOR  THE  FULL
 DURATION  OF  A  RETENTION  AND PRESERVATION PERIOD SET FORTH IN SECTION
 3-222 OF THIS CHAPTER.
   § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 7-200 of the election law, as amended by
 chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
   1. The board of elections of the city of New  York  and  other  county
 boards  of  elections  may  adopt  any  kind of voting machine or system
 approved by the state board of elections, or the use of which  has  been
 specifically  authorized  by  law;  and thereupon such voting machine or
 system may be used at any or all elections and  shall  be  used  at  all
 general  or  special elections held by such boards in such city, town or
 village and in every contested primary election in the city of New  York
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04070-01-3
              

 A. 3992                             2
 
 and  in every contested primary election outside the city of New York in
 which there are one thousand or more enrolled voters qualified to  vote.
 [No more than two types of voting machines or systems may be used by any
 local  board  of  elections  at  a single election.] Notwithstanding the
 other provisions of this subdivision, any local board of  elections  may
 borrow  or  lease  for  use on an experimental basis for a period of not
 more than one year each, voting machines or systems of any type approved
 by the state board of elections.
   § 3. Paragraphs b, e, j, s and t of subdivision 1 of section 7-202  of
 the  election  law,  as  added  by  chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, are
 amended and three new paragraphs u,  v  and  w  are  added  to  read  as
 follows:
   b.  permit  a  voter to vote for any person for any office, whether or
 not nominated as a candidate by any party or independent  body  [without
 the  ballot,  or any part thereof, being removed from the machine at any
 time];
   e. provide the voter an opportunity  to  privately  and  independently
 MARK AND verify votes selected [and the] ON AN INDIVIDUAL, VOTER-VERIFI-
 ABLE  PAPER BALLOT AND THE ability to privately and independently change
 such votes or correct any error before the ballot is cast  and  counted,
 INCLUDING  BY  OFFERING THE VOTER A NEW PAPER BALLOT AS MANY TIMES AS IS
 ALLOWED BY STATUTE OR REGULATION. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS  SUBDIVISION,
 THE TERM "INDIVIDUAL, VOTER-VERIFIABLE PAPER BALLOT" MEANS EITHER: (I) A
 PAPER  BALLOT MARKED BY THE VOTER BY HAND; OR (II) A PAPER BALLOT MARKED
 THROUGH THE USE OF A NONTABULATING BALLOT MARKING DEVICE OR SYSTEM.  FOR
 THE  PURPOSES  OF THIS TITLE, A "BALLOT MARKING DEVICE" IS A DEVICE THAT
 PROVIDES VOTERS, INCLUDING VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES, THE ABILITY TO MARK
 VOTES ON PHYSICAL, PAPER BALLOTS PRIVATELY AND  INDEPENDENTLY.  FOR  THE
 PURPOSES  OF  THIS  TITLE,  A "NONTABULATING BALLOT MARKING DEVICE" IS A
 BALLOT MARKING DEVICE THAT DOES NOT TABULATE OR TRANSMIT VOTES OR RETAIN
 ANY RECORD OF A  VOTER'S  SELECTIONS,  OTHER  THAN  THE  ORIGINAL  PAPER
 BALLOT,  AFTER THE VOTER HAS FINISHED MARKING THE PAPER BALLOT AND USING
 THE DEVICE TO REVIEW SELECTIONS;
   j. [retain all paper ballots cast or produce and retain a voter  veri-
 fied  permanent  paper record which shall be presented to the voter from
 behind a window or other device before the ballot is cast,]  FOR  BALLOT
 SCANNERS,  RETAIN  PAPER  BALLOTS  IN  A MANNER INTENDED AND DESIGNED TO
 PROTECT THE PRIVACY OF  THE  VOTER;  FOR  NONTABULATING  BALLOT  MARKING
 DEVICES,  PRODUCE  OR  PROCESS  PAPER  BALLOTS  in a manner intended and
 designed to protect the privacy of the voter; such ballots  [or  record]
 shall allow a manual audit and shall be preserved in accordance with the
 provisions of section 3-222 of this chapter;
   s.  permit alternative language accessibility pursuant to the require-
 ments of section 203 of  the  Voting  Rights  Act  of  1965  (42  U.S.C.
 1973aa-1a)  such  that  it  must  have  the capacity to display the full
 ballot in the alternative  languages  required  by  the  federal  Voting
 Rights  Act  if  such  voting machine or system is to be used where such
 alternative languages are required or where the local board  deems  such
 feature necessary; [and]
   t.  not  include  any  device  or functionality potentially capable of
 externally transmitting or receiving data via the internet or via  radio
 waves or via other wireless means[.];
   U.  BE  CONSTRUCTED  SO  THAT,  AFTER  THE PAPER BALLOT IS CAST BY THE
 VOTER, THE VOTING MACHINE OR SYSTEM NEVER PASSES THE CAST BALLOT UNDER A
 PRINTER THAT CAN PRINT VOTES ONTO THE BALLOT, INCLUDING AS A  RESULT  OF
 UNAUTHORIZED, MALICIOUS OR FAULTY SOFTWARE OR FIRMWARE;
 A. 3992                             3
 
   V.  BE  CONSTRUCTED  SO THE CONFIGURATION OR FUNCTIONALITY OF A VOTING
 MACHINE OR SYSTEM DOES NOT INCLUDE, WITHIN  THE  SAME  PHYSICAL  DEVICE,
 BOTH  (I)  BALLOT  MARKING AND (II) TABULATING OR TRANSMITTING A VOTER'S
 SELECTIONS AT ANY TIME OR RETAINING ANY RECORD OF A VOTER'S  SELECTIONS,
 OTHER THAN THE ORIGINAL PAPER BALLOT, AFTER THE VOTER HAS FINISHED MARK-
 ING THE PAPER BALLOT AND USING THE DEVICE TO REVIEW SELECTIONS; AND
   W.  NOT ENCODE VOTES ON A BALLOT, WHETHER AS A BARCODE, QR CODE OR ANY
 KIND OF RECORDING CODE THAT CANNOT BE  VERIFIED  BY  THE  VOTER  WITHOUT
 USING A CODE-READING DEVICE. FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS PARAGRAPH, A "CODE
 READING  DEVICE"  IS A DEVICE THAT READS AND TRANSLATES CODED MARKS LIKE
 QR CODES OR BARCODES INTO LANGUAGE THAT CAN BE  UNDERSTOOD  WITHOUT  ANY
 KIND OF DEVICE.
   §  4.  Subdivision 4 of section 7-202 of the election law, as added by
 chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, is amended and a new subdivision  5  is
 added to read as follows:
   4.  Local boards of elections which obtain voting machines pursuant to
 this chapter [may determine to] SHALL purchase [direct  recording  elec-
 tronic  machines  or optical scan machines] BALLOT SCANNERS AND NONTABU-
 LATING BALLOT MARKING DEVICES in conformance with  the  requirements  of
 this chapter.
   5.  LOCAL BOARDS OF ELECTIONS MUST PROVIDE EVERY VOTER, AT EVERY POLL-
 ING PLACE, BOTH OF THE FOLLOWING OPTIONS:  (A)  TO  HAND  MARK  A  PAPER
 BALLOT; OR (B) TO USE A NONTABULATING BALLOT MARKING DEVICE OR SYSTEM TO
 MARK  A  PAPER BALLOT. ALL PAPER BALLOTS MUST BE PRINTED, SCANNABLE, AND
 INCLUDE ALL RELEVANT CONTESTS AND CANDIDATES.
   § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided,  however,  that
 any  local  board of elections that purchased voting machines or systems
 prior to such date which are not in compliance with the requirements  of
 paragraph  u or v of subdivision 1 and subdivision 4 of section 7-202 of
 the election law, may continue to use, maintain and replace such  voting
 machines  and  systems,  but  may replace them only with identical model
 voting machines or systems made by the same manufacturer,  or  identical
 model  voting machines or systems with de minimis changes in such voting
 machines' or systems' hardware, software,  technical  data  package,  or
 data, the nature of which will not materially alter the voting machines'
 or systems' reliability, functionality, capability, or operation; any de
 minimis changes shall be approved by the state board of elections.