NY State Senate Bill 2023-S5259

Senate Bill S5259

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Directs the state board of elections to conduct a study on the implementation and impact of ranked choice voting in New York state

download bill text pdf

Current Bill Status - In Senate Committee Finance 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

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
May 15, 2024	reported and committed to finance
Jan 03, 2024	referred to elections
Jun 10, 2023	committed to rules
May 30, 2023	advanced to third reading
May 24, 2023	2nd report cal.
May 23, 2023	1st report cal.1342
Feb 28, 2023	referred to elections

Votes

- May 15, 2024 - Elections Committee Vote
  S5259
  
  4
  
  Aye
  
  2
  
  Nay
  
  1
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Elections Committee Vote: May 15, 2024
      
      aye (4)
      
      Kavanagh
      
      May
      
      Mayer
      
      Myrie
      
      nay (2)
      
      Borrello
      
      Weber
      
      aye wr (1)
      
      Martinez
  May 23, 2023 - Elections Committee Vote
  S5259
  
  4
  
  Aye
  
  2
  
  Nay
  
  1
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Elections Committee Vote: May 23, 2023
      
      aye (4)
      
      Kavanagh
      
      May
      
      Mayer
      
      Myrie
      
      nay (2)
      
      Borrello
      
      Walczyk
      
      aye wr (1)
      
      Martinez

co-Sponsors

2023-S5259 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Finance
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Add §3-228, El L

2023-S5259 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Directs the state board of elections to conduct a study on the implementation and impact of ranked choice voting in New York state.

2023-S5259 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S5259

SPONSOR: KRUEGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to directing the state
board of elections to conduct a study on the implementation and impact
of ranked choice voting in New York state

 
PURPOSE:

Directs the state board of elections to conduct a study on the implemen-
tation and impact of ranked choice voting in New York State.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section I amends the Election Law to direct the State Board of Elections
(SBOE) to conduct a study on the implementation and impact of ranked
choice voting in New York State. The study must include the impacts of
ranked-choice voting on voter turnout, campaign donations, costs associ-
ated with its implementation and the amount of time needed to determine
winners among other topics. The study would needed to analyze the impact

of ranked choice voting in other states that already use it, as well as
New York City. The bill also requires the SBOE to create a report based
on its study including recommendations how to best implement ranked
choice voting for primary and general elections should the Legislature
want to. The SBOE must transmit this report to both the Temporary Presi-
dent of the Senate and Speaker of the Assembly and must post it publicly
online within one year of the bill's passage.

Section II sets forth the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Ranked choice voting (also known as "instant runoff voting") is a method
of voting where voters rank candidates in order of their preference.
Tabulation of votes occurs in successive rounds where the candidate with
the lowest number of votes is eliminated and the votes for the elimi-
nated candidate is redistributed based on the voter's next rank until
one candidate receives a majority of the non-exhausted votes. The candi-
date with the majority of the non-exhausted votes win that election.

New York City began to use ranked-choice voting for primaries in city
offices with 2021 being the first year where all elected offices
featured ranked-choice primaries. Many advocates argue that ranked
choice voting promotes consensus candidates acceptable to the largest
number of voters and prevent factional candidates from winning crowded
races with less than majority support.

This bill would direct the SBOE to study the issue and create a report
in order to better inform legislative decision-making surrounding ranked
choice voting.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill

 
FISCAL IMPACT ON STATE:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

2023-S5259 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5259
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             February 28, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen. KRUEGER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation  to  directing  the  state
   board of elections to conduct a study on the implementation and impact
   of ranked choice voting in New York state

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new  section  3-228
 to read as follows:
   §  3-228.  RANKED CHOICE VOTING STUDY. 1. DEFINITIONS. FOR THE PURPOSE
 OF THIS SECTION:
   (A) "RANK" MEANS THE NUMBER ASSIGNED ON A  BALLOT  BY  A  VOTER  TO  A
 CANDIDATE  TO  EXPRESS  THE  VOTER'S PREFERENCE FOR THAT CANDIDATE. RANK
 NUMBER ONE IS THE HIGHEST RANKING, RANK NUMBER TWO IS THE  NEXT  HIGHEST
 RANKING, AND SO ON.
   (B) "RANKED CHOICE ELECTION" MEANS ANY ELECTION IN WHICH RANKED CHOICE
 VOTING  IS USED AND ALL CANDIDATES ARE NOMINATED BY INDEPENDENT NOMINAT-
 ING PETITION.
   (C) "RANKED CHOICE VOTING" MEANS THE METHOD OF CASTING AND  TABULATING
 VOTES IN WHICH VOTERS RANK CANDIDATES IN ORDER OF PREFERENCE, TABULATION
 PROCEEDS  IN  ROUNDS  IN WHICH LAST PLACE CANDIDATES ARE ELIMINATED, AND
 THE VOTES FOR ELIMINATED  CANDIDATES  ARE  REDISTRIBUTED  BASED  ON  THE
 VOTER'S NEXT RANK UNTIL ONE CANDIDATE RECEIVES A MAJORITY OF THE NON-EX-
 HAUSTED  VOTES.  THE  CANDIDATE  WITH  THE MAJORITY OF THE NON-EXHAUSTED
 VOTES WINS THAT ELECTION.
   2. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL CONDUCT A STUDY ON THE IMPLEMEN-
 TATION AND IMPACT OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING IN NEW  YORK  STATE  FOR  BOTH
 PRIMARY AND GENERAL ELECTIONS. THE STUDY SHALL INCLUDE, BUT SHALL NOT BE
 LIMITED TO: THE IMPACT ON VOTER TURNOUT, CAMPAIGN DONATIONS, COSTS ASSO-
 CIATED WITH IMPLEMENTING RANKED CHOICE VOTING, DATA SECURITY, AVAILABIL-
 ITY  OF  CONTRACTORS AND SOFTWARE TO IMPLEMENT RANKED CHOICE VOTING, THE
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD09143-01-3

 S. 5259                             2
 
 AMOUNT OF TIME IT WOULD TAKE TO CALCULATE WINNERS  UNDER  RANKED  CHOICE
 VOTING  COMPARED  TO  CONVENTIONAL  PLURALITY  ELECTIONS,  AND NUMBER OF
 CANDIDATES COMPARED TO CONVENTIONAL PLURALITY ELECTIONS.
   (A)  THE STUDY MAY ANALYZE THE IMPACT OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING IN OTHER
 STATES AND IN LOCAL ELECTIONS IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK.
   (B) THE STATE BOARD OF  ELECTIONS  SHALL  SOLICIT  INPUT  FROM  COUNTY
 BOARDS  OF  ELECTION  ACROSS  THE  STATE, AND THE NEW YORK CITY BOARD OF
 ELECTIONS, AND OTHERS WITH EXPERTISE IN  THE  ADMINISTRATION  AND  REGU-
 LATION OF ELECTIONS.
   3.  NOT  LATER THAN ONE YEAR AFTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS SECTION,
 THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL TRANSMIT TO THE  TEMPORARY  PRESIDENT
 OF  THE  SENATE  AND  THE  SPEAKER OF THE ASSEMBLY A REPORT ON THE STUDY
 CONDUCTED PURSUANT TO SUBDIVISION TWO OF  THIS  SECTION,  INCLUDING  ANY
 RECOMMENDATIONS ON HOW TO BEST IMPLEMENT RANKED CHOICE VOTING FOR PRIMA-
 RY  AND GENERAL ELECTIONS STATEWIDE.  THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL
 ALSO MAKE THIS REPORT PUBLICLY ACCESSIBLE ON ITS WEBSITE.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

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Senate Bill S5259

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Sponsored By

Liz Krueger