BILL NUMBER: S7853

SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to the calculation of
voting power for committee members in districts that have changed or new
districts

 
PURPOSE OF BILL:

To create a reasonable and consistent calculation for the voting power
of party county committee members representing election districts that
have been changed or newly created since the last preceding gubernatori-
al election

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends Subdivision 1 of section 2-104 of the election law to
provide that the county committee of each party shall be constituted by
the election in each election district within such county of at least
two members and of such additional members as the rules of the county
              

committee of the Party within the county or the statement filed pursuant
hereto may provide for such district, proportional to the party vote in
the district for governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election,
or in case the boundaries of such district have been changed or a new
district has been created since the last preceding gubernatorial
election, proportional to the party vote in the district for governor at
the last preceding gubernatorial election multiplied by the percentage
of registered voters from the former election district that are
contained in-the new election district, excluding voters in inactive
status. In a county in which no additional members are provided for by
the rules of the county committee or the statement filed pursuant hereto
the voting power of each member shall be in proportion to such party
vote or, if the election district which such member represents was
created or changed since-the last preceding gubernatorial election,
proportional to the party vote in the district for governor at the last
preceding gubernatorial election multiplied by the percentage of regis-
tered voters from the former election district that are contained in the
new election district. In a county in which additional members are so
provided for, on the basis of the party vote or enrollment in election
districts within such county, each member shall have one vote. Each
member of a county committee shall be an enrolled voter of the party
residing in the county and the assembly district from which or in the
assembly district containing the election district in which such member
is elected except that a member of a county committee who, as a result
of an alteration of assembly district lines, no longer resides within
such assembly district may continue to serve for the balance of the term
to which he was elected.

Section 2 provides the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The current law allocates voting power by election district to county
committee members proportional to the party vote in the district for
governor at the last preceding gubernatorial election," except in cases
where election districts are reconfigured following a gubernatorial
election. In those cases, where "the boundaries of such district have
been changed or a new district has been created since the last preceding
gubernatorial election," the voting power is either "proportional to the
party vote cast for member of assembly" or "proportional to such party
enrollment."

When election districts are reconfigured following gubernatorial
elections, the current law can create significant weighted vote changes
and discrepancies within party county committees and municipal commit-
tees. Reconfiguration of election districts can be done during most
years to conform to redistricted legislative districts (e.g., congres-
sional, county legislature or city council districts), to comply with
court ordered redistricting (e.g., the 2024 State Assembly redistrict-
ing), or to improve election administration, such as by consolidating
multiple election districts into one election district where permissi-
ble. When the voting power for the changed or new election districts is
allocated to be proportional to party enrollment, this inflates the
weighted vote for committee members who represent election districts
where party registration is significantly greater than the party guber-
natorial vote, and it deflates the weighted vote for committee members
who represent election districts where party registration is signif-
icantly less than the party gubernatorial vote. Even when the voting
power for the changed or new election districts is allocated to be
proportional to the party vote cast for Assembly, this still creates an
envi ronment where different party county committee members have voting
power assigned using separate and unrelated calculations.

Furthermore, the current system creates situations where municipalities
that have redistricting can have significant changes in voting power
while the rest of the county committee's voting power remains unchanged.
For example, if a municipality has local redistricting, such as for city
council districts, and election districts are subsequently reconfigured,
it guarantees that the county committee members with changed or new
election districts within that municipality will receive updated weight-
ed votes. When this occurs only in one or a limited number of munici-
palities in a county, it means that those municipalities could experi-
ence significant shifts in voting power relative to the other
municipalities on the same county committee, with these changes occur-
ring without an intervening election.

The intention of this bill is to alter the calculation of voting power
for changed or new election districts such that the total voting power
within the committee does not change. For any area, whether a combina-
tion of former election districts, a municipality or an entire county,
the total voting power would remain equal to the number of party votes
cast in the prior gubernatorial election. For changed or new election
districts, the updated voting power would be equal to the sum of the
party vote in the former .  election districts that the changed or new
district contains, multiplied for each former election district by the
percent of the registered voters of that former election district that
the changed or new district contains.

This would create a uniform system for distribution of voting power,
preventing significant swings in voting power within a committee and
avoiding the use of a two-track system where different county committee
members simultaneously have voting power assigned using unrelated calcu-
lations.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.