S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    417
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 8, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. GIANARIS -- 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 the procedure  for  the
   recanvass of votes in election districts

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. This act shall be known and may  be  cited  as  "The  Count
 Every Vote Act of New York".
   §  2.  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,  paragraphs  (d)
 and  (e)  as  amended  by chapter 474 of the laws of 2023, 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]  DIFFER-
 ENCE  BETWEEN  THE  NUMBER  OF  VOTES CAST FOR THE WINNING CANDIDATE WHO
 RECEIVED THE FEWEST VOTES AND THE LOSING CANDIDATE WHO RECEIVED THE MOST
 VOTES; OR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN  THE  NUMBER  OF  VOTES  CAST  FOR  AND
 AGAINST A BALLOT PROPOSAL 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.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD00720-01-5
 S. 417                              2
 
   (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
 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) No board of elections shall commence a  full  [manual]  HAND
 recount of a particular contest unless and until such board of elections
 has  completed  and  announced  the results of the recanvass required by
 subdivision one of this section, for each applicable election district.
   [(e)] (F) 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.
   § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.