Senate Passes Bill to Increase Vote Count Accuracy and Prevent Voter Disenfranchisement

The New York State Senate today passed legislation to prevent voter disenfranchisement by helping to ensure that votes are counted accurately by a ballot scanner. The bill (S1848A), sponsored by Senator Kathleen Marchione (R-C, Halfmoon), would prohibit stickers, labels, or pasters from being attached to a write-in ballot. 

Senator Marchione, Chair of the New York State Senate Local Government Committee, said, “Every vote should count – and every vote needs to be counted. My bi-partisan legislation realizes this goal by prohibiting the use of pasters, stickers, and labels on write-in ballots as they can become detached due to the heat generated by ballot scanners and ultimately end up disqualifying the vote and disenfranchising the voter. This common sense fix will ensure that voting machines do what they’re supposed to do: accurately count every vote and make certain that the voter’s voice is heard so they're full participants in our democratic process.”

The use of stickers, labels, or pasters can negatively affect a voting system’s ability to accurately count votes. Voting systems typically only accept a specific ballot thickness, which increases when a sticker, label, or paster is attached to a ballot. In addition, when heated through the normal running of a scanner, labels or stickers can become detached, reaffixed to other ballots, or create situations in which subsequent ballots may not be accepted or read by the scanner. This legislation would prevent these scenarios from occurring, reducing inaccuracies in vote counts.

The bill has been sent to the Assembly.