Harckham and Abinanti Bill to Minimize In-Person Petitioning Passes in Legislature

Albany, NY – New York State Senator Pete Harckham and Assemblyman Tom Abinanti announced today that their bill (S.5256A / A.5844A) to minimize in-person petitioning for town and village elections this year, in acknowledgement of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, has passed in the Senate and Assembly.

“To safeguard our residents, it is best that we avoid collecting signatures for ballot petitions in large gatherings and door-to-door in this election cycle,” said Harckham. “Reducing the number of signatures for petitions will allow county boards of election to manage ballot access for potential candidates to elected office. The legislation will provide the boards with this clarity to conduct petitioning in the safest conditions possible.”

“Democracy should not require that we risk spreading Covid-19,” said Abinanti. “This bill significantly lessens person-to-person contact by significantly reducing the number of signatures candidates need to get on the ballot.”

The continued impacts of the Covid-19 virus have made it necessary to minimize in-person petitioning. This legislation, which will amend the state’s election law, will significantly reduce the number of signatures needed on a petition for towns and village elections required to be filed in 2021. However, it will only affect petitioning in municipalities with a population of 100,000 people or less.

In the legislation, only 150 signatures will be needed for any county legislative district. For village elections, the number of signatures required would be one and one-half percent of the number of enrolled voters of the party residing in the village.

This bill would expire and be deemed repealed on December 31, 2021.