BILL NUMBER:A408

TITLE  OF BILL:  An act to amend the election law, in relation to change
of enrollment

PURPOSE: Under current law, when a  registered  voter  seeks  to  change
his/her  party  enrollment to a different party, enroll in a party (when
not previously enrolled in any party), or to end his/her enrollment in a
party, the effective change of that enrollment  is  deferred  until  the
first  Tuesday following the general election. As a result, voters wish-
ing to make such changes of enrollment may have to wait as long as thir-
teen months to see their changes of enrollment take effect.  Under  this
bill,  changes  of  enrollment  would  take effect twenty-five (25) days
after such changes were applied for. This new timeframe  would  coincide
with  the  deadlines for voter registration thus simplifying the process
for both voters and county boards of elections.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section I amends Subdivision 3 of  Section  5-303
of  the election law to make changes of enrollment effective twenty-five
(25) days after they are applied for. Section 2 sets the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:  Of paramount importance in a democratic society  is  not
just to be able to vote for the candidate of one's choice but also to be
able to select the candidates who appear on the ballot. In fact, in many
instances  this  selection is more significant than the general election
itself.
              

In New York, voters get to partake in this selection process by means of
primary elections. Unfortunately, . many voters discover that  they  are
unable to vote in the party primary of their choice because they are not
enrolled  in a party or are not enrolled in the party whose primary they
wish to vote in. Voters who seek changes  of  enrollment  discover  that
such  changes would not be effective until after the November elections,
not in time to be able to vote in the Presidential Primaries themselves.
For example, voters who wished to change their party enrollment for  any
of  the 2008 elections (including the February Presidential primary, the
September primary or the November election) would have had to apply  for
a  change of enrollment in early October of 2007, four months before the
Presidential primary.

Though voters are disenfranchised in greater numbers in the Presidential
primaries than in the annual September primaries, this problem is  expe-
rienced  by  voters  every  year  in the September primary.   Voters who
wished to change their party enrollment so that they could vote  in  the
2008  September  primary  would  have  also had to apply for a change of
enrollment in early October of  2007,  eleven  (II)  months  before  the
September  primary. This bill would ensure that voters are fully able to
partake in all steps of the electoral process; including  the  candidate
selection process.

LEGISLATIVE  HISTORY:  2008: A8035 (Kavanagh) - Election Law 2007: A8035
(Kavanagh) - Election Law 2007: A2972 (Grannis) - Election Law  2006:  A

1829  (Grannis)  -  Election  Law  2005: A 1829 (Grannis) - Election Law
2004: A 711 (Grannis) - Election Law 2003: A711 (Grannis) - Election Law
2002: A 7041 A (Grannis)  -  Election  Law  2001:  A  7041  (Grannis)  -
Election Law

FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE: None.

EFFECTIVE  DATE:  This  act  shall take effect sixty days after it shall
have become a law.