S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                 8349--A

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                          I N  A S S E M B L Y

                              May 15, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by  M.  of A. KAVANAGH, ESPAILLAT, PHEFFER, COLTON, GALEF --
  Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CAHILL, GABRYSZAK,  GOTTFRIED,  HOOPER,
  MAGEE, PERRY, WEISENBERG -- read once and referred to the Committee on
  Election  Law  --  recommitted  to  the  Committee  on Election Law in
  accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged,  bill
  amended,  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
  tee

AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to failure of  new  regis-
  trants to enroll

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivision 9 of section 5-210  of  the  election  law,  as
amended  by  chapter  179  of  the  laws  of 2005, is amended to read as
follows:
  9. The county board of elections shall, promptly and in any event, not
later than twenty-one days after receipt by it of the application, veri-
fy the identity of the applicant. In order to do so, the county board of
elections shall utilize the information provided in the application  and
shall  attempt  to verify such information with the information provided
by the department of motor vehicles, social security administration  and
any  other  lawful  available information source. If the county board of
elections is unable to verify the identity of the applicant within twen-
ty-one days of the receipt of the application, it shall immediately take
steps to confirm that the information  provided  by  the  applicant  was
accurately  utilized  by  such county board of elections, was accurately
verified with other information sources and that no data entry error, or
other similar type of  error,  occurred.  Following  completion  of  the
preceding  steps,  the county board of elections shall mail (a) a notice
of its approval, (b) a notice of its approval which  includes  an  indi-
cation  that  such board has not yet been able to verify the identity of
the applicant and a request for more information so that such  verifica-

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD11040-03-0
              

A. 8349--A                          2

tion  may be completed, or (c) a notice of its rejection of the applica-
tion to the  applicant  in  a  form  approved  by  the  state  board  of
elections.  Notices  of  approval, notices of approval with requests for
more information or notices of rejection shall be sent by nonforwardable
first  class  [or]  return  postage guaranteed mail on which is endorsed
"ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED" and which contains  a  request  that  any
such  mail  received  for persons not residing at the address be dropped
back in the mail. The  voter's  registration  and  enrollment  shall  be
complete upon receipt of the application by the appropriate county board
of  elections.  The  failure of a county board of elections to verify an
applicant's identity shall not be the  basis  for  the  rejection  of  a
voter's  application,  provided, however, that such verification failure
shall be the basis for requiring county board of elections to  take  the
additional verification steps provided by this chapter. The notice shall
also advise the registrant of the date when his registration and enroll-
ment is effective, of the date and the hours of the next regularly sche-
duled  primary or general election in which he will be eligible to vote,
of the location of the polling place of the election district  in  which
he is or will be a qualified voter, whether such polling place is acces-
sible  to  physically  handicapped voters, an indication that physically
handicapped voters or voters who are ill or voters who will  be  out  of
the  city  or  county on the day of the primary or general election, may
obtain an absentee ballot and the phone  number  to  call  for  absentee
ballot  applications,  the phone numbers to call for location of polling
places, to obtain registration forms and the phone  number  to  call  to
indicate  that  the  voter  is  willing  to  serve on election day as an
inspector, poll clerk or interpreter. The notice of approval, notice  of
approval  with request for more information or notice of rejection shall
also advise the applicant to notify the board of elections if  there  is
any  inaccuracy.  SUCH  NOTICE  SHALL  INCLUDE  A STATEMENT OF THE PARTY
ENROLLMENT OF THE REGISTRANT, OR, IF NO PARTY WAS SELECTED BY THE REGIS-
TRANT, A STATEMENT THAT THE REGISTRANT DID NOT ENROLL IN A PARTY AND  IS
NOT  ELIGIBLE  TO VOTE IN A PARTY PRIMARY ELECTION, AND, INSTRUCTIONS ON
HOW TO ENROLL IN A PARTY. The form of such mail  notification  shall  be
prescribed  by the state board of elections and shall contain such other
information and instructions as it may reasonably require to  carry  out
the  purposes  of  this  section. The request for more information shall
inform the voter that "THE FAILURE TO CONTACT THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS AND
CORRECT ANY INACCURACIES IN THE APPLICATION OR PROVIDE  REQUESTED  ADDI-
TIONAL  INFORMATION  MAY  RESULT  IN A REQUEST FOR IDENTIFICATION AT THE
POLLS IN ORDER TO CAST A VOTE ON A VOTING MACHINE." If  such  notice  is
returned  undelivered  without  a new address, the board shall forthwith
send such applicant a confirmation notice pursuant to the provisions  of
section  5-712  of  this  article  and  place such applicant in inactive
status. The state board of elections shall prepare  uniform  notices  by
this  section  as  provided for in subdivision eight of section 3-102 of
this chapter.
  S 2. Subdivision 3 of section 5-302 of the election law, as amended by
chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
  3. If marks are found in more than one of the boxes or circles  or  if
no  marks  are  found  in any of the boxes or circles of any application
form, the voter who used the application form shall be deemed not to  be
enrolled,  and  the  words  blank  or void shall be entered in the space
reserved on his registration poll record for the  name  of  a  political
party  or in the computer files from which the computer generated regis-
tration lists are prepared. However if such application form sets  forth

A. 8349--A                          3

the  address  of  prior registration and such prior registration had not
been previously cancelled, the party enrollment, if any, which  is  part
of such prior registration shall be entered in such space on such regis-
tration  poll  record  or  in such computer files.  IF A NEW APPLICATION
FORM DOES NOT CONTAIN A MARK FOR A PARTY ENROLLMENT, BUT, NO LATER  THAN
THIRTY  DAYS  AFTER  THE REGISTRANT WAS SENT NOTICE OF THE LACK OF PARTY
ENROLLMENT AS REQUIRED BY SUBDIVISION NINE  OF  SECTION  5-210  OF  THIS
TITLE  AND  AT  LEAST  TWENTY-FIVE  DAYS  BEFORE A PRIMARY ELECTION, THE
REGISTRANT MAKES A PARTY ENROLLMENT CHOICE ON THE CARD PROVIDED WITH THE
NOTICE, SIGNS THE AFFIRMATION CONTAINED THEREIN  AND  MAILS  IT  TO  THE
BOARD  OF ELECTIONS, THEN THE REGISTRANT'S PARTY ENROLLMENT SHALL NOT BE
DEEMED TO BE A CHANGE OF ENROLLMENT AND SHALL BE EFFECTIVE ON  THE  DATE
IT  IS  RECEIVED  BY  THE  COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS. A PARTY ENROLLMENT
MAILED MORE THAN THIRTY DAYS AFTER MAILING OF THE NOTICE OF THE LACK  OF
ENROLLMENT SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE A CHANGE OF ENROLLMENT.
  S  3.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
have become a law.