Senate Bill S6989

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S6989

 TITLE OF BILL :
An act to amend the election law, in relation to appointment of
commissioners of election


 PURPOSE :

This bill is intended to preserve the bipartisan nature of the boards
of elections, as required by the New York State Constitution, by
making the nomination of a board of elections commissioner effective
30 days after the filing of the nomination certificate when the
legislative body fails to appoint the nominee and there are no members
of the legislative body who are members of the patty that made the
nomination.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1: Amends election law § 3-204(4) to provide that when a
legislative body fails to appoint a political party's nomination of a
board of elections commissioner and there are no members of the
legislative body who are members of the party making the nomination,
such appointment will take effect 30 days after the filing of the
certificate of nomination.

              

Section 2: Provides for the Act to take effect immediately.

 EXISTING LAW :

Under the existing law, when a legislative body fails to appoint the
person recommended within thirty days, then the members of the
legislative body who are members of the political party that filed the
certificate of recommendation may appoint such person. And, if none of
the people in the certificate are so appointed, then the party may
file another certificate recommending a different person after the end
of that sixty day period.

 JUSTIFICATION :

When a county legislative body is not just controlled by one party,
but its members solely belong to one party, there is nobody from the
other party in the county legislature who can appoint that party's
recommendation for election commissioner as permitted by the statute
as it currently exists. The party in power could then block any
appointment of an election commissioner from the other party, despite
the requirement of the N.Y.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 8 that
on boards of elections there shall be "equal representation of the two
political parties.  All such boards and officers shall be appointed or
elected in such manner, and upon the nomination of such
representatives of said parties respectively, as the legislature may
direct."

On September 25, 2008, the Democratic Committee in Hamilton County
nominated Cathleen E.  Rogers for reappointment as the Democratic
Election Commissioner, a post which she has held since 1991.
Nevertheless, reportedly because of undisclosed complaints, her
appointment was delayed and tabled, and was not approved until more
than ninety (90) days later on December 29, 2008. Because there were
no Democratic members of the county legislature, there was no group of
Democratic party members within the legislature who could appoint her
as permitted by Section 3-204 subdivision 4. Taken to its ultimate
extreme, which this incident approaches, a one party county
legislature could force the other party to appoint an election
commissioner chosen by the party that is in power.

The untenable situation created in Hamilton County has led the
bipartisan Election Commissioners Association to not only recommend
this legislation, but also to declare that it is their number one
priority for two consecutive years.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill is effective immediately.