Senate Bill S4635

                                BILL NUMBER:S4635

TITLE OF BILL:
An act
to amend the election law, in relation to requiring boards of election to
collect race and ethnicity information on persons registering to vote

PURPOSE:
The bill requires persons registering to vote to designate
their race and/or ethnicity.

SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the election law is
amended by adding subdivision 2-a. The new subdivision directs the
state board of election to prepare and establish uniform provisions
for the designation of each voter's race and/or ethnicity on
registration of change of address. The information shall be kept in a
computerized database.

Section 3-212 of the election law is amended by adding subdivision 6
that requires each board of election to maintain race and ethnicity
data of registered voter and report to the State Board of Election on
or before January first of each year.

Section three amends subdivision 3 of section 5-204 of the election
law to require every registration form to include provision in which
              

applicant shall designate his or her race and ethnicity, provided
that there will be a space where the applicant may refuse to provide
such information.

Section 5-208 of the election law is amended by adding a new
subdivision 1-a to require every change of address form to include
provision in which applicant shall designate his or her race and
ethnicity, provided that there will be a space where the applicant
may refuse to provide such information.

JUSTIFICATION:
New York State's election law notes that registration
forms must conform to the "requirements for the national voter
registration form in the rules and regulations promulgated by the
federal election commission and the federal Help America Vote Act,
and shall elicit the information required for the registration poll
record." The state board of elections has the power to require any
information that it may "reasonably require to enable the board of
elections to assess the eligibility of the applicant and to
administer voter registration and other parts of the election process.
Currently, registrants have the option to specify their gender when
completing the registration form. So why not race and ethnicity?

Three regions of New York State are included under the "covered
jurisdictions" in section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. Bronx, Kings
and New York counties because "they had a literacy test in November
1968 and in that year's Presidential election the turnout there was
less than 50 percent of the voting-age population. "37 Aside from the
three New York counties covered under Section 5 of the VRA, seven
counties in the state


(Bronx, Nassau, Kings, New York, Queens, Suffolk, Westchester) are
covered under section 203 of the VRA, requiring language assistance
in voting for certain language minority citizens. Two counties are
covered under Section 203 of the VRA, requiring preclearance for
certain language minority citizens in Bronx and Kings County.

Despite the coverage of some counties in New York under the voting
Rights Act, New York still has room to improve electoral practices to
ensure minority populations are not disenfranchised. Since 1952,
there have been fourteen objections by the U.S. Attorney General to
electoral redistricting and practices due to the potentially
discriminatory impact on minority voters. On July 19, 1991 the U.S.
Attorney General's office objected to a redistricting plan that
discriminated against Latino voters. A similar objection was made on
June 24, 1992 to a redistricting plan in Washington Heights On
February 4, 1999 the U.S. Attorney General objected to the
replacement of elected community school board members by appointed
trustees in School District 12 where 54% of the electorate was Latino
and 36% was African-American, further exemplifying the need for
continued monitoring of electoral reforms in New York state

The collection of data by race and ethnicity will allow researchers to
better gauge voter registration and turnout in the state. With this
information efforts to promote voting would be more effective.
policymakers will be better able to monitor and regulate the
electoral process to insure the highest degree of participation by
citizens. Political parties and civic organizations will be in a
better position to mobilize voters. Finally, the collection of
electoral data by race and ethnicity will safeguard not just minority
voting rights but the rights of all voters as well.

New York State should join this consensus of opinion. The state should
emulate California but take its initiative one-step further by
requiring rather than requesting citizens to specify their
racial/ethnic back- ground in the state voter registration form.
California allowed the Secretary of State and local election
officials discretion over whether to exhaust the supply of voter
registration forms in existence on the effective date of the law
prior to printing new or revised forms. New York could do the same
while making its revised form available online immediately and
encouraging voters to register online or to print and mail the forms
themselves thus reducing the costs of printing new forms.

Alabama, North Carolina and South Carolina require the collection of
race and ethnicity voter data. However, it is optional in California,
Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee,

PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 None.

EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately, with provisions.