S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6769
2011-2012 Regular Sessions
I N A S S E M B L Y
March 31, 2011
___________
Introduced by M. of A. COOK, PHEFFER, AUBRY, ORTIZ -- Multi-Sponsored by
-- M. of A. CLARK, HOYT, JACOBS, WRIGHT -- read once and referred to
the Committee on Election Law
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-
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
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02337-01-1
A. 6769 2
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. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT SHALL INCLUDE A STATEMENT INDICATING
THE REGISTRANT FAILED TO ENROLL IN A PARTY AND IS NOT ELIGIBLE TO VOTE
IN A PARTY PRIMARY ELECTION. SUCH STATEMENT SHALL BE ACCOMPANIED BY A
BOX TO BE CHECKED BY THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS WHEN A REGISTRANT FAILS TO
ENROLL IN A PARTY. THE ACKNOWLEDGMENT SHALL ALSO PROVIDE A PLACE FOR THE
REGISTRANT TO MARK A PARTY ENROLLMENT OR TO DECLINE TO AFFILIATE WITH
ANY PARTY AND A PLACE FOR THE SIGNATURE OF THE REGISTRANT PRECEDED BY AN
AFFIRMATION IN THE FORM PRESCRIBED BY SUBDIVISION FIVE OF THIS SECTION.
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 ADDITIONAL INFORMA-
TION 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
the address of prior registration and such prior registration had not
A. 6769 3
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. PROVIDED FURTHER, HOWEV-
ER, THAT IF AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT WITH A PARTY ENROLLMENT MARKED, IS
RECEIVED BETWEEN TWENTY-FIVE DAYS BEFORE THE GENERAL ELECTION IN ANY
YEAR AND TWENTY-FIVE DAYS BEFORE A PRIMARY ELECTION IN THE FOLLOWING
YEAR AND NOT LATER THAN TWENTY-ONE DAYS AFTER THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS
SENT SUCH VOTER THE NOTICE THAT HE FAILED TO ENROLL, FROM A VOTER WHO
FAILED TO MARK ANY BOX OR CIRCLE ON HIS APPLICATION FORM, SUCH ACKNOWL-
EDGEMENT SHALL NOT BE DEEMED TO BE A CHANGE OF ENROLLMENT, SUCH ENROLL-
MENT SHALL BE ENTERED ON SUCH VOTER'S REGISTRATION POLL RECORD AND SUCH
VOTER'S APPLICATION FORM SHALL BE DEEMED TO HAVE BEEN RECEIVED ON THE
DATE ON WHICH SUCH ACKNOWLEDGMENT WAS RECEIVED. SUCH ACKNOWLEDGMENT
RECEIVED AT ANY OTHER TIME SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE A CHANGE OF ENROLLMENT.
S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.