Senate Bill S7622

                                BILL NUMBER:S7622

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the election law, in relation to
requiring the state to assume the cost of purchasing ballots for
general elections and primaries

PURPOSE: This bill relieves one of the expenditures associated with
general and primary elections in New York State by authorizing the New
York State Board of Elections to develop methods for the purpose of
the state reimbursing counties for the cost of purchasing election
ballots

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS: Section 1. Section 4-136 of the election law is
amended by adding a new subdivision 4 to read as follows:
Notwithstanding the provisions of subdivision two of this section or
any other law to the contrary, the state shall assume the cost of
purchasing ballots for all general elections and primaries. The New
York state board of elections shall develop procedures to reimburse
counties that purchase ballots and/or to provide the ballots to be
used by each county.

§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

JUSTIFICATION: The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is a United States
federal law which passed in the House 357-48 and 92-2 in the Senate.
It was signed into law by President Bush on October 29, 2002. The
              

reaction to the controversy surrounding the 2000 U.S. presidential
election between George Bush and Al Gore had determined the need for
HAVA. This act would eventually lead to replacing the punch-card and
lever-based voting systems.

HAVA mandated that all states and localities upgrade many aspects of
their election procedures, including their voting machines,
registration processes and poll worker training. The specifics of
implementation have been left up to each state, which allows for
varying interpretations of the Federal law.

New York Counties were mandated to move away from the conventional
Lever Voting Machines to a more sophisticated way to vote. Local
governments were informed the new scanning machines would be easier to
use, better and more reliable, while also providing the Board of
Elections a way to verify votes using paper ballots' if a recount was
necessary. Counties spent months looking at different types of scanner
to determine which would most appropriate meet their needs.

Unfortunately, when the change over actually took place the true cost
of these machines began to be apparent. Although the Lever Machines
could be stored almost anywhere, the new Scanner Voting Machines would
need to be placed in climate controlled storage for fear of damaging
the electronics. The Lever Machines had relatively inexpensive rolls
of paper that could be easily removed and the votes would then be
physically counted. The Scanner Voting Machines on the other hand have
expensive individual ballots which are used to scan the citizens vote
while at the same time storing the paper ballot.

The problem with most elections are the cost associated with them.
County Commissioner's representing B.0.E.'s from all 62 counties are


mandated to purchase enough ballots for all registered voters. In
other words, they can not estimate how many voters will participate so
they are charged with purchasing enough ballots to cover 100% of all
registered voters. They have but two places where the ballots can be
printed and purchased. The cost vary depending on the county but the
range has been anywhere from 42 cents to 57 cents and higher per
ballot. They are Phoenix Graphics and Fort Orange Press. Once the
election is finished, all unused ballots will held for four months and
then be discarded.

The counties in New York State are struggling to keep taxes at a
minimum even though the cost of doing business continues to rise. The
cost of holding elections are substantial to say the least. With this
bill, counties will continue to pay much of cost associated with
elections. Cost such as the storage of the machines, maintenance and
paying for the personnel who manage the polling places on election day
will continue to be the counties responsibility. This bill will help
to alleviate a portion of those cost. This bill relieves some of the
cost associated with elections by New York State assuming the cost of
purchasing the ballots to be used in all general elections and
primaries. The New York State Board of Elections would develop a
method to reimburse counties that purchase ballots or provided the
ballots to be used in each county.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: None

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined

LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: To be determined

EFFECTIVE DATE: This bill shall take effect immediately