Senate Bill S2633A

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                 2633--A

                       2013-2014 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 23, 2013
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  PARKER,  BRESLIN,  DIAZ, DILAN, HASSELL-THOMPSON,
  KRUEGER, MONTGOMERY, SAMPSON -- read twice and  ordered  printed,  and
  when  printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime
  and Correction -- recommitted to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime
  and Correction in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8  --  committee
  discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
  to said committee

AN  ACT to amend the correction law and the election law, in relation to
  absentee voting by eligible inmates of local  correctional  facilities
  and  designating  certain  agencies  as  assisting  agencies for voter
  registration

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

  Section  1.  The correction law is amended by adding a new section 510
to read as follows:
  S 510. ABSENTEE VOTING BY QUALIFIED INMATES. THE CHIEF  ADMINISTRATIVE
OFFICER  OF  THE  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY, OR HIS OR HER DESIGNEE,
SHALL INFORM EACH INMATE AT SUCH FACILITY OF THEIR RIGHT TO REGISTER  TO
VOTE.  IN  ADDITION,  SUCH  NOTICE  SHALL BE POSTED IN A PROMINENT PLACE
WHERE INMATES CONGREGATE AND PRINTED IN  BLOCK  LETTERS.    SUCH  POSTED
NOTICE  SHALL  INCLUDE  QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED TO EXERCISE THE RIGHT TO
VOTE, AND OF THE AVAILABILITY AT  THE  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY  OF
ASSISTANCE  TO REGISTER TO VOTE, REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION,
AND TO VOTE VIA ABSENTEE BALLOT. SUCH CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE  OFFICER,  OR
HIS  OR  HER  DESIGNEE,  SHALL  ASSIST ANY OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE INMATES IN
REGISTERING TO VOTE IN THE SAME MANNER AND EXTENT AS THE AGENCIES LISTED
IN SECTION 5-211 OF THE ELECTION  LAW,  ASSIST  ANY  OTHERWISE  ELIGIBLE
INMATES IN REQUESTING AN ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION
8-400  OF THE ELECTION LAW, AND ASSIST ANY OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE INMATES IN
VOTING BY ABSENTEE BALLOT PURSUANT TO SECTION 8-407 OF THE ELECTION LAW.
  S 2. Section 8-406 of the election law, as amended by chapter  296  of
the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:
  S  8-406.  Absentee ballots, delivery of. If the board shall find that
the applicant is a qualified voter of the election  district  containing

              

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD06754-02-4

S. 2633--A                          2

his  residence  as  stated  in  his  statement and that his statement is
sufficient, it shall, as soon as practicable after it shall have  deter-
mined his right thereto, mail to him at an address designated by him, or
deliver  to him, or to any person designated for such purpose in writing
by him, at the office of the board, such an absentee voter's  ballot  or
set of ballots and an envelope therefor. If the ballot or ballots are to
be  sent  outside of the United States to a country other than Canada or
Mexico, such ballot or ballots shall be sent by air mail. However, if an
applicant who is eligible for an absentee ballot  is  a  resident  of  a
facility  operated  or  licensed  by,  or under the jurisdiction of, the
department of mental hygiene, or a resident of a facility defined  as  a
nursing  home  or  residential health care facility pursuant to subdivi-
sions two and three of section two thousand eight  hundred  one  of  the
public  health  law, or a resident of a hospital or other facility oper-
ated by the Veteran's Administration of the United States,  OR  A  LOCAL
CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY  such  absentee  ballot  need not be so mailed or
delivered to any such applicant but, may be delivered to  the  voter  in
the  manner  prescribed by section 8-407 of this [chapter] TITLE if such
facility is located in the county or city in which such voter is  eligi-
ble to vote.
  S  3. The section heading and subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 8-407 of
the election law, the section heading as added by  chapter  296  of  the
laws  of  1988 and subdivisions 1 and 3 as amended by chapter 195 of the
laws of 2001, are amended to read as follows:
  Voting by residents of nursing homes, residential health care  facili-
ties, facilities operated or licensed, or under the jurisdiction of, the
department  of mental hygiene or hospitals or facilities operated by the
Veteran's Administration of the United States, OR A  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY.  1.  The board of elections of a county or city in which there
is located at least one facility operated  or  licensed,  or  under  the
jurisdiction of, the department of mental hygiene, or a facility defined
as a nursing home or residential health care facility pursuant to subdi-
visions  two  and three of section two thousand eight hundred one of the
public health law or an adult care facility subject to the provisions of
title two of article seven of the social services law, or a hospital  or
other  facility  operated  by the Veteran's Administration of the United
States, OR A LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY  AS  DEFINED  BY  SUBDIVISION
SIXTEEN  OF  SECTION  TWO OF THE CORRECTION LAW shall provide that resi-
dents of each such facility for which such board has  received  [twenty-
five]  FIFTEEN or more applications for absentee ballots from voters who
are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in such city or county  at  such
election, may vote by absentee ballot only in the manner provided for in
this section. Such board may, in its discretion, provide that the proce-
dure  described  in  this  subdivision  shall  be applicable to all such
facilities in such county or city without regard to the number of absen-
tee ballot applications received from the residents of any such  facili-
ty.
  3.  Not earlier than thirteen days before or later than the day before
such an election such a board of inspectors shall, between the hours  of
nine  o'clock  in the morning and five o'clock in the evening, attend at
each such facility for the residents of which the board of elections has
custody of [twenty-five] FIFTEEN or more absentee  ballots  or,  if  the
board  of  elections  has  so provided, each such facility for which the
board has custody of one or more such absentee ballots, pursuant to  the
provisions of this chapter.

S. 2633--A                          3

  S  4.  The  opening paragraph of section 5-211 of the election law, as
amended by chapter 265 of the laws  of  2013,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  Each  agency designated as a participating agency under the provisions
of this section shall implement and administer a program of distribution
of voter registration forms pursuant to the provisions of this  section.
The  following  offices  which  provide public assistance and/or provide
state funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons
with disabilities are hereby designated as voter registration  agencies:
designated as the state agencies which provide public assistance are the
office  of  children  and  family  services, the office of temporary and
disability assistance and the department of health. Also  designated  as
public  assistance  agencies  are  all agencies of local government that
provide such assistance.  Designated  as  state  agencies  that  provide
programs primarily engaged in providing services to people with disabil-
ities  are  the  department  of labor, office for the aging, division of
veterans' affairs, office of mental health,  office  of  vocational  and
educational  services  for  individuals with disabilities, commission on
quality of care for the mentally disabled, office [of mental retardation
and] FOR PEOPLE WITH  developmental  disabilities,  commission  for  the
blind,  office of alcoholism and substance abuse services, the office of
the advocate for the disabled and all offices which administer  programs
established or funded by such agencies. Additional state agencies desig-
nated  as voter registration offices are the department of state and the
division of workers' compensation, THE DIVISION OF PROBATION AND CORREC-
TIONAL ALTERNATIVES, THE DEPARTMENT OF  CORRECTIONAL  SERVICES  AND  THE
DIVISION  OF  PAROLE.    Such  agencies shall be required to offer voter
registration forms to persons upon  initial  application  for  services,
renewal  or  recertification for services and change of address relating
to such services. Such agencies shall also be responsible for  providing
assistance to applicants in completing voter registration forms, receiv-
ing  and transmitting the completed application form from all applicants
who wish to have such form  transmitted  to  the  appropriate  board  of
elections.  The  state board of elections shall, together with represen-
tatives of the department of defense, develop and  implement  procedures
for  including  recruitment  offices  of  the armed forces of the United
States as voter registration offices when such offices are so designated
by federal law. The state board shall also make request  of  the  United
States  Immigration  and  Naturalization Service to include applications
for registration by mail with any materials which are given to new citi-
zens. All institutions of the state university of New York and the  city
university  of New York, shall, at the beginning of the school year, and
again in January of a year in which the president of the  United  States
is  to  be  elected,  provide  an  application  for registration to each
student in each such institution. The state board of elections  may,  by
regulation,  grant  a waiver from any or all of the requirements of this
section to any office or program of an agency, if it determines that  it
is  not  feasible for such office or program to administer such require-
ment.
  S 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it shall have become a law, provided, however that effective  immediate-
ly,  the  addition,  amendment and/or repeal of any rules or regulations
necessary for the implementation of this act on its  effective  date  is
authorized  and  directed  to  be  made  and completed on or before such
effective date.