S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                  6818

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 25, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  AVELLA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections

AN ACT to amend the  election  law,  in  relation  to  ensuring  certain
  notification requirements are cost-effective and efficient

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

  Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 4-117  of  the  election  law,  as
amended  by  chapter  288  of  the  laws  of 2009, is amended to read as
follows:
  1. The board of elections, between August first and  August  fifth  of
each  year,  shall  send  by  [first  class]  mail  on which is endorsed
["ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED"] SUCH LANGUAGE DESIGNATED BY  THE  STATE
BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO ENSURE POSTAL AUTHORITIES DO NOT FORWARD SUCH MAIL
BUT  RETURN  IT  TO  THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS WITH FORWARDING INFORMATION,
WHEN IT CANNOT BE DELIVERED AS ADDRESSED and which  contains  a  request
that  any  such mail received for persons not residing at the address be
dropped back in the mail, a communication, in a  form  approved  by  the
state  board of elections, to every registered voter who has been regis-
tered without a change of address since  the  beginning  of  such  year,
except  that  the  board of elections shall not be required to send such
communications to voters in inactive  status.  The  communication  shall
notify the voter of the days and hours of the ensuing primary and gener-
al  elections, the place where he appears by his registration records to
be entitled to vote, the fact that voters who have moved  or  will  have
moved  from the address where they were last registered must re-register
or, that if such move was to another address in the same county or city,
that such voter may either notify the board  of  elections  of  his  new
address or vote by paper ballot at the polling place for his new address
even  if  such  voter  has  not re-registered, or otherwise notified the
board of elections of the change of address.  If  the  location  of  the
polling  place  for  the  voter's  election district has been moved, the
communication shall contain the following legend  in  bold  type:  "YOUR
POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED. YOU NOW VOTE AT..........". The communi-
cation  shall  also  indicate whether the polling place is accessible to

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

                                                           LBD11371-01-5

S. 6818                             2

physically disabled voters, that a voter who will be out of the city  or
county  on  the day of the primary or general election or a voter who is
ill or physically disabled may obtain an absentee ballot, that  a  phys-
ically  disabled voter whose polling place is not accessible may request
that his registration record be moved to an election district which  has
a polling place which is accessible, the phone number to call for appli-
cations  to  move  a registration record or for absentee ballot applica-
tions, the phone number to call for the  location  of  registration  and
polling  places,  the phone number to call to indicate that the voter is
willing to serve on election day as an election inspector,  poll  clerk,
interpreter  or  in other capacities, the phone number to call to obtain
an application for registration by  mail,  and  such  other  information
concerning  the  elections  or registration as the board may include. In
lieu of sending such communication to every registered voter, the  board
of  elections  may send a single communication to a household containing
more than one registered voter, provided that  the  names  of  all  such
voters appear as part of the address on such communication.
  S 2. 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
first  class  or  return  postage  guaranteed  mail on which is endorsed
["ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED"] SUCH LANGUAGE DESIGNATED BY  THE  STATE
BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO ENSURE POSTAL AUTHORITIES DO NOT FORWARD SUCH MAIL
BUT  RETURN  IT  TO  THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS WITH FORWARDING INFORMATION,
WHEN IT CANNOT BE DELIVERED AS ADDRESSED 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,

S. 6818                             3

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 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 3. This act shall take effect immediately.