Senate Bill S2740

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S2740

 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, special elections and primaries

 PURPOSE :

This bill relieves one of the expenditures associated with general,
primary, and special 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.

              

 EXISTING LAW :

There is nothing currently on record that makes the state responsible
for paying any cost associated with elections. The counties and/or
municipalities are responsible for cost associated with elections.

 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.  President
Bush signed it into law 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 mandates 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 had been left to each state, which allowed for varying
interpretations of the Federal law.

New York Counties were mandated by New York State to move away from
the conventional Lever Voting Machines to a more sophisticated way to
vote. Local governments were informed that 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 actually took place the true cost of
these machines became apparent. Although the Lever Machines could be
stored almost anywhere, the new Scanner Voting Machines would need to
be in climate-controlled storage for fear of damaging the electronics.

The Lever Machines had relatively inexpensive rolls of paper. Pieces
of paper showing the vote tally could be easily removed and the votes
would then be physically counted. The rolls of paper were used in
multiple elections thereby keeping cost down. The Scanner Voting
Machines on the other hand have expensive individual ballots, which
were used to scan the citizen's vote while at the same time storing
the paper ballot.

Hence, the problem with elections are the cost associated with having
them. The county B.O.E.'s are responsible to estimate the number of
ballots based on previous elections. The cost however, will vary
depending on the county population and whether or not it is a General
Election or a Primary Election, a local or a state election and last
but not least, a Presidential Election. The elections cost vary
because the number of people that vote in each of the elections will
vary. The cost could range anywhere from 42 cents to 57 cents or
higher per ballot. Once the election is completed, all unused ballots
are required to be stored for four months prior to being thrown out.

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 absorb much of cost associated with
elections such as; cost for storage and maintenance of the machines,
B.O.E. personnel and Pol Watchers who manage the polling places on
Election Day. This bill will help to alleviate only a portion of the
total cost. It is just one small way to help reduce yet another state
mandate.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

Latimer, 2014- REFERRED TO ELECTIONS
Latimer, 2015- 16 REFERRED TO ELECTIONS

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

To be determined

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This bill shall take effect immediately