NY State Senate Bill S3686

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

Introduced
In Committee
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- Passed Senate
- Passed Assembly
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Actions

view actions (2)

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 03, 2018	referred to elections
Jan 25, 2017	referred to elections

Co-Sponsors

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Elections
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §7-106, El L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2011-2012: S609
2013-2014: S1928
2015-2016: S2841

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires the use of a simple and easy to read typeface on paper ballots.

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

 BILL NUMBER:  S3686

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the election law, in relation to the
typeface to be used on paper ballots

 PURPOSE :

To make paper ballots more usable by the voting public through
requirements that ballots use a simple and easy to read type, and be
designed with a view towards usability, and by requiring that the
State and New York City boards of elections, as well as those in the
largest counties, have a full time employee on staff who is trained in
ballot design and usability.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section 1 of the bill amends election law section 7-106(2) to require
that paper ballots use simple and easy to read type style, and that
candidates names be printed in initial capital and lower case letters
of at least 12 point bold type. It further amends election law section
7-106(2) to add a new subdivision 2a, which requires that the New York
State and New York City boards of elections, as well as those in Erie,
Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties have one full time employee
on staff who is fully trained in effective ballot design and ballot
usability. It also requires that such employee of the state board of
elections be available to advise the other counties on the proposed

design and usability of their ballots for primary, general and special
elections.

Section 2 of the bill establishes the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

Currently, election law section 7-106(2) does not contain any
requirements as to ballot readability or usability, and requires that
candidates' names appear in all capital bold type letters with no
minimum type size, all of which have made many ballots used in New
York City and elsewhere difficult for voters to read and use. With the
introduction of paper ballots statewide in 2010, this problem was
particularly acute. In fact, difficulty reading the ballot, especially
because of small type size, was the single most common complaint
following the 2010 general election.

The U.S. Election Assistance Commission's report on Effective Designs
of Federal Elections, June 2007, Section 3: Optical Scan Ballots, in
its best practices recommendations, includes the specific changes in
the ballot requirements in this amendment to election law section
7-106(2). This report is referred to favorably by the Brennan Center's
2008 report, entitled Better Ballots, which also includes the changes
made by this bill in its "Ballot Design Checklist".

These and other studies all stress the importance of ballot design and
usability, yet, despite their importance to the voters' ability to
successfully select their candidates and cast their ballots, expertise
in ballot design and usability is lacking within our boards of
elections. No additional hiring should be necessary to meet the
requirements for one full-time employee in the State board of
elections, and one in the boards of elections of each of Our largest
counties, to develop the necessary expertise in ballot design and
usability. In fact, such expertise can largely be developed through
self study of the extensive amount of literature in this field, along
with some training courses.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2015-1016: S. 2841 - Referred to Senate Elections Committee.
 FISCAL IMPACT ON THE STATE :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the first day of January next succeeding
the date on which it has become a law.

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf


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

                                  3686

                       2017-2018 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            January 25, 2017
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sens.  ADDABBO, AVELLA, HOYLMAN, KRUEGER, PARKER -- 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 the typeface to be used
  on paper ballots

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

  Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section  7-106  of  the  election  law  is
amended and a new subdivision 2-a is added to read as follows:
  2. All paper ballots of the same kind for the same polling place shall
be  identical.  A  different, but in each case uniform style and size of
SIMPLE AND EASY TO READ type, SUCH AS ARIAL OR UNIVERS,  shall  be  used
for  printing  the names of candidates, the titles of offices, political
designations, and the reading form of all questions submitted. The names
of candidates shall be printed in INITIAL capital FOLLOWED BY LOWER CASE
letters [in black-faced] OF NOT LESS  THAN  TWELVE  POINT  BOLD  (BLACK-
FACED) type.
  2-A.  THE  NEW  YORK  STATE,  NEW  YORK CITY, AND THE COUNTY BOARDS OF
ELECTIONS FOR THE COUNTIES OF  NASSAU,  SUFFOLK,  WESTCHESTER  AND  ERIE
SHALL  AT  ALL  TIMES  HAVE ONE FULL TIME EMPLOYEE ON STAFF WHO IS FULLY
TRAINED IN EFFECTIVE BALLOT DESIGN AND BALLOT USABILITY.  SUCH  EMPLOYEE
OF  THE  STATE BOARD SHALL BE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST TO ADVISE ALL COUN-
TIES ON THE PROPOSED DESIGN AND  USABILITY  OF  THEIR  BALLOTS  FOR  ALL
PRIMARY, GENERAL AND SPECIAL ELECTIONS.
  §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
ing the date on which it shall have become a law.


 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD07267-01-7

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The New York State Senate

senate Bill S3686

Sponsored By

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

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Co-Sponsors

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Details

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

senate Bill S3686

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Sponsored By

Joseph P. Addabbo Jr

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

Your Voice

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Co-Sponsors

Tony Avella

Brad Hoylman-Sigal

Liz Krueger

Kevin S. Parker

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Details

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S3686 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments