Senate Bill S4597

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4597

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the election law, in relation to
prohibiting the name change of any independent body making nominations

 PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL :

The purpose of this legislation is to prohibit the name change of any
independent body making nominations.

 SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS :


Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 6-128 of the
Election Law is amended to read as follows: The name of the party
filing the nominations which shall not be altered or modified once
submitted.


Section 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 6-138 of the
Election Law, is amended by adding the following language to the end
of the paragraph: Such name selected for such independent body shall
continuously remain the name of such party as defined in subdivision
three of section 1-104 of this chapter.


              

Section 3. Establishes the effect date.

 JUSTIFICATION :

In New York State there are, and have been the following parties:
Democratic, Republican, Conservative, Liberal, Working Families and
Independence. A party is established when any political organizations
candidate for governor obtains at least 50,000 votes in the last
preceding election. In the 2014 elections, the Stop Common Core ballot
line received 51,294 votes, obtaining a permanent ballot line for the
next four years. In January of 2015, however, the party organization
announced a name change from Stop Common Core to the Reform Party.

This action is akin to bait and switch tactics. The 51,294 voters
voted for a candidate who represented the views of the Stop Common
Core party. Now that the party is established, the organization
changed its mission, misleading those voters, essentially obtaining a
multi-year legal political status based on fraud.

Currently, a political organization's name cannot suggest similarity
to an existing party or a political organization that has already
filed. The political organization should also be prohibited from
making a name change. This legislation would prohibit the name change
of any independent body making ballot nominations.

 PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

2016- S.6673

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :;

There will be a possible cost savings to the Board of Elections.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect immediately.