BILL NUMBER: S8108

SPONSOR: PERSAUD
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the tax law and the election law, in
relation to requiring tax preparation software to provide a link to
voter registration websites

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill would be known as the "Representation through Taxation" bill.
It would allow individuals the opportunity to register to vote on tax
return software when doing their taxes. New York consistently ranks in
the low 30 to 40 percent in voter turnout. This legislation would give
one more avenue for potential voters to register. This legislation would
also place additional securities in our election by registering with
information they must place on tax returns for proper identification.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Section 171 of the tax law is amended by adding a new subdi-
vision twenty-nine which require that all electronic income tax prepara-
              

tion software offered for sale or use in the state of New York to
include a prompt providing a link to users of such software to a New
York state voter registration application website pursuant to section
5-231 of the election law.

Section 2. The election law is amended by adding a new section 5-231 to
read as follows the department of taxation and finance, in consultation
with the state board of elections, shall require that all electronic
income tax preparation software offered for sale or use in the state of
New York include a prompt to users of such software which shall provide
a link to a New York state voter registration application website.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

No voter registration process is perfect, ours is riddled with flaws.
"Representation through Taxation" would add a vital opportunity to
increase voter rolls and participation in elections. The United States
is one of only a few democracies in the world where the government does
not take responsibility for registering voters.  Instead, our government
leaves the construction of voter registration to partisan and non-parti-
san voter registration organizations, political parties, election offi-
cials, and active citizens. It is not surprising that voter registration
and turnout in New York State are neither complete or the lowest of the
50 states.

In contrast, the international norm is an orderly process of automatic
registration of every citizen who reaches voting age and of every person
who becomes a citizen. Citizens are automatically placed on voter rolls
upon reaching voting age and/or government officials actively work to
register all citizens. For example, in Iraq's first democratic
elections, election officials automatically transferred the names of
Iraqis from ration lists to voter rolls.

Voter registration should be the mutual responsibility of citizens and
their government. The government should not only facilitate registra-
tion; it should actively register adults who are eligible to vote as
part of its responsibility to have accurate rolls. 100% voter registra-
tion should be the goal. Allowing voters to register through tax soft-
ware has the potential to bring together conservatives who are concerned
about fraudulent voter registrations and liberals who are concerned
about anemic political participation.

This year, when Minnesotans file their taxes through state-approved
electronic filing systems they'll see a new prompt in the long series of
tax-return questions asking if they'd like to register to vote.  The
message directs the taxpayer to the Minnesota Secretary of State's
website, where any eligible voter with an email address can register to
vote online.

However best achieved, we believe that such changes would register far
more citizens in an orderly way, generate more understanding of the
value of 100% registration, and provide a means to systematically intro-
duce young people to the importance of political participation.  We see
a natural complement to this proposal being a "voting curriculum" for
high school students.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New Legislation

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Yet to be determined

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall become
law.