NY State Senate Bill 2019-S145

Senate Bill S145

2019-2020 Legislative Session

Allows absentee voting for persons unable to vote due to duties, occupation, business, personal matters or studies

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 08, 2020	referred to elections
Jan 09, 2019	referred to elections

co-Sponsors

2019-S145 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Elections
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §8-400, El L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2009-2010: S1835
2011-2012: S544
2013-2014: S2252, S6534
2015-2016: S873
2017-2018: S1659

2019-S145 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Allows absentee voting for persons unable to vote due to duties, occupation, business, personal matters or studies; no agent may collect more than 15 ballots except with approval of two inspectors representing different political parties.

2019-S145 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S145

SPONSOR: CARLUCCI
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to absentee voting quali-
fications

 
PURPOSE:

Allows absentee voting for persons unable to vote due to duties, occupa-
tion, business, personal matters or studies.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Amends subdivision 1 of section 8-400 of the election law and
adds a new subdivision 11 to extend absentee voting rights to any indi-
vidual who for any reason is unable to vote in person; includes the
category of "matters" in the list of acceptable reasons for absentee
voting; eliminates the requirement that an individual applying for an
absentee ballot be required to file a statement regarding the nature and

reasons of their absence from the county of his or her residence;
provides that no single agent may collect more than fifteen absentee
ballots, except upon application and approval of both commissioners.

Section 2. Effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

By extending absentee voting rights to all individuals who are unable to
vote in person on election day, we are enabling more eligible voters to
vote in New York State and have that vote counted. This bill helps to
ensure that as many eligible voters as possible exercise their right to
vote on election day.

There are many instances where an individual voter may not be able to
vote, for any number of personal reasons, but may not fall within one of
the categories which exists in current law. This amendment would elimi-
nate this problem. The existing application process is also amended, as
it would no longer require an individual voter to provide a specific
reason as to why they will be unable to vote in person on election day.

This bill helps codify the main focus of HAVA to ensure that as many
people as possible are able to exercise their right to vote and do so in
an appropriate manner. By eliminating the requirement that an individual
provide an acceptable reason for their absence, the bill also eliminates
a pitfall as to why an otherwise eligible voter may be deemed ineligi-
ble.

Additionally, this bill would limit the number of absentee ballots one
agent may collect to fifteen, unless otherwise approved by both commis-
sioners. This change eliminates the unseemly practice whereby one indi-
vidual is able to collect an unlimited number of absentee ballots and
turn them in. The potential for fraud in instances like that is too
great to risk for such an important matter as the right to have your
vote count.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-18: S1659 - ELECTIONS
2015-16: S873A/A5601A - Elections/Election Law
2013-14: S6534/A2105 - Elections/Election Law

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Negligible.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall have become a law.

2019-S145 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    145
 
                        2019-2020 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 9, 2019
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. CARLUCCI -- 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 absentee voting  quali-
   fications
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 8-400  of  the  election  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter 63 of the laws of 2010, paragraph (c) as amended by
 chapter 375 of the laws of 2015, is amended and a new subdivision 11  is
 added to read as follows:
   1.  A qualified voter may vote as an absentee voter under this chapter
 if, on the occurrence of any village election conducted by the board  of
 elections,  primary  election, special election, general election or New
 York city community school board district  or  city  of  Buffalo  school
 district election, he or she expects to be[:
   (a)  absent from the county of his or her residence, or, if a resident
 of the city of New York absent from said city; or
   (b) unable to appear personally at the polling place of  the  election
 district  in  which he or she is a qualified voter because of illness or
 physical disability or duties related to the primary care of one or more
 individuals who are ill or physically disabled, or  because  he  or  she
 will be or is a patient in a hospital; or
   (c)  a  resident or patient of a veterans health administration hospi-
 tal; or
   (d) absent from his or her voting  residence  because  he  or  she  is
 detained  in  jail awaiting action by a grand jury or awaiting trial, or
 confined in jail or prison after a conviction for an offense other  than
 a  felony,  provided that he or she is qualified to vote in the election
 district of his or her residence]  UNABLE  TO  VOTE  IN  PERSON  DUE  TO
 DUTIES, OCCUPATION, BUSINESS, PERSONAL MATTERS OR STUDIES.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD05288-01-9

 S. 145                              2
 
   11.  NO SINGLE AGENT SHALL COLLECT MORE THAN FIFTEEN ABSENTEE BALLOTS,
 EXCEPT UPON APPLICATION AND  APPROVAL  OF  TWO  INSPECTORS  REPRESENTING
 DIFFERENT POLITICAL PARTIES.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
 it shall have become a law.  Effective immediately, the addition, amend-
 ment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implemen-
 tation  of  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and
 completed on or before such effective date.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S145

Share this bill

Sponsored By

David Carlucci