Senate Bill S6422

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S6422

SPONSOR: KRUEGER
 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the election law, in relation to
change of enrollment by previously registered voters

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to ensure that voters who wish to vote for a
preferred presidential candidate, but who are not enrolled members of
that party, may change their enrollment within a reasonable period
before such presidential primary.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 3 of section 5-304 of the
Election Law to provide that in the year before a presidential election,
if a previously registered voter files a change of enrollment or a new
enrollment after the twenty-fifth day before the general elections and
no later than the day before the first day to circulate a petition for
the presidential primary, such change of enrollment or new enrollment
              

shall take effect immediately.

Section 2 provides for the effective date. a

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The election law provides that a voter may register and enroll in a
party. However, if a voter registers to vote without enrolling in a
party or wishes to change party enrollment, the voter must do so at
least 25 days before a general election in any year in order to have
that change take effect one week after that general election.  The
reasons for this requirement are many.

New York has eight state wide parties currently. The election law
outlines how a candidate may access the ballot line of a party through
the circulation of a designating petition signed by party members or the
filing of a designating certificate issued by a party committee.  A
candidate not enrolled in a party has additional requirements in order
to access that party's ballot line. To allow a candidate to change
parties during the petition period, or after the petition process but
before a primary, would undermine the process by which boards of
elections and courts ensure that ballot access rules have been followed.

Designating petitions for each party may only be signed by registered
voters who are enrolled party members in that party.When a voter in a
party participates in the petition process, a review of the petition
requires that the enrollment list for that party be utilized to confirm
enrollment of the signatory. That voter must remain in that party so
that review and validation of the designating petition may occur. To
allow voters to change party during the petition period would undermine
the review that designating petitions undergo by boards of elections and
courts prior to a primary.

Only voters who are enrolled in a party may vote in that party's prima-
ry. The current law is intended to prevent a voter from signing a desig-
nating petition for a party and then changing party enrollment to vote
in a different party's primary, a form of "party hopping."

The current law is also intended to avoid "party raiding" where members
of one party change party enrollment before a primary to vote in another
party's primary in order to either select the weakest candidate against
the voter's preferred general election candidate, or, in the fusion
voting context, provide the modicum of votes required in a small
parties' primary to strategically deliver the nomination to the
preferred candidate.

The need for a uniform party change process that applies to all parties
is essential because implementing different rules for different parties
would create administrative impossibilities for boards of elections and
would cause confusion for voters. Moreover, party changes will often
impact more than one party - the party the voter purports to exit as
well as the party the voter wishes to align with.

Notwithstanding all of the above, the once every 4 years presidential
primary justifies a unique exception to the general party enrollment
rule due to the significantly increased voter interest in participating
in the presidential primary. The historic voter demand for party changes
in the period before a presidential primary indicates this is a critical
time for partisan realignment, as opposed to opportunistic party hopping
or raiding. This bill creates an exception to the general rule to allow
an immediate enrollment change in the window beginning 24 days before
the general election in the year before the presidential primary up
until the day before the first day to circulate a presidential primary
petition. In 2020, this means a party change would be possible until
December 30th. This change is intended to balance the state's strong
interest in the integrity of the ballot, the integrity of the party
system, and the rules governing voter participation in party processes,
with the increased voter interest in participating in the presidential
primary.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

This legislation is not expected to have any impact on state or local
governments.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately