Senate Bill S8367A

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  8367--A
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               May 19, 2020
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sens. MYRIE, COMRIE, GOUNARDES, HOYLMAN, LIU, MAY -- read
   twice and ordered printed, and when printed to  be  committed  to  the
   Committee  on Elections -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
   reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN ACT to amend the  election  law,  in  relation  to  certain  absentee
   ballots received by a board of elections that do not bear or display a
   dated postmark
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 8-412  of  the  election  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  91  of  the  laws  of  2020, is amended to read as
 follows:
   1. The board of elections shall cause all absentee ballots received by
 it before the close of  the  polls  on  election  day  and  all  ballots
 contained in envelopes [showing a cancellation mark of] SUBMITTED TO the
 United  States  postal service or a foreign country's postal service, or
 [showing a dated endorsement of receipt by] another agency of the United
 States government, with a date which is ascertained to be not later than
 the day of the election and received by  such  board  of  elections  not
 later  than  seven  days  following  the  day of election to be cast and
 counted.  THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL AFFIX  TO  EACH  ABSENTEE  BALLOT
 ENVELOPE A UNIQUE BAR CODE THAT PERMITS THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS TO ASCER-
 TAIN  THE  DATE UPON WHICH AN ABSENTEE BALLOT IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNITED
 STATES POSTAL SERVICE OR A FOREIGN COUNTRY'S POSTAL SERVICE, OR  ANOTHER
 AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
   § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 8-412 of the election law, as amended by
 chapter 155 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
   1. The board of elections shall cause all absentee ballots received by
 it  before  the  close  of  the  polls  on  election day and all ballots
 contained in envelopes [showing a cancellation mark of] SUBMITTED TO the
 United States postal service or a foreign country's postal  service,  or
 [showing a dated endorsement of receipt by] another agency of the United
 States government, with a date which is ascertained to be not later than
 the day [before] OF THE election and received by such board of elections
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
              

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD16404-04-0

 S. 8367--A                          2
 
 not  later  than seven days following the day of election to be cast and
 counted except that the absentee ballot of a voter  who  requested  such
 ballot by letter, rather than application, shall not be counted unless a
 valid  application  form, signed by such voter, is received by the board
 of elections with such ballot.  THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS  SHALL  AFFIX  TO
 EACH  ABSENTEE  BALLOT ENVELOPE A UNIQUE BAR CODE THAT PERMITS THE BOARD
 OF ELECTIONS TO ASCERTAIN THE DATE UPON  WHICH  AN  ABSENTEE  BALLOT  IS
 SUBMITTED  TO  THE  UNITED  STATES POSTAL SERVICE OR A FOREIGN COUNTRY'S
 POSTAL SERVICE, OR ANOTHER AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.
   § 3. Subdivision 2 of section 8-412 of the election law is  renumbered
 subdivision 3 and a new subdivision 2 is added to read as follows:
   2.  AN  ABSENTEE  BALLOT THAT HAS NO CANCELLATION MARK, A CANCELLATION
 MARK WITH NO DATE, OR AN  ILLEGIBLE  CANCELLATION  MARK,  AND  NO  OTHER
 INFORMATION  IS  AVAILABLE  FROM  THE  UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE OR A
 FOREIGN COUNTRY'S POSTAL SERVICE, OR ANOTHER AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES
 GOVERNMENT TO INDICATE THE DATE ON WHICH THE ABSENTEE BALLOT WAS MAILED,
 THE ABSENTEE BALLOT SHALL BE TIMELY CAST AND CANVASSED IF IT IS RECEIVED
 BY THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS THROUGH THE UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE OR  A
 FOREIGN  COUNTRY'S POSTAL SERVICE OR ANOTHER AGENCY OF THE UNITED STATES
 GOVERNMENT, NO LATER THAN THE SEVENTH DAY AFTER THE ELECTION DAY AND THE
 ABSENTEE BALLOT AFFIDAVIT ENVELOPE IS SIGNED AND DATED ON OR BEFORE  THE
 DAY OF ELECTION.
   §  4.  This  act  shall  take  effect  immediately  and shall apply to
 elections occurring on or after such effective date, provided,  however,
 that  the  amendments  to subdivision 1 of section 8-412 of the election
 law made by section one of this act shall be subject to  the  expiration
 and reversion of such subdivision pursuant to section 7 of chapter 91 of
 the  laws  of  2020  as  amended,  when upon such date the provisions of
 section two of this act shall take effect.