The New York State Senate

                    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.