The New York State Senate

                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

    S. 1099                                                   A. 775

                       2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                      S E N A T E - A S S E M B L Y

                            January 10, 2019
                               ___________

IN  SENATE  --  Introduced by Sens. CARLUCCI, ADDABBO, BAILEY, BENJAMIN,
  BIAGGI, BRESLIN, BROOKS, COMRIE, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, GOUNARDES, HARCK-
  HAM, HOYLMAN, JACKSON, KAMINSKY, KAPLAN, KAVANAGH,  KENNEDY,  KRUEGER,
  LIU,   MARTINEZ,  MAY,  MAYER,  METZGER,  MONTGOMERY,  MYRIE,  PARKER,
  PERSAUD, RAMOS, RIVERA, SALAZAR, SANDERS, SAVINO, SEPULVEDA,  SERRANO,
  SKOUFIS,  STAVISKY,  STEWART-COUSINS, THOMAS -- read twice and ordered
  printed, and  when  printed  to  be  committed  to  the  Committee  on
  Elections

IN  ASSEMBLY  --  Introduced by M. of A. DINOWITZ, LAVINE, L. ROSENTHAL,
  GLICK, ENGLEBRIGHT, CRESPO, LUPARDO, FAHY, COLTON,  MOSLEY,  ABINANTI,
  ZEBROWSKI, OTIS, SIMON, ROZIC, JAFFEE, BUCHWALD, RYAN, CUSICK, PAULIN,
  HEVESI,  CARROLL,  GALEF,  RAMOS,  LIFTON,  VANEL,  D'URSO, SEAWRIGHT,
  WRIGHT, NIOU, BLAKE, BURKE, CRUZ, EICHENSTEIN, EPSTEIN, FALL, FRONTUS,
  GRIFFIN, HEASTIE, JACOBSON, McMAHON, RAYNOR, REYES, THIELE,  WEINSTEIN
  --  Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BRONSON, CAHILL, COOK, GOTTFRIED --
  read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law

AN ACT to amend the election law,  in  relation  to  voter  registration
  transfers

  THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 4, and 8 of section 5-208 of  the  election
law, subdivisions 1 and 8 as amended by chapter 200 of the laws of 1996,
subdivision  4  as added by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, are amended
and a new subdivision 9 is added to read as follows:
  1. The board of elections shall transfer the registration and  enroll-
ment of any voter APPEARING ON A STATEWIDE VOTER LIST PURSUANT TO SUBDI-
VISION  ONE  OF  SECTION  5-614  OF  THIS ARTICLE for whom it receives a
notice of change of address to another address in [the  same  county  or
city]  NEW  YORK STATE, or for any voter who [casts] SUBMITS a ballot in
an affidavit ballot envelope which sets forth such a new address.   Such

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD01332-02-9

S. 1099                             2                             A. 775

notices  shall include, but not be limited to, notices received from any
state agency which conducts a voter registration program pursuant to the
provisions of sections 5-211 and 5-212 of this title, that the voter has
notified such agency of a change of address in [the same city or county]
NEW  YORK  STATE  unless  the  voter  has  indicated that such change of
address is not for voter registration purposes,  notices  of  change  of
address  from  the  United  States  Postal  Service through the National
Change of Address System, any notices of a forwarding  address  on  mail
sent  to  a  voter  by the board of elections and returned by the postal
service, national or state voter registration forms, confirmation  mail-
ing  response cards, United States Postal Service notices to correspond-
ents of change of address, applications for  registration  from  persons
already registered in [such county or city] NEW YORK STATE, or any other
notices to correspondents sent to the board of elections by such voters.
  4.  If  such  application for registration from a voter already regis-
tered in [such county or city] NEW YORK STATE also reflects a change  of
enrollment,  the  board  of elections shall treat such application as an
application for change of enrollment pursuant to section 5-304  of  this
article.
  8.  If  the  board of elections receives notice of a change of address
within [such city or county] NEW YORK STATE from, or with respect to,  a
person  who it determines is not registered in [such county or city] NEW
YORK STATE, it shall forthwith send such person a notice to that  effect
in  a  form  approved by the state board of elections at the new address
set forth in such notice of change of address,  together  with  a  voter
registration form.
  9. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL PROMULGATE REGULATIONS AS TO THE
PROCEDURES FOR TRANSFERRING A VOTER FROM ONE COUNTY TO ANOTHER.
  §  2.  Subparagraph  (ii) of paragraph (e) of subdivision 3 of section
8-302 of the election law, as amended by chapter  164  of  the  laws  of
2010, is amended to read as follows:
  (ii) He or she may swear to and subscribe an affidavit stating that he
or  she  has  duly  registered  to  vote,  the  address in such election
district from which he or she registered, that he or she remains a  duly
qualified  voter in such election district, that his or her registration
poll record appears to be lost or misplaced or  that  his  or  her  name
and/or  his  or  her  signature  was omitted from the computer generated
registration list or that he or she has  moved  within  [the  county  or
city]  NEW  YORK STATE since he or she last registered, the address from
which he or she was previously registered and the address at which he or
she currently resides, and at a primary election, the party in which  he
or she is enrolled. The inspectors of election shall offer such an affi-
davit  to  each  such  voter whose residence address is in such election
district.  Each such affidavit shall be in  a  form  prescribed  by  the
state  board  of  elections, shall be printed on an envelope of the size
and quality used for an absentee ballot envelope, and shall  contain  an
acknowledgment  that  the  affiant  understands that any false statement
made  therein  is  perjury  punishable  according  to  law.  Such   form
prescribed  by  the  state  board of elections shall request information
required to register such voter should the county board  determine  that
such  voter  is  not  registered  and shall constitute an application to
register to vote. The voter's name and the entries required  shall  then
be  entered  without  delay  and  without  further inquiry in the fourth
section of the challenge report or in the place provided at the  end  of
the  computer  generated  registration  list, with the notation that the
voter has executed the affidavit hereinabove  prescribed,  or,  if  such

S. 1099                             3                             A. 775

person's  name  appears on the computer generated registration list, the
board of elections may provide a place to make such entry next to his or
her name on such list.  The voter shall then, without  further  inquiry,
be  permitted  to vote an affidavit ballot provided for by this chapter.
Such ballot shall thereupon be placed in the envelope containing his  or
her  affidavit,  and  the  envelope  sealed and returned to the board of
elections in the manner provided by this chapter for protested  official
ballots, including a statement of the number of such ballots.
  § 3. Subdivision 1 of section 4-117 of the election law, as amended by
chapter 3 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
  1.  The  board  of elections, between August first and August fifth of
each year, shall send by mail on which is endorsed such language  desig-
nated  by  the  state board of elections to ensure postal authorities do
not forward such mail but return it  to  the  board  of  elections  with
forwarding  information,  when  it  cannot be delivered as addressed and
which contains a request that any such mail  received  for  persons  not
residing at the address be dropped back in the mail, a communication, in
a  form  approved  by  the state board of elections, to every registered
voter who has been registered without a  change  of  address  since  the
beginning  of such year, except that the board of elections shall not be
required to send such communications to voters in inactive  status.  The
communication  shall notify the voter of the days and hours of the ensu-
ing primary and general elections, the place where  he  appears  by  his
registration  records  to  be entitled to vote, the fact that voters who
have moved or will have moved from the  address  where  they  were  last
registered  must  [re-register  or,  that  if  such  move was to another
address in the same county or city, that such voter may]  either  notify
the board of elections of his new address or vote by paper ballot at the
polling  place  for his new address even if such voter has not re-regis-
tered, or otherwise notified the board of elections  of  the  change  of
address.  If the primary will not be held on the first Tuesday after the
second Monday in September, the communication shall contain a  conspicu-
ous  notice  in all capital letters and bold font notifying the voter of
the primary date. If the location of the polling place for  the  voter's
election  district  has  been moved, the communication shall contain the
following legend in bold type: "YOUR POLLING PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED. YOU
NOW VOTE AT..........". The communication shall  also  indicate  whether
the  polling  place  is accessible to physically disabled voters, that a
voter who will be out of the city or county on the day of the primary or
general election or a voter who is ill or physically disabled may obtain
an absentee ballot, that a physically disabled voter whose polling place
is not accessible may request that his registration record be  moved  to
an  election district which has a polling place which is accessible, the
phone number to call for applications to move a registration  record  or
for  absentee  ballot  applications,  the  phone  number to call for the
location of registration and polling places, the phone number to call to
indicate that the voter is willing  to  serve  on  election  day  as  an
election  inspector, poll clerk, interpreter or in other capacities, the
phone number to call to obtain an application for registration by  mail,
and  such  other information concerning the elections or registration as
the board may include. In lieu of sending such  communication  to  every
registered voter, the board of elections may send a single communication
to  a household containing more than one registered voter, provided that
the names of all such voters appear as  part  of  the  address  on  such
communication.

S. 1099                             4                             A. 775

  §  4.  Paragraph (a) of subdivision 1 of section 5-400 of the election
law, as amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended  to  read
as follows:
  (a) Moved his OR HER residence outside the [city or county in which he
is registered] STATE.
  §  5. Paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of subdivision 2 of section 5-400 of
the election law, paragraphs (b) and (d) as  added  by  section  20  and
paragraph  (c) as added and paragraph (d) as relettered by section 22 of
chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, are amended to read as follows:
  (b) A notice that the registrant has moved to an address  outside  the
[city or county] STATE which is signed by the registrant and sent to the
board of elections.
  (c)  A  notice  signed by the registrant which states that such regis-
trant has moved to an address outside the [city  or  county]  STATE  and
that such change of address is for voter registration purposes.
  (d)  A  notice  from  a board of elections or other voter registration
officer or agency that such  person  has  registered  to  vote  from  an
address outside [such city or county] THE STATE.
  §  6.  The  opening paragraph of section 9-209 of the election law, as
amended by chapter 163 of the laws  of  2010,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  Before  completing  the canvass of votes cast in any primary, general,
special, or other election at which voters are required  to  sign  their
registration  poll  records  before voting, the board of elections shall
proceed in the manner hereinafter prescribed to  cast  and  canvass  any
absentee,  military,  special  presidential,  special  federal  or other
special ballots and any ballots voted by voters  who  moved  within  the
[county  or  city]  STATE  after registering, voters who are in inactive
status, voters whose registration was incorrectly transferred to another
address even though they did not move, voters  whose  registration  poll
records  were  missing  on the day of such election, voters who have not
had their identity previously verified  and  voters  whose  registration
poll records did not show them to be enrolled in the party in which they
claimed  to  be  enrolled.  Each  such  ballot  shall be retained in the
original envelope containing the voter's  affidavit  and  signature,  in
which it is delivered to the board of elections until such time as it is
to be cast and canvassed.
  §  7.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
have become a law.