The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                  454--A
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                                (PREFILED)
 
                              January 6, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of A. ROZIC, PEOPLES-STOKES, CAHILL, COOK, DINOWITZ,
   ENGLEBRIGHT, GALEF, GOTTFRIED,  VANEL,  ABINANTI,  GRIFFIN,  JACOBSON,
   BARRETT,  REYES,  COLTON, CRUZ, EPSTEIN, WEPRIN, SIMON, OTIS, FRONTUS,
   SEAWRIGHT, FAHY, DE LA ROSA, BRAUNSTEIN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of
   A. GLICK, LUPARDO -- read  once  and  referred  to  the  Committee  on
   Election  Law -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted
   as amended and recommitted to said committee
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law,  in  relation  to  the  boundaries  of
   election districts and the designation of polling places
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 4-104 of the election law is amended  by  adding  a
 new subdivision 5-a to read as follows:
   5-A.  WHENEVER  A  CONTIGUOUS  PROPERTY  OF  A  COLLEGE  OR UNIVERSITY
 CONTAINS THREE HUNDRED OR MORE  REGISTRANTS  (EXCLUDING  REGISTRANTS  IN
 INACTIVE  STATUS)  WHO  ARE  REGISTERED  TO  VOTE  AT AN ADDRESS ON SUCH
 CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY, THE POLLING PLACE DESIGNATED FOR  SUCH  REGISTRANTS
 SHALL  BE  ON  SUCH CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY OR AT A LOCATION APPROVED BY THE
 COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.
   § 2. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section  4-100  of  the  election
 law,  as  amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read
 as follows:
   a. Each election district shall be in compact  form  and  may  not  be
 partly within and partly without a ward, town, city, a village which has
 five  thousand  or  more  inhabitants and is wholly within one town, THE
 CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY OF A COLLEGE  OR  UNIVERSITY  WHICH  CONTAINS  THREE
 HUNDRED  OR  MORE REGISTRANTS (EXCLUDING REGISTRANTS IN INACTIVE STATUS)
 WHO ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE AT AN ADDRESS ON SUCH CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY, or
 a county legislative, assembly, senatorial  or  congressional  district.
 Except as provided in paragraph b of this subdivision, election district
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets

                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD03331-03-1

 A. 454--A                           2
 
 boundaries,  other  than those boundaries which are coterminous with the
 boundaries of those political subdivisions  AND  COLLEGE  OR  UNIVERSITY
 PROPERTIES  mentioned  in this paragraph, must be streets, rivers, rail-
 road lines or other permanent characteristics of the landscape which are
 clearly  visible  to any person without the need to use any technical or
 mechanical device. An election district shall contain not more than nine
 hundred fifty registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status) or,
 with the approval of the county board of elections, not more than eleven
 hundred fifty registrants (excluding registrants  in  inactive  status),
 but  any  election  district  may  be divided for the convenience of the
 voters.
   § 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of  the  election
 law,  as  amended by chapter 344 of the laws of 2020, is amended to read
 as follows:
   (a) The board of elections shall designate polling  places  for  early
 voting,  which  may  include  the offices of the board of elections, for
 persons to vote early pursuant to this title;  provided,  however,  that
 the municipality with the highest population in each county based on the
 latest  federal  decennial  census shall have at least one polling place
 designated for early voting, and to the extent practicable if such muni-
 cipality has public transportation routes, such polling place  shall  be
 situated  along such transportation routes. There shall be so designated
 at least one early voting polling place  for  every  full  increment  of
 fifty  thousand registered voters in each county; provided, however, the
 number of early voting polling places in a county shall not be  required
 to  be  greater  than ten unless required by any other provision of law,
 and a county with fewer than fifty thousand voters shall have  at  least
 one  early  voting  polling place.   WHENEVER A CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY OF A
 COLLEGE  OR  UNIVERSITY  CONTAINS  THREE  HUNDRED  OR  MORE  REGISTRANTS
 (EXCLUDING REGISTRANTS IN INACTIVE STATUS) WHO ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE AT
 AN  ADDRESS  ON  SUCH CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY, SUCH CONTIGUOUS PROPERTY OR A
 LOCATION APPROVED BY THE COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY SHALL BE DESIGNATED AS AN
 EARLY VOTING POLLING PLACE.
   § 4.  This act shall take effect January 1, 2024.