NY State Senate Bill 2021-S2161

Senate Bill S2161

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Designates certain university and community college campuses as polling places for early voting

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Elections Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to elections
Jan 20, 2021	referred to elections

co-Sponsors

2021-S2161 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Elections
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §8-600, El L
Versions Introduced in 2019-2020 Legislative Session:: S7233

2021-S2161 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Designates certain university and community college campuses as polling places for early voting.

2021-S2161 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S2161

SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to designating certain
university and community college campuses as polling places for early
voting

 
PURPOSE:

This bill will increase student turnout in elections by designating
certain college campuses as early voting polling places.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: Amends section 8-600 of the election law to mandate that
counties required to have more than one polling place for early voting
will designate one State University of New York university or community
college campus in that county with at least 2,500 undergraduate students
as a polling place for the early voting period. This section also makes

discretionary funding available for any such county, or any county not
required to have more than one polling place for early voting, in each
case, that designates additional campuses as early voting polling sites
for at least three consecutive weekdays.

Section 2: Effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Many studies show that expanding early voting sites on college and
university campuses can substantially increase the student population
turnout in elections. New York is the proud home to one of the largest
state university systems in the country, which oversees both four-year
universities and community colleges throughout the state.  As we expand
and perfect early voting in our state, we must ensure that young eligi-
ble voters are able to cast their ballots as easily and conveniently as
possible. Designating certain campuses as permanent early voting polling
places and incentivizing the operation of additional temporary early
voting polling sites on campuses is the single best way to ensure
students have early voting access. For the many communities where
college campuses are centrally located, they provide an added bonus in
that early voting becomes available for those who live and work near
campuses.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2019-2020 - S.7233 (May) Referred to Elections

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

2021-S2161 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2161
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 20, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in  relation  to  designating  certain
   university  and community college campuses as polling places for early
   voting

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (d) of subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of
 the election law, as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2019, are amended
 and a new paragraph (e) is added to read as follows:
   (a)  [The]  SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (E) OF THIS SUBDIVISION, 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. There shall be so designated at least one early
 voting polling place for every full increment of fifty  thousand  regis-
 tered  voters  in  each  county;  provided, however, the number of early
 voting polling places in a county shall not be required  to  be  greater
 than  seven,  and  a  county with fewer than fifty thousand voters shall
 have at least one early voting polling place.
   (d) [Polling] SUBJECT TO PARAGRAPH (E) OF  THIS  SUBDIVISION,  POLLING
 places  for  early  voting shall be located so that voters in the county
 have adequate and equitable access, taking into consideration population
 density, travel time to the polling  place,  proximity  to  other  early
 voting  poll  sites,  public  transportation  routes,  commuter  traffic
 patterns and such other factors the board of elections  deems  appropri-
 ate.  The  provisions  of section 4-104 of this chapter, except subdivi-
 sions four and five of such section, shall apply to the  designation  of
 polling places for early voting except to the extent such provisions are
 inconsistent with this section.
   (E)(I) NOTWITHSTANDING THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS' DISCRETION TO DESIGNATE
 POLLING  PLACES  FOR  EARLY VOTING AS SET FORTH IN THIS SUBDIVISION, FOR
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD04719-01-1

 S. 2161                             2
 
 ANY COUNTY REQUIRED TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE POLLING PLACE FOR EARLY VOTING
 AS SET FORTH IN THIS SUBDIVISION, THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL DESIGNATE
 AT LEAST ONE STATE  UNIVERSITY  OF  NEW  YORK  UNIVERSITY  OR  COMMUNITY
 COLLEGE  CAMPUS  LOCATED  IN THAT COUNTY WITH ENROLLMENT OF AT LEAST TWO
 THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AS A POLLING PLACE FOR  THE
 EARLY VOTING PERIOD. THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE TO THAT
 COUNTY  ADDITIONAL DISCRETIONARY FUNDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF EARLY
 VOTING IF THAT COUNTY DESIGNATES MORE THAN ONE STATE UNIVERSITY  OF  NEW
 YORK UNIVERSITY OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAMPUS LOCATED IN THAT COUNTY AS AN
 ADDITIONAL POLLING PLACE FOR EARLY VOTING FOR AT LEAST THREE CONSECUTIVE
 WEEKDAYS DURING THE EARLY VOTING PERIOD.
   (II) FOR ANY COUNTY THAT IS NOT REQUIRED TO HAVE MORE THAN ONE POLLING
 PLACE  FOR  EARLY  VOTING AS SET FORTH IN THIS SUBDIVISION, THE BOARD OF
 ELECTIONS SHALL MAKE AVAILABLE TO THAT COUNTY  ADDITIONAL  DISCRETIONARY
 FUNDING FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF EARLY VOTING IF THAT COUNTY DESIGNATES
 ANY  STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK UNIVERSITY OR COMMUNITY COLLEGE CAMPUS
 LOCATED IN THAT COUNTY AS AN ADDITIONAL POLLING PLACE FOR  EARLY  VOTING
 FOR AT LEAST THREE CONSECUTIVE WEEKDAYS DURING THE EARLY VOTING PERIOD.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Senate Bill S2161

Share this bill

Sponsored By

Rachel May