NY State Senate Bill 2021-S1804

Senate Bill S1804

2021-2022 Legislative Session

Relates to requiring electors to vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates in a manner representing the plurality of votes in each congressional district

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

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Actions

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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 05, 2022	referred to elections
Jan 15, 2021	referred to elections

2021-S1804 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A4895
Current Committee:: Senate Elections
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §12-106, El L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2019-2020: S9039, A11151
2023-2024: S1113, A1938

2021-S1804 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires electors to vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates in a manner representing the plurality of votes in each congressional district.

2021-S1804 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S1804

SPONSOR: BORRELLO
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to requiring electors to
vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates in a manner
representing the plurality of votes in each congressional district

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

This bill requires that the New York electoral votes be allocated based
on the popular vote in each congressional district, with two at large
electoral representatives casting their electoral vote for the statewide
winner.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1. Amends section 12-106 of the Election Law to state that two
electoral votes for the Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates
shall be given to the statewide winners and one electoral vote shall be

given to the winners in each congressional district.

Section 2. The legislation would take effect immediately upon adoption.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

The president and vice-president of the United States are selected by
the Electoral College, which consists of one vote for every congression-
al district and two votes (just as two Senators represent each state).

Under current law, the New York State presidential and vice-presidential
winners of the statewide popular vote receive all the electoral votes
for New York State, regardless of their margin of victory. This approach
is the antithesis of selecting the president and vice-president by popu-
lar vote because it ignores all the popular votes cast for the second-
place winners. The practical effect of the current system is to disen-
franchise millions of voters.

The current approach is also the antithesis of a popular election of
president and vice-president. If every state cast its electoral votes in
proportion to the statewide votes, the electoral college would more
closely match the popular vote. Instead, the current system distorts the
popular vote by casting all the electoral votes for the statewide winner
regardless of the popular vote within the state.  Thus, a presidential
candidate who wins by a very small margin within the State nevertheless
would receive all the electoral votes from the State.

The current approach also minimizes the role of New York State voters in
selecting the president and vice-president. Since New York City Demo-
crats dominate statewide elections, neither presidential candidate
spends any time or effort courting upstate New York voters.

Two other States currently allocate their electoral votes based on the
popular vote within the State, Maine and Nebraska.

New York should provide national leadership in allocating its electoral
votes in proportion to the popular within the State.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2020: S.9039-A/A. Referred to Rules

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately after adoption.

2021-S1804 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1804
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 15, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. BORRELLO -- 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 requiring  electors  to
   vote for the presidential and vice presidential candidates in a manner
   representing the plurality of votes in each congressional district

   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Section 12-106 of the election law is amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   §  12-106.  Electoral college; vote of the electors. Immediately after
 the organization of the electoral college, the electors shall  then  and
 there  vote  by  ballot for president and vice president, but no elector
 shall vote for more than one person who is a  resident  of  this  state.
 TWO ELECTORAL VOTES SHALL BE GIVEN TO THE STATEWIDE WINNER AND ONE ELEC-
 TORAL  VOTE  SHALL  BE GIVEN TO EACH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT BASED ON THE
 PLURALITY OF VOTES IN SUCH DISTRICT. They shall name in separate ballots
 the persons voted for as president and vice president. They  shall  make
 and  sign six certificates of all the votes given by them, each of which
 certificates shall contain two distinct lists, one with  the  votes  for
 president  and  one  with  the  votes for vice president. There shall be
 annexed to each of the certificates one of the lists of  electors  which
 shall  have been furnished to them by the state board of elections. They
 shall seal up the certificates so made and certify upon  each  that  the
 lists of all the votes of this state given for president and vice presi-
 dent are contained therein.
   §  2.  This  act  shall take effect immediately and shall apply to all
 electors for all elections occurring on and after such date.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD04822-01-1

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