The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   1259
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             January 13, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  LUNSFORD,  GLICK,  GONZALEZ-ROJAS, JACOBSON,
   SEAWRIGHT, SILLITTI, SIMON, TAPIA, WALKER -- read once and referred to
   the Committee on Election Law
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation  to  recounts  of  ballots
   conducted  by  the  board  of  elections  or  a  bipartisan  committee
   appointed by the board

   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  Subdivision  4  of  section 9-208 of the election law, as
 added by section 1 of part JJ of chapter 55 of  the  laws  of  2020,  is
 amended to read as follows:
   4.  (a)  The board of elections or a bipartisan committee appointed by
 the board shall conduct a full manual  recount  of  all  ballots  for  a
 particular contest:
   i. Where the margin of victory is [twenty] TEN votes or less; or
   ii. Where the margin of victory is [0.5%] 0.25% or less; or
   iii. In a contest where one million or more ballots have been cast and
 the margin of victory is less than 5,000 votes.
   (b)  THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS OR A BIPARTISAN COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE
 BOARD SHALL CONDUCT A FULL RECOUNT, MANUALLY OR VIA THE USE OF ANY AUTO-
 MATED TOOL AUTHORIZED FOR SUCH A USE BY THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS, WHICH IS
 INDEPENDENT FROM THE VOTING SYSTEM IT IS BEING USED TO RECOUNT, OF   ALL
 BALLOTS    FOR  A PARTICULAR CONTEST WHERE THE MARGIN OF VICTORY IS LESS
 THAN OR EQUAL TO 0.5% BUT GREATER THAN 0.25%.
   (C) For the purposes of this section, the term margin of victory shall
 mean the margin between all votes cast in the entire  contest  following
 the recanvass of votes.
   [(c)] (D) Where the contest involves portions of two or more counties,
 the  margin  of  victory  shall  be  determined  by  the  state board of
 elections based on the most recent recanvass  results  for  the  contest
 submitted by the boards of elections of the counties involved.

  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD01912-01-3

 A. 1259                             2
 
   [(d)]  (E)  The result of the [manual] recount of ballots shall super-
 sede the returns filed by the inspectors of  election  of  the  election
 district in which the canvass was initially made.
   (F)  ANY CANDIDATE WHO IS DEEMED TO BE LOSING A CONTEST BY THE MARGINS
 SET FORTH  IN  THIS  SUBDIVISION  SHALL,  PRIOR  TO  ANY  RECOUNT  BEING
 CONDUCTED,  HAVE  THE ABILITY TO REJECT A RECOUNT AND CONCEDE VICTORY OF
 SUCH CONTEST.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.