NY State Senate Bill S611

Current Bill Status - Passed Senate

Introduced
In Committee
On Floor Calendar
- Passed Senate
- Passed Assembly
Delivered to Governor
Signed/Vetoed by Governor

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Actions

view actions (6)

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 10, 2023	referred to election law delivered to assembly passed senate
Jan 09, 2023	ordered to third reading cal.10 reported and committed to rules
Jan 05, 2023	referred to elections

Votes

view votes

Jan 10, 2023 - floor Vote

S611

floor

Aye

Nay

Absent

Excused

Abstained

Jan 9, 2023 - Elections committee Vote

S611

committee

Aye

Nay

Aye with Reservations

Absent

Excused

Abstained

show Elections committee vote details

Elections Committee Vote: Jan 9, 2023

aye (5)

nay (2)

Jan 9, 2023 - Rules committee Vote

S611

committee

Aye

Nay

Aye with Reservations

Absent

Excused

Abstained

Co-Sponsors

S611 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A919
Law Section:: Election Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §3-200, El L
Versions Introduced in 2021-2022 Legislative Session:: S8311, A9725

S611 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Makes commissioners full time employees of the board.

S611 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

 
BILL NUMBER: S611

SPONSOR: MAYER
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to making commissioners
full time employees of the board

 
PURPOSE:

To end the actual and perceived conflicts of interests of board of
elections employees caused by outside income related to the adminis-
tration of elections and supervision of elections in which they are
candidates.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1. sets forth a ban on board of elections engaging in a trade or
business activity in which creates or may tend to create an actual or
potential conflict of interest and requires board of elections employees
to take a leave of absence when running for an office supervised by the
board at which they are employed during their candidacy.

Section 2 sets the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Election integrity is critical to our democratic process. In order for
our democratic process to work, the public must have faith that boards
of election are acting in the best interest of the public and fairly
administering elections. Currently, this faith is being called into
question on a regular basis. In t, a candidate for town board and board
of elections employee was in charge of deciding which polling sites in
their town would remain open when sites were reduced because of COVID-
19. Board of election employees and commissioners of elections responsi-
ble for purchasing voting equipment are allowed to be paid consultants
of the vendors selling them equipment. Employees and commissioners act
as campaign managers and high level consultants for the candidates whose
votes they are charged with counting. All of these situations have drawn
public scrutiny and criticism. The public must be confident that the
board of elections is ensuring fair elections and not individual bene-
fit.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2021/22: S4542-A (Mayer) / A7561 (Jacobson): passed Senate (2021);
passed Senate (2022)

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately provided that subdivision 1 of
section 3-304, as added by section one of this act, shall take effect
one year after this act shall have become a law.

S611 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                    611
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 5, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  MAYER, 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  making  commissioners
   full time employees of the board
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 3-200 of the  election  law
 are amended to read as follows:
   2. Each board shall consist of two election commissioners WHO SHALL BE
 FULL  TIME  EMPLOYEES  OF  THE BOARD, except that the county legislative
 body of a county having a population of more than one hundred and twenty
 thousand may, by local law, increase  the  number  of  commissioners  to
 four,  to  be  appointed  as provided in this title.   Each of the major
 political parties shall be eligible to recommend appointment of an equal
 number of commissioners.
   3. In the city of New York the board shall consist of ten  commission-
 ers  of  election  WHO SHALL BE FULL TIME EMPLOYEES OF THE BOARD AND who
 shall be registered voters in the county for which  they  are  appointed
 and they shall be appointed by the city council of the city of New York.
 Not  more  than two commissioners shall be registered voters of the same
 county.
   § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
 
 
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD02147-01-3

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The New York State Senate

senate Bill S611

Sponsored By

Current Bill Status - Passed Senate

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

Jan 10, 2023 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jan 10, 2023

Jan 9, 2023 - Elections committee Vote

Elections Committee Vote: Jan 9, 2023

Jan 9, 2023 - Rules committee Vote

Rules Committee Vote: Jan 9, 2023

Co-Sponsors

S611 (ACTIVE) - Details

S611 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S611 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S611 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments

senate Bill S611

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Sponsored By

Shelley B. Mayer

Current Bill Status - Passed Senate

Your Voice

Actions

Votes

Jan 10, 2023 - floor Vote

Floor Vote: Jan 10, 2023

Jan 9, 2023 - Elections committee Vote

Elections Committee Vote: Jan 9, 2023

Jan 9, 2023 - Rules committee Vote

Rules Committee Vote: Jan 9, 2023

Co-Sponsors

Rachel May

Lea Webb

S611 (ACTIVE) - Details

S611 (ACTIVE) - Summary

S611 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

S611 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

Comments