Requires the board of elections to publish notice of a polling place location change thirty days before the change or on the earliest known date of such change in the event of an emergency; provides for the use of electronic mail to notify voters of polling place location changes.
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
11708
I N A S S E M B L Y
September 2, 2026
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Rosenthal)
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to providing notice of
polling place location changes
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 4-104 of the
election law, as amended by chapter 603 of the laws of 2025, is amended
and a new paragraph (c) is added to read as follows:
(a) If the board of elections, after designating a polling place, and
after sending written notice of such polling place to each registered
voter, designates an alternative polling place, it must, at least [five]
SIXTY days before the next election or day for registration, send by
mail a written notice to each registered voter notifying such voter of
the changed location of such polling place. If such notice is not possi-
ble the board of elections must provide for an alternative form of
notice to be given to voters at the location of the previous polling
place. THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL PUBLISH SUCH NOTICE OF THE CHANGED
LOCATION ON ITS WEBSITE NO LATER THAN THIRTY DAYS PRIOR TO THE NEXT
ELECTION OR DAY FOR REGISTRATION, AS APPLICABLE; PROVIDED THAT, IN THE
EVENT OF AN UNFORESEEN SITUATION OCCURRING ON OR AFTER SUCH THIRTY-DAY
PERIOD AND RENDERING THE WHOLE OR A SUBSTANTIAL PORTION OF A POLLING OR
REGISTRATION PLACE INOPERABLE FOR ELECTION PURPOSES ON THE NEXT ELECTION
DAY OR REGISTRATION DEADLINE, AS APPLICABLE, THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS
SHALL PUBLISH NOTICE OF THE CHANGED LOCATION OF THE POLLING OR REGISTRA-
TION LOCATION ON ITS WEBSITE NO LATER THAN THE DATE AFTER THE DAY THE
CHANGED LOCATION IS DETERMINED.
(C) THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL ALSO TRANSMIT THE NOTICE MADE PURSU-
ANT TO PARAGRAPH (A) OF THIS SUBDIVISION BY ELECTRONIC MAIL, IF SUCH
INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE TO THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS IN THE VOTER'S REGIS-
TRATION INFORMATION. NOTICE BY ELECTRONIC MAIL PURSUANT TO THIS PARA-
GRAPH SHALL NOT BE DEEMED A SUBSTITUTE FOR WRITTEN NOTICE BY MAIL.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
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.