Assembly Bill A5368

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   5368
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             February 13, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  CUNNINGHAM  -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Election Law
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to damaged,  defective  or
   duplicate ballots
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Section 8-316 of the election law is  amended  to  read  as
 follows:
   §  8-316. Ballots; [mutilated or spoiled] DAMAGED, DEFECTIVE OR DUPLI-
 CATIVE.  1. If a ballot is found to be DAMAGED OR defective [or mutilat-
 ed] before it is delivered to the voter, its stub and the stubs  of  all
 other  ballots in the set shall be IDENTIFIED, detached immediately, and
 placed in the box for stubs, by the clerks, or if there are no clerks by
 the inspector assigned to the duty of delivering ballots,  and  all  the
 ballots  of that set immediately shall be marked "cancelled", and placed
 in the box for [spoiled and mutilated] DAMAGED OR DEFECTIVE ballots.  If
 a  voter  returns a ballot as DAMAGED, defective, mutilated, defaced, or
 wrongly marked, [he] SUCH VOTER shall also return all the other  ballots
 of  the  set, if any, and such clerks or inspector shall likewise remove
 their stubs, placing all the stubs in the box  for  stubs  and  all  the
 ballots  of  the  set  in  the box for [spoiled or mutilated] DAMAGED OR
 DEFECTIVE ballots, first marking the ballots "cancelled". In each  case,
 the  voter  shall  receive  another ballot or set of ballots, unless not
 entitled thereto.
   2. (A) IN PREPARING THE VOTED BALLOTS FOR PROCESSING, ANY BALLOT  THAT
 IS TORN, BENT, OR OTHERWISE DAMAGED OR DEFECTIVE SHALL BE IDENTIFIED AND
 SET ASIDE FOR DUPLICATION.
   (B)  IF NECESSARY, A TRUE DUPLICATE COPY OF THE DEFECTIVE BALLOT SHALL
 BE MADE AND SUBSTITUTED THEREFOR, BY AN ELECTION OFFICIAL WHO IS PART OF
 AN OFFICIAL DUPLICATION TEAM, OR WHO IS ACCOMPANIED  BY  WITNESSES.  THE
 ELECTION  OFFICIAL  TEAM  OR  SET  OF WITNESSES SHALL INCLUDE MEMBERS OF
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD06622-01-5
              

 A. 5368                             2
 
 OPPOSING POLITICAL PARTIES. SUCH ELECTION  OFFICIAL  SHALL  EXAMINE  THE
 BALLOT  TO  DETERMINE  THE  INTENTION  OF THE VOTER INSOFAR AS IT CAN BE
 ASCERTAINED FROM THE DEFECTIVE BALLOT. THE ELECTION OFFICIAL SHALL  COPY
 THE  VOTER'S  CHOICES  FROM  THE  ORIGINAL BALLOT ONTO A NEW BALLOT. ALL
 DUPLICATE BALLOTS SHALL BE CLEARLY LABELED "DUPLICATE", AND SHALL BEAR A
 SERIAL NUMBER THAT SHALL BE RECORDED ON THE DAMAGED OR DEFECTIVE BALLOT,
 SHOWING WHICH IS THE DUPLICATE AND WHICH IS THE  ORIGINAL  BALLOT.  SUCH
 TWO  BALLOTS  SHALL BE CONNECTED AND SET ASIDE WITH ANY OTHER DUPLICATED
 BALLOTS TO BE PRESERVED AS PART OF THE ELECTION RECORD.
   (C) ONCE THE DUPLICATE BALLOT IS EXECUTED, IT SHALL BE SCANNED BY  THE
 VOTE TABULATION MACHINE.
   §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.