Assembly Bill A8985

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   8985
 
                        2025-2026 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              August 13, 2025
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by M. of A. STECK -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Election Law
 
 AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to  communications  mailed
   to registered voters regarding primary elections
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   Section 1. Subdivision 1 of section 4-117  of  the  election  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  481  of  the  laws  of 2023, is amended to read as
 follows:
   1. The board of elections, between the third Tuesday in April and  the
 second  Friday  in  May  in  each  year,  shall send by mail on which is
 endorsed such language designated by the state  board  of  elections  to
 ensure  postal authorities do not forward such mail but return it to the
 board of elections with forwarding information, when it cannot be deliv-
 ered as addressed and which  contains  a  request  that  any  such  mail
 received  for persons not residing at the address be dropped back in the
 mail, a communication,  in  a  form  approved  by  the  state  board  of
 elections,  to  every  registered voter, EXCEPT AS OTHERWISE PROVIDED IN
 THIS SUBDIVISION, who has been registered without a  change  of  address
 since  the  beginning  of  such year, except that the board of elections
 shall not be required to send such communications to voters in  inactive
 status. The communication shall notify the voter in bold print contained
 in such notice of the days and hours of the ensuing [primary and] gener-
 al  elections  AND  PRIMARY ELECTIONS, WHERE APPLICABLE, the place where
 [he or she] SUCH VOTER  appears  by  [his  or  her]  THEIR  registration
 records  to be entitled to vote, and also in other than bold type of the
 fact that voters who have moved or will  have  moved  from  the  address
 where  they  were  last  registered  must  either  notify  the  board of
 elections of [his or her] THEIR new address or vote by paper  ballot  at
 the  polling place for [his or her] THEIR new address even if such voter
 has not re-registered, or otherwise notified the board of  elections  of
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD13353-01-5
              

 A. 8985                             2
 
 the  change  of address.   IN LIEU OF SENDING THE COMMUNICATION TO EVERY
 REGISTERED VOTER, A BOARD OF ELECTIONS, EXCEPT THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS OF
 THE CITY OF NEW YORK, MAY ELECT TO SEND SUCH COMMUNICATION  WITH  REGARD
 TO  PRIMARY  ELECTIONS  ONLY TO THOSE VOTERS WHO ARE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE IN
 SUCH PRIMARY ELECTIONS. If the primary will not be  held  on  the  first
 Tuesday  after  the  second Monday in September, the communication shall
 contain a conspicuous notice in all capital letters and bold font  noti-
 fying  the  voter  of  the  primary date. If the location of the polling
 place for the voter's election district has  been  moved,  the  communi-
 cation  shall  contain  the following legend in bold type: "YOUR POLLING
 PLACE HAS BEEN CHANGED. YOU NOW VOTE  AT..........".  The  communication
 shall  indicate  that  any  registered  voter  may vote early by mail by
 applying for an early mail ballot, and provide  information  on  how  to
 apply  for  an  early mail ballot. The communication shall also indicate
 whether the polling place is accessible to physically  disabled  voters,
 that  a  voter  who  will be out of the city or county on the day of the
 primary or general election or a voter who is ill or physically disabled
 may obtain an absentee ballot, that a physically  disabled  voter  whose
 polling  place  is not accessible may request that [his] THEIR registra-
 tion record be moved to an election district which has a  polling  place
 which is accessible, the phone number to call for applications to move a
 registration  record  or for early mail or absentee ballot applications,
 the phone number to call for the location of  registration  and  polling
 places,  the  phone number to call to indicate that the voter is willing
 to serve on election day as an election inspector,  poll  clerk,  inter-
 preter  or  in  other  capacities, the phone number to call to obtain an
 application  for  registration  by  mail,  and  such  other  information
 concerning  the  elections  or registration as the board may include. In
 lieu of sending such communication to every registered voter, the  board
 of  elections  may send a single communication to a household containing
 more than one registered voter, provided that  the  names  of  all  such
 voters appear as part of the address on such communication.
   §  2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.