Senate Bill S3596A

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S3596

SPONSOR: RIVERA
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the election law, in relation to notifying voters that
New York practices a closed primary system

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

To better notify voters at the time of their registration that New York
State practices a closed Party Primary system.

 
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:

Section 1 amends paragraph (f) of subdivision 5 of section 5-210 of the
Election Law, as it relates registration and enrollment and change of
enrollment upon application, to require notice to voters in bold font on
their registration form that New York practices a closed Party Primary
system and detail the consequences of that.

Section 2 provides the effective date.
              

 
JUSTIFICATION:

New York State has a dosed primary election system, therefore if a voter
is not enrolled in a particular party then they are not able to partic-
ipate in Primary Elections. Roughly 29% of voters in New York State are
registered as party-unaffiliated and the rest, not registered with
either Democrat or Republican, are registered with smaller parties like
the Working Families Party, Conservative Party, and others. This bill
would require that on every voter registration form it be explained in
bold font to the voter the consequences of not being enrolled in a Party
in New York State. More explicitly notifying each voter at the time of
their registration would help to better educate the voter and potential-
ly impact the Primary enfranchisement of almost three million voters in
New York State.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

2017-2018: S7014 Rivera/A5735-A Carroll

2019-2020: S496 Rivera/A3504 Carroll

2023-2024: S3465 Rivera/No Same As

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

Minor fiscal to update forms.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Effective immediately.