Bill Text: NY S04312 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Relates to the registration status of voters; establishes additional requirements for the cancellation of a voter's registration; allows voters who have an inactive status to have their registration returned to active status and to have their vote counted for the election in which they vote.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S04312 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-S04312-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          4312

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    February 7, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced by Sens. SEPULVEDA, PARKER -- 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 the registration status
          of voters

          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section 1. Section 17-106 of the election law, as amended by chapter 9
     2  of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
     3    § 17-106. Misconduct of election officers. Any  election  officer  who
     4  wilfully  refuses  to  accord  to  any duly accredited watcher or to any
     5  voter or candidate any right given him by this  chapter,  including  the
     6  cancellation  of a voter's registration in violation of section 5-400 of
     7  this chapter or the refusal to allow an individual to  vote  due  to  an
     8  inactive  status  in  violation of section 5-213 of this chapter, or who
     9  wilfully violates any provision of the  election  law  relative  to  the
    10  registration of electors or to the taking, recording, counting, canvass-
    11  ing,  tallying  or  certifying  of  votes,  or  who wilfully neglects or
    12  refuses to perform any duty imposed on him by law, or is guilty  of  any
    13  fraud  in  the execution of the duties of his office, or connives in any
    14  electoral fraud, or knowingly permits any such fraud to be practiced, is
    15  guilty of a felony.
    16    § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 5-400 of the election law, as amended by
    17  chapter 659 of the laws of 1994 and paragraph (a) as amended by  chapter
    18  3 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
    19    1.  A  voter's registration[, including the registration of a voter in
    20  inactive status,] shall be cancelled if[,]: (a) since the  time  of  his
    21  last registration, he:
    22    [(a)] (i) Moved his or her residence outside the state[.];
    23    [(b)]  (ii)  Was  convicted  of a felony disqualifying him from voting
    24  pursuant to the provisions of section 5-106 of this article[.];
    25    [(c)] (iii) Has been adjudicated an incompetent[.];

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD08784-01-3
        S. 4312                             2

     1    [(d)] (iv) Refused to take a challenge oath[.];
     2    [(e)] (v) Has died[.];
     3    [(f)  Did not vote in any election conducted by the board of elections
     4  during the period ending with  the  second  general  election  at  which
     5  candidates  for  federal  office  are  on  the ballot after his name was
     6  placed in inactive status and for whom the board of elections  did  not,
     7  during  such period, in any other way, receive any information that such
     8  voter still resides in the same county or city.
     9    (g)] (vi) Personally requested to have his name removed from the  list
    10  of registered voters[.];
    11    [(h)]  (vii)  For  any other reason, is no longer qualified to vote as
    12  provided in this chapter[.]; and
    13    (b) the board of elections verifies  that  one  of  the  circumstances
    14  provided for in paragraph (a) of this subdivision has occurred.
    15    §  3.  Subdivisions  2  and 3 of section 5-213 of the election law, as
    16  amended by chapter 200 of the laws of  1996,  are  amended  to  read  as
    17  follows:
    18    2.  The  registration poll records of all such voters shall be removed
    19  from the poll ledgers and [maintained at] compiled by the offices of the
    20  board of elections [in a file arranged alphabetically by] and placed  in
    21  an  inactive  poll  ledger  to  be distributed to each election district
    22  within a county.   If such board uses  computer  generated  registration
    23  lists,  the  names  of  such voters shall not be placed on such lists at
    24  subsequent  elections  other  than  lists  prepared  pursuant   to   the
    25  provisions  of  section  5-612  of  this article but shall be [kept as a
    26  computer record at the offices of such board] compiled by the offices of
    27  the board of elections and placed in  an  inactive  poll  ledger  to  be
    28  distributed to each election district within a county.
    29    3.  The  board of elections shall restore the registration of any such
    30  voter to active status if such voter notifies  the  board  of  elections
    31  that he resides at the address from which he is registered, or the board
    32  finds  that  such  voter  has validly signed a designating or nominating
    33  petition which states that he resides at such address, or if such  voter
    34  casts  a ballot in an affidavit envelope which states that he resides at
    35  such address, or if the board receives notice that such voter has  voted
    36  in  an  election  conducted with registration lists prepared pursuant to
    37  the provisions of section 5-612 of this article.  If such voter casts  a
    38  ballot in an affidavit envelope and such ballot meets all other require-
    39  ments  of  this  chapter,  such voter's name shall be restored to active
    40  status for such election and  such  ballot  shall  be  counted  for  the
    41  election  in  which it was cast. If any such notification or information
    42  is received twenty days or more before a  primary,  special  or  general
    43  election,  the  voter's  name must be restored to active status for such
    44  election.
    45    § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.