STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                           120
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                       (Prefiled)
                                     January 9, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced by M. of A. BUCHWALD, ORTIZ, SANTABARBARA, D'URSO, ZEBROWSKI,
          NIOU,  VANEL,  JEAN-PIERRE,  GALEF, SEAWRIGHT, BLAKE, GUNTHER, RIVERA,
          LAWRENCE, CAHILL, DAVILA, CARROLL -- Multi-Sponsored by --  M.  of  A.
          COOK,  LUPARDO,  THIELE  -- read once and referred to the Committee on
          Election Law
        AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to  testimony  related  to
          voter's signature on a petition
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 6-134  of  the  election  law,  as
     2  added by chapter 709 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows:
     3    5.  The  use  of  titles, initials or customary abbreviations of given
     4  names by the signers of, or witnesses to, designating petitions  or  the
     5  use   of  customary  abbreviations  of  addresses  of  such  signers  or
     6  witnesses, shall not invalidate such  signatures  or  witness  statement
     7  provided  that  the  identity  of  the signer or witness as a registered
     8  voter can be established by reference to the signature on  the  petition
     9  and  that  of  a  person  whose  name  appears  in the registration poll
    10  ledgers, provided, however, nothing in  this  section  shall  prevent  a
    11  court  from receiving sworn testimony or other admissible evidence as to
    12  the authenticity of a signature when such signature would  otherwise  be
    13  invalidated  for  not  matching  the signature on file with the board of
    14  elections.
    15    § 2. This act shall take effect on  the  fifteenth  of  December  next
    16  succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD00937-01-9