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