Bill Text: NY A01115 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Amended

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Bill Title: Relates to construction of voting machines and systems.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 46-12)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-09-28 - enacting clause stricken [A01115 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A01115-Amended.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                         1115--C

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     January 7, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  PAULIN, GALEF, ABINANTI, DICKENS, GOTTFRIED,
          REYES, J. RIVERA, SAYEGH, SIMON,  DeSTEFANO,  COOK,  EPSTEIN,  KELLES,
          McDONALD,  WOERNER, L. ROSENTHAL, LUPARDO, JACKSON, RAJKUMAR, FORREST,
          CARROLL, BURDICK, DINOWITZ,  BICHOTTE HERMELYN,  THIELE,  ENGLEBRIGHT,
          JACOBSON,  FAHY,  DURSO,  GALLAGHER,  MAMDANI,  NORRIS, TAGUE, BURGOS,
          ANDERSON, BRABENEC,  TAYLOR,  BARRETT,  McDONOUGH,  ZINERMAN,  COLTON,
          CLARK,  SIMPSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. MIKULIN -- read once
          and referred to the Committee on Election Law -- committee discharged,
          bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended  and  recommitted  to  said
          committee  --  recommitted to the Committee on Election Law in accord-
          ance with Assembly Rule  3,  sec.  2  --  committee  discharged,  bill
          amended,  ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
          tee -- again reported from said  committee  with  amendments,  ordered
          reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the election law, in relation to construction of and
          requirements for voting machines and systems

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

     1    Section  1.  Section  7-104 of the election law is amended by adding a
     2  new subdivision 28 to read as follows:
     3    28. The ballot shall be  marked  or  printed  on  durable  paper.  For
     4  purposes of this section, "durable paper" is defined as paper capable of
     5  withstanding  multiple  counts  and  recounts by hand or machine without
     6  compromising the fundamental integrity of the ballots,  and  capable  of
     7  retaining  the  information marked or printed on such paper for the full
     8  duration of a retention and preservation period  set  forth  in  section
     9  3-222 of this chapter.
    10    § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 7-200 of the election law, as amended by
    11  chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
    12    1.  The  board  of  elections of the city of New York and other county
    13  boards of elections may adopt any  kind  of  voting  machine  or  system

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02135-29-2
        A. 1115--C                          2

     1  approved  by  the state board of elections, or the use of which has been
     2  specifically authorized by law; and thereupon  such  voting  machine  or
     3  system  may  be  used  at  any or all elections and shall be used at all
     4  general  or  special elections held by such boards in such city, town or
     5  village and in every contested primary election in the city of New  York
     6  and  in every contested primary election outside the city of New York in
     7  which there are one thousand or more enrolled voters qualified to  vote.
     8  [No more than two types of voting machines or systems may be used by any
     9  local  board  of  elections  at  a single election.] Notwithstanding the
    10  other provisions of this subdivision, any local board of  elections  may
    11  borrow  or  lease  for  use on an experimental basis for a period of not
    12  more than one year each, voting machines or systems of any type approved
    13  by the state board of elections.
    14    § 3. Paragraphs b, e, j, s and t of subdivision 1 of section 7-202  of
    15  the  election  law,  as  added  by  chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, are
    16  amended and three new paragraphs u,  v  and  w  are  added  to  read  as
    17  follows:
    18    b.  permit  a  voter to vote for any person for any office, whether or
    19  not nominated as a candidate by any party or independent  body  [without
    20  the  ballot,  or any part thereof, being removed from the machine at any
    21  time];
    22    e. provide the voter an opportunity  to  privately  and  independently
    23  mark and verify votes selected [and the] on an individual, voter-verifi-
    24  able  paper ballot and the ability to privately and independently change
    25  such votes or correct any error before the ballot is cast  and  counted,
    26  including  by  offering the voter a new paper ballot as many times as is
    27  allowed by statute or regulation. For the purposes of this  subdivision,
    28  the term "individual, voter-verifiable paper ballot" means either: (i) a
    29  paper  ballot marked by the voter by hand; or (ii) a paper ballot marked
    30  through the use of a nontabulating ballot marking device or system.  For
    31  the  purposes  of this title, a "ballot marking device" is a device that
    32  provides voters, including voters with disabilities, the ability to mark
    33  votes on physical, paper ballots privately and  independently.  For  the
    34  purposes  of  this  title,  a "nontabulating ballot marking device" is a
    35  ballot marking device that does not tabulate or transmit votes or retain
    36  any record of a  voter's  selections,  other  than  the  original  paper
    37  ballot,  after the voter has finished marking the paper ballot and using
    38  the device to review selections;
    39    j. [retain all paper ballots cast or produce and retain a voter  veri-
    40  fied  permanent  paper record which shall be presented to the voter from
    41  behind a window or other device before the ballot is cast,]  for  ballot
    42  scanners,  retain  paper  ballots  in  a manner intended and designed to
    43  protect the privacy of  the  voter;  for  nontabulating  ballot  marking
    44  devices,  produce  or  process  paper  ballots  in a manner intended and
    45  designed to protect the privacy of the voter; such ballots  [or  record]
    46  shall allow a manual audit and shall be preserved in accordance with the
    47  provisions of section 3-222 of this chapter;
    48    s.  permit alternative language accessibility pursuant to the require-
    49  ments of section 203 of  the  Voting  Rights  Act  of  1965  (42  U.S.C.
    50  1973aa-1a)  such  that  it  must  have  the capacity to display the full
    51  ballot in the alternative  languages  required  by  the  federal  Voting
    52  Rights  Act  if  such  voting machine or system is to be used where such
    53  alternative languages are required or where the local board  deems  such
    54  feature necessary; [and]
        A. 1115--C                          3

     1    t.  not  include  any  device  or functionality potentially capable of
     2  externally transmitting or receiving data via the internet or via  radio
     3  waves or via other wireless means[.];
     4    u.  be  constructed  so  that,  after  the paper ballot is cast by the
     5  voter, the voting machine or system never passes the cast ballot under a
     6  printer that can print votes onto the ballot, including as a  result  of
     7  unauthorized, malicious or faulty software or firmware;
     8    v.  be  constructed  so the configuration or functionality of a voting
     9  machine or system does not include, within  the  same  physical  device,
    10  both  (i)  ballot  marking and (ii) tabulating or transmitting a voter's
    11  selections at any time or retaining any record of a voter's  selections,
    12  other than the original paper ballot, after the voter has finished mark-
    13  ing the paper ballot and using the device to review selections; and
    14    w.  not encode votes on a ballot, whether as a barcode, QR code or any
    15  kind of recording code that cannot be  verified  by  the  voter  without
    16  using a code-reading device. For the purposes of this paragraph, a "code
    17  reading  device"  is a device that reads and translates coded marks like
    18  QR codes or barcodes into language that can be  understood  without  any
    19  kind of device.
    20    §  4.  Subdivision 4 of section 7-202 of the election law, as added by
    21  chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, is amended and a new subdivision  5  is
    22  added to read as follows:
    23    4.  Local boards of elections which obtain voting machines pursuant to
    24  this chapter [may determine to] shall purchase [direct  recording  elec-
    25  tronic  machines  or optical scan machines] ballot scanners and nontabu-
    26  lating ballot marking devices in conformance with  the  requirements  of
    27  this chapter.
    28    5.  Local boards of elections must provide every voter, at every poll-
    29  ing place, both of the following options:  (a)  to  hand  mark  a  paper
    30  ballot; or (b) to use a nontabulating ballot marking device or system to
    31  mark  a  paper ballot. All paper ballots must be printed, scannable, and
    32  include all relevant contests and candidates.
    33    § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided,  however,  that
    34  any  local  board of elections that purchased voting machines or systems
    35  prior to such date which are not in compliance with the requirements  of
    36  paragraph  u or v of subdivision 1 and subdivision 4 of section 7-202 of
    37  the election law, may continue to use, maintain and replace such  voting
    38  machines  and  systems,  but  may replace them only with identical model
    39  voting machines or systems made by the same manufacturer,  or  identical
    40  model  voting machines or systems with de minimis changes in such voting
    41  machines' or systems' hardware, software,  technical  data  package,  or
    42  data, the nature of which will not materially alter the voting machines'
    43  or systems' reliability, functionality, capability, or operation; any de
    44  minimis changes shall be approved by the state board of elections.