Bill Text: NY A02961 | 2009-2010 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: An act to amend the election law, in relation to allowing application for absentee ballots by electronic means
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 8-1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-05-05 - held for consideration in election law [A02961 Detail]
Download: New_York-2009-A02961-Introduced.html
S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K ________________________________________________________________________ 2961 2009-2010 Regular Sessions I N A S S E M B L Y January 22, 2009 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. BARCLAY, OAKS, FINCH, KOLB -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. BACALLES, CROUCH, REILICH, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to allowing application for absentee ballots by electronic means THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM- BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: 1 Section 1. Paragraphs (a), (c) and (d) of subdivision 2 of section 2 8-400 of the election law, paragraph (a) as amended by chapter 263 of 3 the laws of 1991, paragraph (c) as amended by chapter 321 of the laws of 4 1988 and paragraph (d) as added by chapter 216 of the laws of 1988, are 5 amended to read as follows: 6 (a) Application forms shall be furnished by and may be obtained from 7 any board of elections at any time until the day before such election. 8 FOR ANY ELECTIONS AFTER JANUARY FIRST, TWO THOUSAND TEN, APPLICATION 9 FORMS SHALL BE MADE AVAILABLE FOR QUALIFIED VOTERS BY ELECTRONIC MEANS 10 WHICH SHALL INCLUDE, BUT NOT BE LIMITED TO, TELEFACSIMILE TRANSMISSION 11 OR ELECTRONIC MAIL. Application forms shall also be supplied by the 12 board of inspectors of the election district in which applicant is a 13 qualified voter on all of the days provided for local registration. In 14 addition, application forms shall be supplied upon the request of the 15 person authorized to vote pursuant to this section, any such person's 16 spouse, parent or child, a person residing with the applicant as a 17 member of his household, or the applicant's duly authorized agent. 18 Application forms sent outside of the United States to a country other 19 than Canada or Mexico, shall be sent airmail. Any reference to "board of 20 elections" in the remaining provisions of this section, except with 21 respect to the furnishing and obtaining of applications for absentee 22 ballots, means only the board of elections of the county or city in 23 which the applicant is a qualified voter. EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD03016-01-9 A. 2961 2 1 (c) All applications must be mailed OR TRANSMITTED BY ELECTRONIC MEANS 2 to the board of elections not later than the seventh day before the 3 election for which a ballot is first requested or delivered to such 4 board not later than the day before such election. 5 (d) The board of elections shall mail an absentee ballot to every 6 qualified voter otherwise eligible for such a ballot, who requests such 7 an absentee ballot from such board of elections in a letter OR BY ELEC- 8 TRONIC TRANSMISSION, which is signed by the voter and received by the 9 board of elections not earlier than the thirtieth day nor later than the 10 seventh day before the election for which the ballot is first requested 11 and which states the address where the voter is registered and the 12 address to which the ballot is to be mailed. The board of elections 13 shall enclose with such ballot a form of application for absentee 14 ballot. 15 S 2. Subdivision 9 of section 8-400 of the election law, as amended by 16 chapter 373 of the laws of 1986, is amended to read as follows: 17 9. The state board of elections shall prescribe a standard application 18 form for use under this section. The use of any application form which 19 substantially complies with the provisions of this section shall be 20 acceptable and any application filed on such a form shall be accepted 21 for filing. THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTIONS SHALL ALSO PRESCRIBE A STAND- 22 ARD APPLICATION FORM FOR WHICH APPLICATION MAY BE MADE BY ELECTRONIC 23 TRANSMISSION INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, TELEFACSIMILE OR ELECTRONIC 24 MAIL. 25 S 3. This act shall take effect immediately.