Bill Text: NY A04505 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Authorizes any registered voter to vote by absentee ballot and to elect to permanently vote by absentee ballot.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to election law [A04505 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A04505-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 4505 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 4, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. WEPRIN, GOTTFRIED, SEAWRIGHT -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. SIMON -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to authorizing any regis- tered voter to vote by absentee ballot The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 of section 8-400 of the election 2 law, subdivisions 1, 3 and 4 as amended by chapter 63 of the laws of 3 2010, paragraph (c) of subdivision 1 and subparagraph (iii) of paragraph 4 (c) of subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 375 of the laws of 2015, the 5 opening paragraph of subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 216 of the laws 6 of 1988, paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 263 of the 7 laws of 1991, paragraph (c) of subdivision 2 as amended by chapter 321 8 of the laws of 1988, and paragraph (d) of subdivision 2 as separately 9 amended by chapters 97 and 104 of the laws of 2010, are amended to read 10 as follows: 11 1. [A qualified voter may vote as an absentee voter under this chapter12if, on the occurrence of any village election conducted by the board of13elections, primary election, special election, general election or New14York city community school board district or city of Buffalo school15district election, he or she expects to be:16(a) absent from the county of his or her residence, or, if a resident17of the city of New York absent from said city; or18(b) unable to appear personally at the polling place of the election19district in which he or she is a qualified voter because of illness or20physical disability or duties related to the primary care of one or more21individuals who are ill or physically disabled, or because he or she22will be or is a patient in a hospital; or23(c) a resident or patient of a veterans health administration hospi-24tal; orEXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD08582-01-9A. 4505 2 1(d) absent from his or her voting residence because he or she is2detained in jail awaiting action by a grand jury or awaiting trial, or3confined in jail or prison after a conviction for an offense other than4a felony, provided that he or she is qualified to vote in the election5district of his or her residence.] (a) Any person who is registered to 6 vote may vote by absentee ballot. 7 (b) A registered voter may not vote in person if the voter filed an 8 application to vote by absentee ballot. 9 2. A qualified voter desiring to vote at such election as an absentee 10 voter for any reason specified in subdivision one hereof must make 11 application for an absentee ballot on a form to be obtained and filed as 12 provided herein or by letter as provided in paragraph (d) of this subdi- 13 vision. 14 (a) Application forms shall be furnished by and may be obtained from 15 any board of elections at any time until the day before such election. 16 Application forms shall also be supplied by the board of inspectors of 17 the election district in which applicant is a qualified voter on all of 18 the days provided for local registration. In addition, application forms 19 shall be supplied upon the request of the person authorized to vote 20 pursuant to this section, any such person's spouse, parent or child, a 21 person residing with the applicant as a member of his household, or the 22 applicant's duly authorized agent. Application forms sent outside of the 23 United States to a country other than Canada or Mexico, shall be sent 24 airmail. Any reference to "board of elections" in the remaining 25 provisions of this section, except with respect to the furnishing and 26 obtaining of applications for absentee ballots, means only the board of 27 elections of the county or city in which the applicant is a qualified 28 voter. 29 (b) Applications may be filed either with the board of elections or in 30 person with the board of inspectors of the election district in which 31 the applicant is a qualified voter, on one of the days provided for 32 local registration. 33 (c) All applications must be mailed to the board of elections not 34 later than the seventh day before the election for which a ballot is 35 first requested or delivered to such board not later than the day 36 [before] of such election. 37 (d) The board of elections shall mail an absentee ballot to every 38 qualified voter otherwise eligible for such a ballot, who requests such 39 an absentee ballot from such board of elections in writing in a letter, 40 telefax indicating the address, phone number and the telefax number from 41 which the writing is sent or other written instrument, which is signed 42 by the voter and received by the board of elections not earlier than the 43 thirtieth day nor later than the seventh day before the election for 44 which the ballot is first requested and which states the address where 45 the voter is registered and the address to which the ballot is to be 46 mailed; provided, however, a military voter may request a military 47 ballot or voter registration application or an absentee ballot applica- 48 tion in a letter as provided in subdivision three of section 10-106 of 49 this chapter; and provided further, a special federal voter may request 50 a special federal ballot or voter registration application or an absen- 51 tee ballot application in a letter as provided in paragraph d of subdi- 52 vision one of section 11-202 of this chapter. The board of elections 53 shall enclose with such ballot a form of application for absentee ballot 54 if the applicant is registered with such board of elections. 55 3. The application for an absentee ballot when filed must contain in 56 each instance the following information:A. 4505 3 1 (a) Applicant's full name, date of birth, and residence address, 2 including the street and number, if any, rural delivery route, if any, 3 mailing address if different from the residence address and his or her 4 town or city and an address to which the ballot shall be mailed. 5 (b) A statement that the applicant is a qualified and registered 6 voter. 7 (c) [A statement, as appropriate, that on the day of such election the8applicant expects in good faith to be in one of the following catego-9ries:10(i) absent from the county of his or her residence, or if a resident11of the city of New York absent from said city; provided, however, if the12applicant expects to be absent from such county or city for a duration13covering more than one election and seeks an absentee ballot for each14election, he or she shall state the dates when he or she expects to15begin and end such absence; or16(ii) unable to appear at a polling place because of illness or phys-17ical disability or duties related to the primary care of one or more18individuals who are ill or physically disabled; or19(iii) a resident or patient of a veterans health administration hospi-20tal; or21(iv) detained in jail awaiting action by a grand jury or awaiting22trial or confined in jail or prison after a conviction for an offense23other than a felony and stating the place where he or she is so detained24or confined.25(d)] Such application shall permit the applicant to apply for an 26 absentee ballot for either a primary election or the general election in 27 any year and for those persons who will be continuously absent from 28 their county of residence during the period between the fall primary 29 election and the general election in any year to apply for ballots for 30 both such elections in such year. A voter who applies for an absentee 31 ballot shall be sent an absentee ballot for any special election or 32 winter primary that occurs during the period of absence specified in the 33 application. 34 4. [A voter who claims permanent illness or physical disability] Any 35 voter may make application for an absentee ballot and the right to 36 receive an absentee ballot for each election thereafter as provided 37 herein without further application[, by filing with the board of38elections an application which shall contain a statement to be executed39by the voter]. Upon filing of such application the board of elections 40 shall cause the registration records of the voter to be marked ["Perma-41nently Disabled"] "permanent absentee" and thereafter shall send an 42 absentee ballot for each succeeding primary, special or general election 43 to such voter at his or her last known address by first class mail with 44 a request to the postal authorities not to forward such ballot but to 45 return it in five days in the event that it cannot be delivered to the 46 addressee. The mailing of such ballot for each election shall continue 47 until such voter's registration is cancelled. 48 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.