Bill Text: NY A05388 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Provides for virtual witnessing of designating and nominating petitions.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to election law [A05388 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A05388-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 5388 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY February 16, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. ABINANTI -- read once and referred to the Commit- tee on Election Law AN ACT providing for virtual witnessing of designating and nominating petitions; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon expi- ration thereof The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the election 2 law or governor's executive order issued prior to the effective date of 3 this act, the following provisions shall apply to all petitions for all 4 nominations and elections for state, county, town or village public 5 offices for public or party office to be filled at any election to be 6 held in the year 2021 whether conducted by the county's board of 7 elections or otherwise. 8 The relevant sections of the election law, in relation to designating 9 and nominating petitions, are modified to the extent that, for any 10 election for which petitions are required to be filed in the year 2021, 11 signatures to petitions may be witnessed virtually and shall be accepted 12 for filing provided that each petition page contains a Statement of 13 Virtual Witness substantially in the following form bearing the original 14 signature of the witness affixed to either (a) the original petition 15 bearing the original signature of the witness, or (b) a copy of the 16 original petition bearing the original signature of the signer which 17 copy was transmitted to the witness by electronic means. 18 STATEMENT OF VIRTUAL WITNESS 19 I, ____________________________state: I am a duly qualified voter of the 20 State of New York and am an enrolled voter of the 21 ___________________Party. 22 I now reside at ________________________________________________. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD09338-01-1A. 5388 2 1 I observed via audio-video technology each of the individuals whose 2 names are subscribed to this petition sheet containing (fill in number) 3 _________ signatures subscribe the same on the dates above indicated. 4 The audio-video conference allowed for direct interaction between me and 5 the signer and was not a pre-recorded video of the documents being 6 signed. During the audio-video conference, the signer identified 7 himself/herself to be the individual who signed this sheet, exhibited 8 the signature on the petition to me and affirmatively stated that he/she 9 was physically located within the State of New York. I understand that 10 this statement will be accepted for all purposes as the equivalent of an 11 affidavit and, if it contains a material false statement, shall subject 12 me to the same penalties as if I had been duly sworn. 13 ____________________________2021 ___________________________ 14 Date Signature of Witness 15 WITNESS IDENTIFICATION INFORMATION: The following information for the 16 witness named above must be completed prior to filing with the board of 17 elections in order for this petition to be valid. 18 _____________________ _________________________ 19 Town or City Where Witness Resides County Where Witness Resides 20 Sheet No.__ 21 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire January 22 31, 2022, when upon such date the provisions of this act shall be deemed 23 repealed.
