Bill Text: NY A07293 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to military voters and ballots for election of members of the board of education and school district public library trustees, and the adoption of the annual budget and school district public library budget and referenda.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2019-11-11 - SIGNED CHAP.489 [A07293 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-A07293-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 7293 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY April 22, 2019 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to military voters and ballots for election of members of the board of education and school district public library trustees, and the adoption of the annual budg- et and school district public library budget and referenda The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 2018-d 2 to read as follows: 3 § 2018-d. Military voters. 1. As used in this section, the following 4 terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (a) "Military service" means the military service of the state, or of 6 the United States, including the army, navy, marine corps, air force, 7 coast guard, merchant marine and all components thereof, and the coast 8 and geodetic survey, the public health service, the national guard when 9 in the service of the United States pursuant to call as provided by law, 10 and the cadets or midshipmen of the United States Military Academy, 11 United States Naval Academy, United States Air Force Academy and United 12 States Coast Guard Academy. 13 (b) "Military voter" means a qualified voter of the state of New York 14 who is in actual military service, as defined in paragraph (a) of this 15 subdivision, and by reason of such military service is absent from his 16 or her district on the day of registration or election, or a voter who 17 is discharged from such military service within thirty days of an 18 election and the spouse, parent, child or dependent of such voter accom- 19 panying or being with him or her, if a qualified voter and a resident of 20 the same school district. 21 (c) "Military ballot" means the ballot prepared, printed and supplied 22 for use by the military for the election of members of the board of 23 education and school district public library trustees, the adoption of EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03306-01-9A. 7293 2 1 the annual budget and school district public library budget and referen- 2 da. 3 (d) "Military address" means the mailing address of a military voter 4 other than his or her residence address in his or her school district. 5 (e) "Appropriate school board of education" means the board of educa- 6 tion in whose jurisdiction the military voter resides as a qualified 7 voter. 8 2. A military voter may designate a preference to receive a military 9 ballot by mail, facsimile transmission or electronic mail. Such desig- 10 nation shall remain in effect until revoked or changed by the military 11 voter. If a military voter does not designate a preference, the board of 12 education shall transmit the military ballot application or military 13 ballot by mail. If a military voter designates a preference for facsim- 14 ile transmission or electronic mail but does not provide the necessary 15 facsimile number or e-mail address, the board of education shall trans- 16 mit the voter registration application, military ballot application or 17 military ballot by mail and request the omitted information. All commu- 18 nications to the military voter shall include the mailing address of the 19 board of education. 20 3. Irrespective of the preferred method of transmission designated by 21 a military voter, a military voter's original military ballot applica- 22 tion and military ballot must be returned by mail or in person. 23 4. Ballots for military voters shall be mailed or otherwise distrib- 24 uted by the board of education, in accordance with the preferred method 25 of transmission, as soon as practicable, but not later than twenty-five 26 days before any election as provided in this article, and fourteen days 27 before any election as provided in article fifty-three of this title. 28 5. The military voter shall mark the military ballot provided for in 29 this article in the same manner as an absentee ballot. After marking the 30 ballot, he or she shall fold such ballot and enclose it in the inner 31 affirmation envelope bearing the military voter's affirmation on the 32 outside of the envelope and seal the envelope. He or she shall then sign 33 the affirmation, with the blanks properly filled in. The inner affirma- 34 tion envelope containing the military ballot shall then be inserted in 35 the outer envelope addressed to the appropriate board of education, 36 which shall be mailed or personally delivered to the appropriate board 37 of education within the time limits provided by this article. 38 6. The board of education shall cause all military ballots received by 39 it before the close of the polls on election day and showing a cancella- 40 tion mark of the United States postal service or a foreign country's 41 postal service, or showing a dated endorsement of receipt by another 42 agency of the United States government or are signed and dated by the 43 voter and one witness thereto, with a date which is ascertained to be 44 not later than the day before election and which must be received in the 45 office of the clerk of the school district not later than five p.m. on 46 the day of the election in order to be canvassed. 47 7. The board of inspectors shall thereafter process such ballots in 48 the same manner as provided in sections two thousand eighteen-a and two 49 thousand eighteen-b of this article for the canvassing of absentee 50 ballots. 51 8. The board of education shall determine, three days before the first 52 day for distribution of military ballots, the names of all candidates 53 duly nominated for public office and the amendments, referenda, proposi- 54 tions and questions to be voted for on such ballots. If at a later date 55 the nomination of any candidate named on a military ballot is found 56 invalid, the ballot shall still be valid, but no vote cast for any suchA. 7293 3 1 candidate on such ballot shall be counted at the election. The failure 2 of any school board to include the name of any candidate or any proposi- 3 tion or question on the military ballot shall in no way affect the 4 validity of the election with respect to the office for which the nomi- 5 nation was made or the validity of the military ballot as to any other 6 matter. 7 9. The department is authorized to take such steps and do such things 8 as, in its opinion, are necessary to make effective the provisions of 9 any other section, in order to utilize fully any federal or other facil- 10 ities in the distribution of military ballots. 11 10. The provisions of this section shall be liberally construed for 12 the purpose of providing military voters the opportunity to vote. The 13 department shall have power to adopt and promulgate regulations to 14 effectuate the provisions of this section. 15 § 2. Section 2613 of the education law, as amended by chapter 307 of 16 the laws of 2000, is amended to read as follows: 17 § 2613. Absentee and military ballots. The board of education of each 18 city school district to which this article applies shall provide for 19 absentee ballots in accordance with the provisions of section two thou- 20 sand eighteen-a of this [chapter] title, and military ballots in accord- 21 ance with section two thousand eighteen-d of this title. 22 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
