Bill Text: NY A07554 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Exempts public school buildings with instructional space from being designated as early polling locations; allows school districts to decline school building designations as early polling locations.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to election law [A07554 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A07554-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          7554

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                       May 9, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. STIRPE -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Election Law

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  election  law, in relation to exempting certain
          public  school  buildings  from  being  designated  as  early  polling
          locations

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

     1    Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section  8-600  of  the  election  law  is
     2  amended by adding a new paragraph (e) to read as follows:
     3    (e) No public school building with instructional space shall be desig-
     4  nated as an early polling location.
     5    § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 4-104 of the election law, as amended by
     6  chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows:
     7    3.  A building exempt from taxation shall be used whenever possible as
     8  a polling place if it is situated in the same or a  contiguous  election
     9  district,  and may contain as many distinctly separate polling places as
    10  public convenience may require. The expense, if any, incidental  to  its
    11  use,  shall be paid like the expense of other places of registration and
    12  voting. If a board or body empowered to designate polling places chooses
    13  a public school building for such purpose, the  board  or  agency  which
    14  controls  such  building  must  make  available  a room or rooms in such
    15  building which are suitable for registration and voting and which are as
    16  close as possible to a convenient entrance to  such  building  and  must
    17  make  available any such room or rooms which the board or body designat-
    18  ing such building  determines  are  accessible  to  physically  disabled
    19  voters as provided in subdivision one-a.  Notwithstanding the provisions
    20  of  this  subdivision,  no  board or body empowered to designate polling
    21  places shall designate a public school building with instructional space
    22  as an early polling location, and if such board  or  body  designates  a
    23  public  school  building  that  does  not have instructional space as an
    24  early polling location, the superintendent of such school  district  may

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD11442-01-9
        A. 7554                             2

     1  decline such designation. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general,
     2  special  or local law, if a board or body empowered to designate polling
     3  places chooses a publicly owned or leased building, other than a  public
     4  school building, for such purposes the board or body which controls such
     5  building  must make available a room or rooms in such building which are
     6  suitable for registration and voting and which are as close as  possible
     7  to  a  convenient entrance to such building, and must make available any
     8  such room or rooms which the board or  body  designating  such  building
     9  determines  are  accessible  to  physically  disabled voters unless, not
    10  later than thirty days after notice of  its  designation  as  a  polling
    11  place,  the  board  or  body  controlling such building, files a written
    12  request for a cancellation of such designation with the  board  or  body
    13  empowered  to designate polling places on such form as shall be provided
    14  by the board  or  body  making  such  designation.  The  board  or  body
    15  empowered  to  so designate shall, within twenty days after such request
    16  is filed, determine whether the use of such building as a polling  place
    17  would unreasonably interfere with the usual activities conducted in such
    18  building and upon such determination, may cancel such designation.
    19    § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.