Bill Text: NY S02161 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced


Bill Title: Designates certain university and community college campuses as polling places for early voting.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS [S02161 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-S02161-Introduced.html



                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2161

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                    IN SENATE

                                    January 20, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  Sen.  MAY  --  read  twice and ordered printed, and when
          printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections

        AN ACT to amend the election law, in  relation  to  designating  certain
          university  and community college campuses as polling places for early
          voting

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

     1    Section 1. Paragraphs (a) and (d) of subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of
     2  the election law, as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2019, are amended
     3  and a new paragraph (e) is added to read as follows:
     4    (a)  [The]  Subject to paragraph (e) of this subdivision, the board of
     5  elections shall designate polling places for  early  voting,  which  may
     6  include the offices of the board of elections, for persons to vote early
     7  pursuant  to this title. There shall be so designated at least one early
     8  voting polling place for every full increment of fifty  thousand  regis-
     9  tered  voters  in  each  county;  provided, however, the number of early
    10  voting polling places in a county shall not be required  to  be  greater
    11  than  seven,  and  a  county with fewer than fifty thousand voters shall
    12  have at least one early voting polling place.
    13    (d) [Polling] Subject to paragraph (e) of  this  subdivision,  polling
    14  places  for  early  voting shall be located so that voters in the county
    15  have adequate and equitable access, taking into consideration population
    16  density, travel time to the polling  place,  proximity  to  other  early
    17  voting  poll  sites,  public  transportation  routes,  commuter  traffic
    18  patterns and such other factors the board of elections  deems  appropri-
    19  ate.  The  provisions  of section 4-104 of this chapter, except subdivi-
    20  sions four and five of such section, shall apply to the  designation  of
    21  polling places for early voting except to the extent such provisions are
    22  inconsistent with this section.
    23    (e)(i) Notwithstanding the board of elections' discretion to designate
    24  polling  places  for  early voting as set forth in this subdivision, for

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD04719-01-1

        S. 2161                             2

     1  any county required to have more than one polling place for early voting
     2  as set forth in this subdivision, the board of elections shall designate
     3  at least one state  university  of  New  York  university  or  community
     4  college  campus  located  in that county with enrollment of at least two
     5  thousand five hundred undergraduate students as a polling place for  the
     6  early voting period. The board of elections shall make available to that
     7  county  additional discretionary funding for the administration of early
     8  voting if that county designates more than one state university  of  New
     9  York university or community college campus located in that county as an
    10  additional polling place for early voting for at least three consecutive
    11  weekdays during the early voting period.
    12    (ii) For any county that is not required to have more than one polling
    13  place  for  early  voting as set forth in this subdivision, the board of
    14  elections shall make available to that county  additional  discretionary
    15  funding for the administration of early voting if that county designates
    16  any  state university of New York university or community college campus
    17  located in that county as an additional polling place for  early  voting
    18  for at least three consecutive weekdays during the early voting period.
    19    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
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