STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3133 2019-2020 Regular Sessions IN SENATE February 4, 2019 ___________ Introduced by Sen. MYRIE -- 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 testimony related to voter's signature on a petition The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 5 of section 6-134 of the election law, as 2 added by chapter 709 of the laws of 1996, is amended to read as follows: 3 5. The use of titles, initials or customary abbreviations of given 4 names by the signers of, or witnesses to, designating petitions or the 5 use of customary abbreviations of addresses of such signers or 6 witnesses, shall not invalidate such signatures or witness statement 7 provided that the identity of the signer or witness as a registered 8 voter can be established by reference to the signature on the petition 9 and that of a person whose name appears in the registration poll 10 ledgers, provided, however, nothing in this section shall prevent a 11 court from receiving sworn testimony or other admissible evidence as to 12 the authenticity of a signature when such signature would otherwise be 13 invalidated for not matching the signature on file with the board of 14 elections. 15 § 2. This act shall take effect on the fifteenth of December next 16 succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00937-01-9