S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
3516--A
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
March 23, 2009
___________
Introduced by Sens. STEWART-COUSINS, ADAMS, HASSELL-THOMPSON, HUNTLEY,
C. JOHNSON -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be
committed to the Committee on Local Government -- recommitted to the
Committee on Local Government in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8
-- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the town law, in relation to absentee ballots for fire
district elections
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 2 of section 175-b of the town law, as
2 amended by chapter 401 of the laws of 1996, are amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. The board of fire commissioners of any fire district in which offi-
5 cers are elected[, may, by resolution,] SHALL provide for absentee
6 ballots for fire district elections, in accordance with the provisions
7 of this section. [Such resolution shall take effect at the first such
8 election held more than sixty days after its adoption and shall continue
9 in effect for all such elections until a subsequent resolution providing
10 otherwise shall, in like manner, have taken effect.]
11 2. a. An applicant for such an absentee ballot shall submit an appli-
12 cation setting forth (1) his or her FULL name, DATE OF BIRTH and resi-
13 dence address, including the street and number, if any, or town and
14 rural delivery route, if any MAILING ADDRESS IF DIFFERENT FROM THE RESI-
15 DENCE ADDRESS AND HIS OR HER TOWN OR CITY AND AN ADDRESS TO WHICH THE
16 BALLOT SHALL BE MAILED; (2) that he or she is or will be, on the day of
17 the election, a qualified voter of the district in which he or she
18 resides in that he or she is or will be, on such date, over eighteen
19 years of age, a citizen of the United States and has or will have
20 resided in the district for thirty days next preceding such date; (3)
21 that he or she is registered in the town; (4) that he or she will be
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01660-05-0
S. 3516--A 2
1 unable to appear to vote in person on the day of the election for which
2 the absentee ballot is requested because he or she is, or will be on
3 such day (a) a patient in a hospital, or unable to appear personally at
4 the polling place on such day because of illness or physical disability
5 or (b) [because his or her duties, occupation or business will require
6 him or her to be outside of the county of his or her residence on such
7 day, (c) because he or she will be on vacation outside the county of his
8 or her residence on such day; or, (d)] absent from his or her voting
9 residence because he or she is detained in jail awaiting action by a
10 grand jury or awaiting trial or is confined in JAIL OR prison after
11 conviction for an offense other than a felony. Such application must be
12 received by the district secretary at least seven days before the
13 election if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or the day before
14 the election, if the ballot is to be delivered personally to the voter
15 or his or her agent.
16 b. [(1) Where such duties, occupation or business are of such a
17 nature as ordinarily to require such absence, a brief description of
18 such duties, occupation or business shall be set forth in such affida-
19 vit. (2) Where such duties, occupation or business are not of such a
20 nature as ordinarily to require such absence, such application shall
21 contain a statement of the special circumstances on account of which
22 such absence is required.
23 c. Where the applicant expects in good faith to be absent on the day
24 of the election because he or she will be on vacation elsewhere on such
25 day, such application shall also contain the dates upon which he or she
26 expects to begin and end such vacation, the place or places where he or
27 she expects to be on such vacation, the name and address of his or her
28 employer, if any, and if self-employed, a statement to that effect.
29 d. Where the absence is because of detention or confinement to jail,
30 such affidavit shall state whether the voter is detained awaiting action
31 of the grand jury or is confined after conviction for an offense other
32 than a felony.
33 e. Where a person is or would be, if he or she were a qualified
34 voter, entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee ballot under
35 the provisions of this section, his or her spouse, parent or child, if a
36 qualified voter and a resident of the same district, shall be entitled
37 to vote as an absentee voter upon personally making and signing an
38 application in accordance with the preceding provisions of this subdivi-
39 sion and showing that he or she expects to be absent from the district
40 on the day of the district election by reason of accompanying or being
41 with the spouse, child or parent who is or would be, if he or she were a
42 qualified voter, so entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee
43 ballot, and, in the event no application is made by such spouse, child
44 or parent, such further information as the fire district shall require.
45 f.] Such application shall include the following statement to be
46 signed by the voter.
47 I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of
48 my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material
49 false statement in the foregoing statement of application for absentee
50 ballots, I shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
51 Date.....................Signature of Voter.............
52 [g.] C. An applicant whose ability to appear personally at the polling
53 place of the district of which he or she is a qualified voter is
54 substantially impaired by reason of permanent illness or physical disa-
55 bility and whose registration record has been marked "permanently disa-
56 bled" by the board of elections pursuant to the provisions of the
S. 3516--A 3
1 election law shall be entitled to receive an absentee ballot pursuant to
2 the provisions of this section without making separate application for
3 such absentee ballot, and the secretary of the fire district, upon being
4 advised by the board of elections on or with the list of registered
5 voters that the registration record of a voter is marked "permanently
6 disabled", shall send an absentee ballot to such voter at his or her
7 last known address by first class mail with a request to the postal
8 authorities not to forward same but to return same in five days in the
9 event that it cannot be delivered to the addressee. The election
10 inspectors of the fire district shall make an appropriate entry on the
11 registration record indicating the fact that an absentee ballot has been
12 sent and the date of mailing.
13 S 2. This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeed-
14 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.