New York A 3060: Permits voting at any polling place within the same county

Bill Text

STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          3060
                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                    January 23, 2025
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. R. CARROLL, EPSTEIN, SHIMSKY, SIMON -- read once
          and referred to the Committee on Election Law
        AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to  permitting  voting  at
          any polling place within the same county
          The  People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:
     1    Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new  section  8-107
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 8-107. Choice  of polling place. Any voter registered to vote in any
     4  election district within a county outside the city of New York shall  be
     5  entitled  to  vote  at  any  polling place within that county. Any voter
     6  registered to vote in any election district within the city of New  York
     7  shall  be  entitled  to vote at any polling place within the city of New
     8  York. Each board of elections shall ensure that each polling place with-
     9  in its jurisdiction shall be equipped to print ballots on demand.    The
    10  state  board  of  elections  shall promulgate regulations to ensure that
    11  auditing and  recanvassing  of  votes  shall  remain  simple,  accurate,
    12  affordable,  and  secure,  including  by  requiring  marks on ballots to
    13  determine the relevant election district so ballots can be  quickly  and
    14  easily  sorted  by election district.   Nothing in this section shall be
    15  read to permit a board of elections to  reduce  the  number  of  polling
    16  places  below  existing  requirements,  and each election district shall
    17  have a polling place at which preprinted  ballots  shall  be  available,
    18  which shall be deemed the polling place for such election district.
    19    §  2.  Subdivision 3 of section 8-600 of the election law, as added by
    20  chapter 6 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
    21    3. Any voter registered in an election district outside  the  city  of
    22    may  vote  at  any polling place for early voting establishedNew  York
    23  pursuant to subdivision two of this section in  the  county  where  such
    24  voter is registered to vote[; provided, however, if it is impractical to
    25  provide each polling place for early voting all of the election district
         EXPLANATION--Matter in  (underscored) is new; matter in bracketsitalics
                              [] is old law to be omitted. 
                                                                   LBD04314-01-5

        A. 3060                             2
     1  ballots or if early voting at any such polling place makes ensuring that
     2  no  voter has not previously voted early during such election, the board
     3  of elections may assign election districts to a particular early  voting
     4  ]. poll siteAny voter registered in an election district within the city
     5  of  New  York may vote at any polling place for early voting established
     6   Allpursuant to subdivision two of this section in the city of New York.
     7  voters in each county shall have one or more  polling  places  at  which
     8  they  are  eligible  to  vote  throughout  the  early voting period on a
     9  substantially equal basis. [If the board of elections does not agree  by
    10  majority  vote to plan to assign election districts to early voting poll
    11  sites, all voters in the county must be able to vote at  any  poll  site
    12  ]for early voting in the county.
    13    §  3.  Section  4-132  of  the election law is amended by adding a new
    14  subdivision e to read as follows:
    15    e. On demand ballot printers for individuals entitled to vote in  such
    16  polling  place where ballots for such individual's election district are
    17  not available in pre-printed format. Ballot printers must be  maintained
    18  and  serviced  prior  to  each  election.  Paperwork must be created and
    19  signed by the commissioners that each ballot printer that is intended to
    20  be put into use in the upcoming election has been  serviced  and  is  in
    21  good working condition.
    22    § 4. Subdivision 9 of section 5-210 of the election law, as amended by
    23  chapter 481 of the laws of 2023, is amended to read as follows:
    24    9.  The county board of elections shall, as soon as practicable and in
    25  any event, not later than seven days after receipt by it of the applica-
    26  tion, verify the identity of the applicant. In order to do so, the coun-
    27  ty board of elections shall utilize  the  information  provided  in  the