Relates to procedures for change of enrollment

BILL NUMBER:A408

Title of bill

An act to amend the election law, in relation to change of enrollment

Purpose

Under current law, when a registered voter seeks to change his/her party enrollment to a different party, enroll in a party (when not previously enrolled in any party), or to end his/her enrollment in a party, the effective change of that enrollment is deferred until the first Tuesday following the general election. As a result, voters wish- ing to make such changes of enrollment may have to wait as long as thir- teen months to see their changes of enrollment take effect. Under this bill, changes of enrollment would take effect twenty-five (25) days after such changes were applied for. This new timeframe would coincide with the deadlines for voter registration thus simplifying the process for both voters and county boards of elections.

Summary of provisions

Section I amends Subdivision 3 of Section 5-303 of the election law to make changes of enrollment effective twenty-five (25) days after they are applied for. Section 2 sets the effective date.

Justification

Of paramount importance in a democratic society is not just to be able to vote for the candidate of one's choice but also to be able to select the candidates who appear on the ballot. In fact, in many instances this selection is more significant than the general election itself.

In New York, voters get to partake in this selection process by means of primary elections. Unfortunately, . many voters discover that they are unable to vote in the party primary of their choice because they are not enrolled in a party or are not enrolled in the party whose primary they wish to vote in. Voters who seek changes of enrollment discover that such changes would not be effective until after the November elections, not in time to be able to vote in the Presidential Primaries themselves. For example, voters who wished to change their party enrollment for any of the 2008 elections (including the February Presidential primary, the September primary or the November election) would have had to apply for a change of enrollment in early October of 2007, four months before the Presidential primary.

Though voters are disenfranchised in greater numbers in the Presidential primaries than in the annual September primaries, this problem is expe- rienced by voters every year in the September primary. Voters who wished to change their party enrollment so that they could vote in the 2008 September primary would have also had to apply for a change of enrollment in early October of 2007, eleven (II) months before the September primary. This bill would ensure that voters are fully able to partake in all steps of the electoral process; including the candidate selection process.

Legislative history

2008: A8035 (Kavanagh) - Election Law 2007: A8035 (Kavanagh) - Election Law 2007: A2972 (Grannis) - Election Law 2006: A

1829 (Grannis) - Election Law 2005: A 1829 (Grannis) - Election Law 2004: A 711 (Grannis) - Election Law 2003: A711 (Grannis) - Election Law 2002: A 7041 A (Grannis) - Election Law 2001: A 7041 (Grannis) - Election Law

Fiscal impact on the state

None.

Effective date

This act shall take effect sixty days after it shall have become a law.