Relates to election canvass procedures; repealer

BILL NUMBER:S3536C

Title of bill

An act to amend the election law, in relation to canvass procedures; and to repeal section 9-128 of the election law relating thereto

Purpose

This bill modernizes and streamlines the procedures for the election night canvass procedure and associated close of poll tasks.

Summary of provisions

A new subsection is added to section 9-102 to modernize the canvass procedures for the City of New York allowing a portable memory device to be used for unofficial tally.

Section 9-106 is amended to allow the ballot scanner's close the polls mechanism to be initiated and results tape printed if the ballot reconciliation process is finalized and there are no ballots in the emergency ballot bores.

Section 9-120 is rewritten to allow for results tapes from each ballot scanner to be attached to the return of canvass form without the numbers from each results tape to be transcribed onto such form.

Section 9-124 provides that the portable memory device with corresponding results tape may be transported separately from other materials to be used to produce an unofficial tally. A new subsection three is added to section 9-124 to mandate that the person receiving the return of canvass in the board of elections shall provide the name of the person accepting the delivery, the time of delivery and the name of person making the delivery to be filed in the office of the board of elections.

Section 9-126(2) (b) mandates that the board of elections make the unofficial tally available to the media in a public place or on the Internet as the results become known to it.

Section 9-126 is also amended to allow, but not require, the police in New York City to transport the election materials to the boards of elections.

Justification

Local boards of elections are required to carry out numerous tasks after the close of the polls to ensure the integrity of the vote and produce an unofficial tally of the results. Under current law, election workers administering the polls on election night often have substantial difficulty completing these tasks in the manner that has been deemed to be necessary in some jurisdictions. This has been a particular problem in some poll sites in New York City where numerous ballot scanners may be used to read ballots of voters from multiple election districts during the course of the day.

This bill is intended to clarify the nature of the tasks and alter the order they need to be undertaken in order to streamline end rationalize the procedures, while maintaining absolute integrity in the process and the official outcome of our elections.

Legislative history

New bill

Fiscal implications

None

Effective dane

This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to any election held on or after the seventy-fifth day after it shall have become law.