Relates to annual reports of the boards of elections

BILL NUMBER:S4478

Title of bill

An act to amend the election law, in relation to annual reports of the boards of elections

Purpose or general idea of bill

To improve public access to information about the Board of Elections through the annual report.

Summary of specific provisions

Section 1 amends subdivision 4 of § 3-212 of the Election Law to require that the Board of Elections publish each year's annual report and that the report contain performance metrics for the preceding calendar year, including:

*The number of elections administered, including the offices and any referenda included in the election

*The number of ballots delivered to each poll site, cast by scanning at each poll site scanner and counted at each country Board of Elections office.

*The number of election inspectors and poll clerks employed for each election, the number of unfilled election inspector or poll clerk positions for each election and the number of poll sites with absent election inspectors or poll clerks for each election.

*The number of poll workers who attended trainings, the number of trainings offered per election and the number of trainers hired.

*The number of interpreters employed per language per election and the poll sites at which they were deployed.

*The total number of polling places per election.

*The total number of scanners deployed per election, the total number of scanners which required repair on each election day, the total number of scanners requiring replacement on each election day, the total number of staff from the voting equipment vendor employed per election and a breakdown of costs incurred for repair and replacement per election.

*The number of poll site accessibility waivers requested and obtained per election, the number of ballot marking devices deployed per-election and the number of ballots created by ballot marking device per election.

*The number of candidate petitions processed per election, the number of petition hearings conducted for each election and the number of hearing appeals filed per election.

*The total number of voter registration applications sorted by party and, in New York City, borough, the number of voter registration applications processed by the DMV and by CUNY.

*The number of unique visitors and total hits to the Board of Elections websites and to any online poll locator on a monthly and annual basis.

*The number of complaints received regarding poll worker conduct per election, the number of investigations into complaints performed, the average length of investigation into complaints, the number of complaints resolved and the resulting actions taken.

Section 2 contains the effective date.

Justification

The Boards of Elections in New York are responsible for reporting to voters on their performance. However, the reports they produce fail to provide a clear accounting of the previous year's elections and are often unavailable to the public. By requiring public access to an annual report that includes very specific performance metrics, we can ensure accountability at the Boards of Elections.

Prior legislative history

This is a new bill.

Fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

This bill would take effect immediately.