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History
- Referred to elections
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Relates to amending the required time to commence counting of absentee ballots
In Assembly Committee · Election Law · Sponsor David Buchwald
Full text
The text isn't available here yet. Check nysenate.gov.
Sponsor's memo
BILL NUMBER:S7167
Title of bill
An act to amend the election law, in relation to amending the required time to commence counting of absentee ballots
Purpose or general idea of bill
The purpose of the bill is to require Boards of Elections to promptly begin counting absentee ballots in a general, primary or special election
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill amends paragraph a of subdivision 1 of section 9-209 of the Election Law by requiring Boards of Elections to begin absentee ballot counting no later than 48 hours after the close of polls for ballots received on or before the day preceding Election Day. Ballots received on Election Day or within 7 days of Election Day must commence counting by the 8th day after Election Day in the case of a primary, or by the 14th after Election Day in the case of a general or special election. In the event that the 8th day or the 14th day is a weekend or holiday, counting must commence on the next businesses day.
Section 2 of the bill sets forth an immediate effective date.
Justification
After a general, primary or special election, the public rightly expects that ballots will be counted in as reasonably expeditious a manner as possible. This is important both so that the public can be informed as to the results and so that enough time is provided for a possible run-off. However, Boards of Elections have begun to routinely wait many days before they even begin to count absentee, military and other paper ballots. In the 2013 New York City mayoral primary election, the local Board of Elections did not commence absentee ballot counting until approximately a week after Election Day. A Board of Elections official cited to the Daily News that the reason for this delay was that the board is not allowed by state law to count paper ballots for a week in order to give ballots time to arrive by mail. This legislation is intended to clarify the law and allow for timelier vote counts to expedite the overall time it takes to declare election results.
Prior legislative history
New.
Fiscal implications for state and local governments
None to the State and none to localities as the legislation only affects the timing of already required actions.
Impact on regulation of business and individuals
None
Effect on fines, terms of imprisonment or other penal sanctions
None
Effective date
This bill shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.