Relates to requirements of a witness to a designating petition or independent nominating petition

1 Co-sponsor

• Tony Avella

Title of bill

An act to amend the election law, in relation to requirements of witnesses to a designating petition or independent nominating petition

Purpose or general idea of bill

To delete the requirement that a witness to a party designating petition or an independent nominating petition must reside in the district of the office in the petition.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill amends subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 6-132 of the election law, as amended by chapter 447 of the laws of 2006, to clarify the requirement that the witness has not previously signed a petition for another candidate for the same office and to delete language that requires that a witness to a designating petition be a resident of the political subdivision in which the office or position is to be voted for in order to be qualified to witness the petition. See Matter of DiPietro v. New York State Board of Elections, 30 Misc.3d 449 (Erie Co. Sup. Ct. 2010).

Section 2 of the bill amends subpart b of subdivision 1 and subdivision 2 of section 6-140 of the election law, as amended by chapter 447 of the laws of 2006, to add a requirement that the witness has not previously signed a petition for another candidate for the same office and to delete language that requires that a witness to a independent nominating petition be a resident of the political subdivision in which the office or position is to be voted for in order to be qualified to witness the petition.

Sections 3, 4, 5, and 6 of the bill amend, respectively, subdivision 1 of section 6-204, subdivision 1 of section 6-206, subdivision 3 of section 15-108, and subdivision 4 of 15-108 of the election law to delete language that requires that a witness to a designating petition be a resident of the village in which the office or position is to be voted for in order to be qualified to witness the petition.

Section 7 of the bill is the effective date.

Justification

The federal courts and the New York State Court of Appeals ruled unconstitutional the present election law's requirement that a subscribing witness to a designating petition or independent nominating petition must be a resident of the political subdivision in which the office or position is to be voted on. This bill would conform the language of the election law to the court decisions.

Prior legislative history

2012: A.8650 passed assembly 2014: A.1464 passed assembly

Fiscal implications

None

Effective date

On the 120th day after it shall become law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rules or regulations necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made on or before such date.