What's happening
This bill prohibits level two and three sex offenders from voting in schools or child facilities, requiring them to vote by absentee ballot instead.
Why it matters
Creates new criminal offenses for level two and three sex offenders who enter or remain in schools or child facilities to vote. , making a first offense a misdemeanor and a second offense within ten years a felony. This adds legal consequences beyond simple removal, potentially impacting housing and movement for affected individuals.
Mandates that level two and three sex offenders who would vote at polling places located at schools or child-centered facilities must use absentee ballots instead. , which could affect their access to in-person voting and may raise concerns around privacy, ballot access, and the administrative burden on boards of elections.
Requires boards of elections to proactively identify and mail absentee ballots to all affected sex offenders before each election. , aiming to ensure these voters are not disenfranchised but also creating new administrative responsibilities and data-sharing requirements.
Provides legal immunity and a defense for poll workers and election officials who deny entry to level two and three sex offenders at schools or child facilities used as polling places. , reducing liability risk for staff but also formalizing a system of exclusion that could result in errors or disputes over voter eligibility at the polls.
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Who cares
Level two and level three sex offenders eligible to vote
The bill would provide absentee voting for those barred from their polling places and make entering covered schools or children's facilities to vote a class A misdemeanor, rising to a class E felony for a repeat conviction within ten years.
Boards of elections
They would have to compile a list of eligible affected voters sixty days before each election and mail them absentee ballots.
School district clerks
They would process a new absentee-ballot eligibility category for affected voters, whose applications would have to disclose whether they are imprisoned for a felony or on parole.
Poll workers
They would receive civil immunity for good-faith refusals of admission at covered polling places and an affirmative defense to voting-rights charges when relying on specified sex offender lists.
Headline styles
Ban Sex Offenders Voting at Schools
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Print number 4788a
- Amend and recommit to codes
- Referred to codes
- Referred to codes
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.
Ban Sex Offender Voting in Schools
In Senate Committee · Codes · Sponsor Robert Ortt
Full text
7 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4788--A
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 3, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. NORRIS -- read once and referred to the Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the Committee on Codes in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the penal law, the election law and the education law, in relation to voting by level two or level three sex offenders
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The penal law is amended by adding two new sections 145.75 and 145.80 to read as follows: § 145.75 Unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for
children for the purposes of voting in the second degree.
1. A person is guilty of unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for children for the purposes of voting in the second degree, when being a level two or level three sex offender, he or she enters or remains in a school or facility for children for the purposes of casting a ballot or otherwise voting during any primary, general, special, school district or other election in which residents, registered or qualified voters are entitled to cast ballots.
2. For the purposes of this section: (a) "level two or level three sex offender" shall mean a person registered or required to register under section one hundred sixty-eight-f of the correction law who has received a level two or level three designation pursuant to section one hundred sixty-eight-l of the correction law; and (b) "school or facility for children" shall mean a building, structure, athletic playing field, playground or land contained within the real property boundary line of a public or private elementary, parochial, intermediate, junior high, vocational, or high school, or any other facility or institution primarily used for the care or treatment of persons under the age of eighteen while one or more of such persons under the age of eighteen are present.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04520-03-8
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Unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for children for the purposes of voting in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor. § 145.80 Unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for
children for the purposes of voting in the first degree.
A person is guilty of unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for children for the purposes of voting in the first degree when he or she commits the crime of unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for children for the purposes of voting in the second degree, having previously been convicted of such crime within the preceding ten years.
Unlawfully entering or remaining in a school or facility for children for the purposes of voting in the first degree is a class E felony.
§ 2. Paragraph (d) of subdivision 1 of section 8-400 of the election law, as amended by chapter 63 of the laws of 2010, is amended and a new paragraph (e) is added to read as follows:
(d) absent from his or her voting residence because he or she is detained in jail awaiting action by a grand jury or awaiting trial, or confined in jail or prison after a conviction for an offense other than a felony, provided that he or she is qualified to vote in the election district of his or her residence[.]; or
(e) prohibited from appearing personally at the polling place of the election district in which he or she is a qualified voter because he or she is a level two or level three sex offender and such polling place is located on or within a school or facility for children as the terms "level two and level three sex offender" and "school or facility for children" are defined in section 145.75 of the penal law.
§ 3. Subparagraph (iv) of paragraph (c) of subdivision 3 of section 8-400 of the election law, as amended by chapter 63 of the laws of 2010, is amended and a new subparagraph (v) is added to read as follows:
(iv) detained in jail awaiting action by a grand jury or awaiting trial or confined in jail or prison after a conviction for an offense other than a felony and stating the place where he or she is so detained or confined[.]; or
(v) prohibited from appearing personally at the polling place of the election district in which he or she is a qualified voter because he or she is a level two or level three sex offender and such polling place is located on or within a school or facility for children as the terms "level two and level three sex offender" and "school or facility for children" are defined in section 145.75 of the penal law.
§ 4. Section 8-400 of the election law is amended by adding a new subdivision 11 to read as follows:
11. Sixty days before each election the board of elections shall compile a list of all level two and level three registered sex offenders entitled to receive absentee ballots pursuant to the provisions of this section. The board of elections shall, by mail addressed to such sex offender at his or her registered address, send an absentee ballot for the ensuing election to such person in the same manner as provided in this section for a qualified voter entitled to an absentee ballot because of illness or disability.
§ 5. Subdivision 2 of section 2018-a of the education law, as added by chapter 219 of the laws of 1978, paragraphs a and b as amended by chapter 136 of the laws of 1991, paragraph c as amended by chapter 26 of the laws of 1994, paragraph d as amended by chapter 72 of the laws of 1988 and paragraph g as amended by chapter 825 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
A. 4788--A 3
2. a. An applicant for such an absentee ballot shall submit an application setting forth (1) his or her name and residence address, including the street and number, if any, or town and rural delivery route, if any; (2) that he or she is or will be, on the day of the school district election, a qualified voter of the school district in which he or she resides in that he or she is or will be, on such date, over eighteen years of age, a citizen of the United States and has or will have resided in the district for thirty days next preceding such date; (3) whether he or she is registered in the district; and (4) that he or she will be unable to appear to vote in person on the day of the school district election for which the absentee ballot is requested because he or she is, or will be on such day (a) a patient in a hospital, or unable to appear personally at the polling place on such day because of illness or physical disability [or]; (b) because his or her duties, occupation, business, or studies will require him or her to be outside of the county or city of his or her residence on such day[,]; (c) because he or she will be on vacation outside the county or city of his or her residence on such day; [or,] (d) absent from his voting residence because he or she is detained in jail awaiting action by a grand jury or awaiting trial or is confined in prison after conviction for an offense other than a felony; or (e) prohibited from appearing personally at the polling place of the election district in which he or she is a qualified voter because he or she is a level two or level three sex offender and such polling place is located on or within a school or facility for children as the terms "level two and level three sex offender" and "school or facility for children" are defined in section 145.75 of the penal law.
Such application must be received by the district clerk at least seven days before the election if the ballot is to be mailed to the voter, or the day before the election, if the ballot is to be delivered personally to the voter.
b. (1) Where such duties, occupation, business, or studies are of such a nature as ordinarily to require such absence, a brief description of such duties, occupation, business, or studies shall be set forth in such application. (2) Where such duties, occupation, business, or studies are not of such a nature as ordinarily to require such absence, such application shall contain a statement of the special circumstances on account of which such absence is required.
c. Where the applicant expects in good faith to be absent on the day of the election because he or she will be on vacation elsewhere on such day, such application shall also contain the dates upon which he or she expects to begin and end such vacation, the place or places where he or she expects to be on such vacation, the name and address of his or her employer, if any, and if self-employed or retired, a statement to that effect.
d. Where the absence is because of detention or confinement to jail, such application shall state whether the voter is detained awaiting action of the grand jury or is confined after conviction for an offense other than a felony.
e. Where the applicant indicates he or she is prohibited from appearing personally at the polling place of the election district in which he or she is a qualified voter because he or she is a level two or level three sex offender and such polling place is located on or within a school or facility for children as the terms "level two and level three sex offender" and "school or facility for children" are defined in section 145.75 of the penal law such application shall state whether or
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not the voter is currently under a sentence of imprisonment for a felony or on parole.
f. Where a person is or would be, if he or she were a qualified voter, entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee ballot under the provisions of this section, his or her spouse, parent or child, if a qualified voter and a resident of the same school district, shall be entitled to vote as an absentee voter upon personally making and signing an application in accordance with the preceding provisions of this subdivision and showing that he or she expects to be absent from the school district on the day of the school district election by reason of accompanying or being with the spouse, child or parent who is or would be, if he or she were a qualified voter, so entitled to apply for the right to vote by absentee ballot, and, in the event no application is made by such spouse, child or parent, such further information as the board of registration shall require.
[f.] g. Such application shall include the following statement to be signed by the voter.
I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material false statement in the foregoing statement of application for absentee ballots, I shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Date.....................Signature of Voter ............................
[g.] h. An applicant whose ability to appear personally at the polling place of the school district of which he or she is a qualified voter is substantially impaired by reason of permanent illness or physical disability and whose registration record has been marked "permanently disabled" by the board of elections pursuant to the provisions of the election law shall be entitled to receive an absentee ballot pursuant to the provisions of this section without making separate application for such absentee ballot, and the board of registration upon being advised by the board of elections on or with the list of registered voters that the registration record of a voter is marked "permanently disabled" shall send an absentee ballot to such voter at his or her last known address with a request to the postal authorities not to forward same but to return same in five days in the event that it cannot be delivered to the addressee. The board of education shall determine whether such ballot shall be sent by first class or by certified mail. All such ballots shall be mailed in the same manner as determined by the board of education. The board of registration shall make an appropriate entry on the registration indicating the fact that an absentee ballot has been sent and the date of mailing.
§ 6. Subdivision 2 of section 2018-b of the education law, as amended by chapter 46 of the laws of 1992 and paragraph c as amended by chapter 26 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
2. a. An applicant for such an absentee ballot shall submit an application setting forth (1) his or her name and residence address, including the street and number, if any, or town and rural delivery route, if any; (2) that he or she is or will be, on the day of the school district election, a qualified voter of the school district in which he or she resides in that he or she is or will be, on such date, over eighteen years of age, a citizen of the United States and has or will have resided in the district for thirty days next preceding such date; and (3) that he or she will be unable to appear to vote in person on the day of the school district election for which the absentee ballot is
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