What's happening
This bill increases the maximum number of registrants per election district to 2,000 and requires consultation with elected officials before dividing districts.
Why it matters
Larger election districts could mean fewer polling places or longer wait times for voters. , since each district can now include up to 2,000 registrants (up from 1,150), potentially impacting voter access and convenience.
The requirement to consult with elected officials before dividing districts adds a layer of political oversight. to decisions about district boundaries, possibly making the process more transparent or, conversely, more subject to political influence.
Boards of elections will have more flexibility in how they create or alter election districts. , which could help address population changes or administrative challenges, but may also affect how communities are grouped for voting purposes.
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Who cares
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History
- Referred to election law
- Referred to election law
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7587
2017-2018 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
May 3, 2017
Introduced by M. of A. ABBATE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the creation, consolidation, division and alteration of election districts by a board of elections
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Paragraph a of subdivision 3 of section 4-100 of the election law, as amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
a. Each election district shall be in compact form and may not be partly within and partly without a ward, town, city, a village which has five thousand or more inhabitants and is wholly within one town, or a county legislative, assembly, senatorial or congressional district. Except as provided in paragraph b of this subdivision, election district boundaries, other than those boundaries which are coterminous with the boundaries of those political subdivisions mentioned in this paragraph, must be streets, rivers, railroad lines or other permanent characteristics of the landscape which are clearly visible to any person without the need to use any technical or mechanical device. An election district shall contain not more than nine hundred fifty registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status) or, with the approval of the county board of elections, not more than [eleven hundred fifty] two thousand registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status), but any election district may be divided for the convenience of the voters after consultation with the elected officials who represent said districts.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD10871-01-7
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.