What's happening
This bill strengthens voter protections by prohibiting the cancellation of voter registrations for inactivity and ensures inactivated voters can vote and be restored to active status.
Why it matters
Prevents voter purges based on inactivity. By eliminating the provision that allowed voter registrations to be canceled simply because someone did not vote in consecutive federal elections, this bill helps ensure that eligible voters remain registered even if they skip several elections.
Strengthens consequences for election officials. The bill explicitly makes it a felony for election officials to cancel a voter’s registration or deny the right to vote due to inactive status in violation of the law, increasing accountability and deterrence for misconduct.
Improves access for inactivated voters. Voters marked as inactive will have their names placed on special inactive poll ledgers at polling places, and if they appear to vote and otherwise qualify, their ballots will be counted and their status automatically restored to active, making it easier for these voters to participate and preventing inadvertent disenfranchisement.
Requires verification for removal. The bill tightens the rules so that a voter’s registration can only be canceled if the board of elections verifies a legitimate disqualifying circumstance (like moving away, felony conviction, or death), reducing the risk of wrongful removals.
Albany, before your first meeting.
Every bill that moved yesterday, summarized in a sentence and ranked by impact. The Albany Scorecard follows on Sundays.
Free. Unsubscribe in one click. Want alerts on specific bills? Create an account.
Who cares
Headline styles
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 32
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to elections
- Referred to elections
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1780
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
January 16, 2019
Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the registration status of voters
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 17-106 of the election law, as amended by chapter 9 of the laws of 1978, is amended to read as follows:
§ 17-106. Misconduct of election officers. Any election officer who wilfully refuses to accord to any duly accredited watcher or to any voter or candidate any right given him by this chapter, including the cancellation of a voter's registration in violation of section 5-400 of this chapter or the refusal to allow an individual to vote due to an inactive status in violation of section 5-213 of this chapter, or who wilfully violates any provision of the election law relative to the registration of electors or to the taking, recording, counting, canvassing, tallying or certifying of votes, or who wilfully neglects or refuses to perform any duty imposed on him by law, or is guilty of any fraud in the execution of the duties of his office, or connives in any electoral fraud, or knowingly permits any such fraud to be practiced, is guilty of a felony.
§ 2. Subdivision 1 of section 5-400 of the election law, as amended by chapter 659 of the laws of 1994, is amended to read as follows:
1. A voter's registration[, including the registration of a voter in inactive status,] shall be cancelled if[,]: (a) since the time of his last registration, he:
[(a)] (i) Moved his residence outside the city or county in which he is registered[.];
[(b)] (ii) Was convicted of a felony disqualifying him from voting pursuant to the provisions of section 5-106 of this article[.];
[(c)] (iii) Has been adjudicated an incompetent[.];
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD07192-01-9
S. 1780 2
[(d)] (iv) Refused to take a challenge oath[.];
[(e)] (v) Has died[.];
[(f) Did not vote in any election conducted by the board of elections during the period ending with the second general election at which candidates for federal office are on the ballot after his name was placed in inactive status and for whom the board of elections did not, during such period, in any other way, receive any information that such voter still resides in the same county or city.
(g)] (vi) Personally requested to have his name removed from the list of registered voters[.];
[(h)] (vii) For any other reason, is no longer qualified to vote as provided in this chapter[.]; and
(b) the board of elections verifies that one of the circumstances provided for in paragraph (a) of this subdivision has occurred.
§ 3. Subdivisions 2 and 3 of section 5-213 of the election law, as amended by chapter 200 of the laws of 1996, are amended to read as follows:
2. The registration poll records of all such voters shall be removed from the poll ledgers and [maintained at] compiled by the offices of the board of elections [in a file arranged alphabetically by] and placed in an inactive poll ledger to be distributed to each election district within a county. If such board uses computer generated registration lists, the names of such voters shall not be placed on such lists at subsequent elections other than lists prepared pursuant to the provisions of section 5-612 of this article but shall be [kept as a computer record at the offices of such board] compiled by the offices of the board of elections and placed in an inactive poll ledger to be distributed to each election district within a county.
3. The board of elections shall restore the registration of any such voter to active status if such voter notifies the board of elections that he resides at the address from which he is registered, or the board finds that such voter has validly signed a designating or nominating petition which states that he resides at such address, or if such voter casts a ballot in an affidavit envelope which states that he resides at such address, or if the board receives notice that such voter has voted in an election conducted with registration lists prepared pursuant to the provisions of section 5-612 of this article. If such voter casts a ballot in an affidavit envelope and such ballot meets all other requirements of this chapter, such voter's name shall be restored to active status for such election and such ballot shall be counted for the election in which it was cast. If any such notification or information is received twenty days or more before a primary, special or general election, the voter's name must be restored to active status for such election.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
Title of bill
An act to amend the election law, in relation to the registration status of voters
Purpose or general idea of bill
This purpose of this bill is to prevent the disenfranchisement of voters through hurdles such as registration cancellation.
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1. Makes misconduct of an election official a felony. It also establishes the conditions under which an individual is allowed to be unregistered by the board of election under the new election law.
Section 2. Indicates that there shall be an inactive poll ledger at every county.
Section 3. Indicates that if an inactive voter cast an affidavit ballot that met all the requirements than it shall restore voter registration and the ballot shall count.
Justification
On Tuesday, April 19, thousands of New Yorkers cried foul about how the city was running the state's most consequential presidential primary elections in decades. Polling sites opened late. Ballot scanners failed. About 125,000 Democratic voters were purged from the Brooklyn rolls while others found their party affiliation had inexplicably changed.
Under current policies voters who chose not to vote get penalize by being characterized as inactive. Their inactive status currently disqualifies them from voting if they do not re-register. This law would remove this unnecessary step by creating an inactive poll ledger that would serve as the list for all voters whose vote could be counted through an affidavit ballot. This law would also make it a felony for voter registration to be cancelled. This law would allow us to hold our election officials accountable for maintaining government integrity.
In the previous New York State primary, many voters felt disenfranchised and left out of the political process. Voting is particularly hard to do in New York where we have laws that add unnecessary steps to the process of become an eligible voter. This law would give the voters back the power they deserve by creating a mechanism through which to have same day Affidavit votes facilitate voter registration. This would open up participation to many voters by making a statement that your vote matters and will be counted. Fair elections are a fundamental principle of democracy, if this type of violation occurred in a foreign nation the United States leaders would call for United Nation monitors to be assigned to future elections. It is our duty as elected officials to hold ourselves to the same, if not, highpr standard than we do our colleagues overseas.
Prior legislative history
S.8447 of 2018, referred to elections
A.9952 of 2016, referred to election law
Fiscal implications
To be determined.
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.