What's happening
This bill requires polling places and early voting sites on or approved by colleges or universities with 300 or more registered voters.
Why it matters
Expands student voter access. By requiring polling places and early voting sites on or approved by college campuses with at least 300 registered voters, the bill directly addresses barriers that often prevent students from voting, such as transportation challenges or unfamiliarity with off-campus locations.
Changes how election districts are drawn. The legislation mandates that college properties meeting the voter threshold must be treated as distinct election districts, ensuring students' votes are not diluted or split across multiple districts, which can enhance their collective electoral impact.
Strengthens institutional participation. Colleges and universities are given a formal role in approving polling locations on their campuses, potentially encouraging greater institutional support for student civic engagement and making voting a more visible part of campus life.
Targets underrepresented, mobile voters. Students, who are often new voters and may move frequently, are among the demographic groups least likely to vote. By making voting more convenient on campuses, the bill could boost overall turnout and help create lifelong voting habits among young adults.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Polling Places on Campuses
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
History
- Referred to ways and means
- Returned to assembly
- Repassed senate
- Amended on third reading 4378a
- Vote reconsidered - restored to third reading
- Returned to senate
- Recommitted to ways and means
- Substitution reconsidered
- Recalled from assembly
- Ordered to third reading cal.218
- Substituted for A5661
- Referred to ways and means
Show 16 earlier actions
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 40–20
- Ordered to third reading cal.1
- Reported and committed to rules
- Referred to elections
- Returned to senate
- Died in assembly
- Ordered to third reading rules cal.136
- Substituted for A5661
- Referred to ways and means
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 40–22
- Advanced to third reading
- 2nd report cal.
- 1st report cal.901
- 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.
Require Campus Polling Places
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Nily Rozic
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
4378--A Cal. No. 1
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
March 11, 2019
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, BRESLIN, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, LIU, MAY, MONT- GOMERY, PERSAUD, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections -- recommitted to the Committee on Elections in accordance… Show allHide
Introduced by Sens. PARKER, BRESLIN, GAUGHRAN, GIANARIS, LIU, MAY, MONT- GOMERY, PERSAUD, STAVISKY -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Elections -- recommitted to the Committee on Elections in accordance with Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- reported favorably from said committee and committed to the Committee on Rules -- reported favorably from said committee, ordered to a third reading, passed by Senate and delivered to the Assembly, recalled, vote reconsidered, restored to third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining its place in the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to the boundaries of election districts and the designation of polling places
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Section 4-104 of the election law is amended by adding a new subdivision 5-a to read as follows:
5-a. Whenever a contiguous property of a college or university contains three hundred or more registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status) who are registered to vote at an address on such contiguous property, the polling place designated for such registrants shall be on such contiguous property or at a location approved by the college or university.
§ 2. 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, the contiguous property of a college or university which contains three hundred or more registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status) who are registered to vote at an address on such contiguous property, or a county legislative, assembly, senatorial or congressional district.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01288-03-9
S. 4378--A 2
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 and college or university properties 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 registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status), but any election district may be divided for the convenience of the voters.
§ 3. Paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of the election law, as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
(a) The board of elections shall designate polling places for early voting, which may include the offices of the board of elections, for persons to vote early pursuant to this title. There shall be so designated at least one early voting polling place for every full increment of fifty thousand registered voters in each county; provided, however, the number of early voting polling places in a county shall not be required to be greater than seven, and a county with fewer than fifty thousand voters shall have at least one early voting polling place. Whenever a contiguous property of a college or university contains three hundred or more registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status) who are registered to vote at an address on such contiguous property, such contiguous property or a location approved by the college or university shall be designated as an early voting polling place.
§ 4. This act shall take effect January 1, 2022.
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 boundaries of election districts and the designation of polling places
Purpose
This bill would provide that election districts shall not be drawn in such a way that they are partly on and partly off a college Or. univer- sity campus or other contiguous college or university property with 300 or more registered voters, excluding inactive voters. It would also require that the poll sites for election districts serving such concen- trations of college or university voters shall be on the campus or college or university property, or, at a site approved by the college or university.
Summary of provisions
Section one of the bill amends section 4-104 of the election law by adding a subdivision 5-a. Section one provides that whenever a contig- uous property of a college or university contains 300 or more regis- trants, (excluding registrants in inactive status), who are registered to vote at an address on such a contiguous college or university proper- ty, the polling place for such registrant shall be on such property or at a location approved by the college or university.
Section two of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 3 of section 47100 of the election law to add contiguous properties of colleges and universities with 300 or more registered voters, (excluding registrants in inactive status), to the list of geographic areas that cannot be partly in and partly out of an election district.
Section three of the bill amends paragraph (a) of subdivision 2 of section 8600 of the election law. Section 3 provides that' whenever. a contiguous property of a college or university contains 300 or more registrants, (excluding registrants in active status) who are registered to vote at an address on such a contiguous college or university proper- ty, the polling place for such registrant shall be on such property or at a location approved by the college or university.
Section 4 of the bill sets forth the effective date.
Justification
This bill would provide college and university campuses, and other college and university properties with_large concentrations of voters, with their own election districts and their own poll sites. This bill recognizes the fact that requiring residents of colleges and universi- ties to vote at sites remote from their campuses, or requiring voters unaffiliated with the colleges and universities to vote on campuses can present unnecessary obstacles to voting.
Legislative history
2017-18: S3092 - REFERRED TO ELECTIONS
2015-16: S.1412A - Amend and Recommit to Elections
2913-14: S.888A - Referred to 'Elections
2011-12; 5.1851A/A.2162A - Died in Elections 200-10: S.2003A - PASSED SENATE
Fiscal implications
minima
Effective date
This act shall take effect on January 1, 2022.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.