What's happening
This bill requires the New York Board of Elections to publicly release and post online images of all ballots after elections, excluding personal identifying information.
Why it matters
Enhances Election Transparency. By requiring ballot images to be publicly posted online after elections, this law would allow anyone to independently review and verify the accuracy of vote counts, increasing public trust in election outcomes.
Supports Public Oversight and Accountability. Easy access to ballot images empowers watchdog groups, researchers, and citizens to scrutinize the electoral process and potentially detect errors or irregularities, promoting accountability within the Board of Elections.
Protects Voter Privacy. The explicit exclusion of all personal identifying information ensures that while ballots are made public, individual voter anonymity is maintained, balancing transparency with privacy concerns.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Release Ballot Images Publicly
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to elections
- Referred to elections
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
616
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 9, 2019
Introduced by Sen. BOYLE -- 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 publicly releasing ballot images
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The election law is amended by adding a new section 7-131 to read as follows:
§ 7-131. Ballots; public release of ballot images. Following an election, the board of elections shall publicly release and make available online, images of all ballots, excluding all personal identifying information.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD04332-01-9
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 publicly releasing ballot images
Purpose or general idea of bill
This legislation would require the Board of Elections to make the images of ballots available for public scrutiny
Summary of specific provisions
Section 1. Adds a new section to the election law § 7-131.
Section 2. Effective Date
Justification
The purpose of this bill will allow the public to view ballot images, not the actual ballot, to ensure that votes are properly counted. Ballot transparency is necessary to protect the sanctity of the vote. Electronic scanners already take photographic images of the ballots as each ballot is counted. However, these machines can make mistakes if citizens do not fill out the ballot as directed. Most importantly, this bill would not allow the original ballots to be shared or handled by the public and it would conceal the identity of all voters.
Candidates and citizens can feel confident each vote is appropriately accounted for by allowing the ballot images to be open for inspection. In close elections, the few stray votes that are miscounted by the elec- tronic scanner may change the outcome of an election.
Prior legislative history
01/04/17 REFERRED TO ELECTIONS 01/03/18 REFERRED TO ELECTIONS
Fiscal implications
Minimal to the state.
Effective date
Immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.