What's happening
This bill requires SUNY and CUNY schools to enhance voter registration and absentee ballot access for students and publicly report their efforts.
Why it matters
Requires SUNY and CUNY campuses to proactively provide both voter registration and absentee ballot applications to all students at the start of the academic year and again in presidential election years, ensuring students have easier access to participate in elections whether they’re on or off campus.
Mandates that each campus must offer the same level of direct voter registration and absentee ballot assistance as government agencies—potentially giving students meaningful, hands-on help rather than just information.
Obligates SUNY and CUNY systems to publicly report, for each campus, specific data on their voter outreach efforts—including student engagement metrics and screenshots of their voter education web pages—enabling transparency and accountability in their efforts to foster student voting.
Requires the State Board of Elections to post these annual campus reports online, making it possible for the public, media, and advocacy groups to track progress, compare institutions, and push for further improvements in student voter access.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Expand Student Voter Registration
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Ordered to third reading cal.434
- Substituted for A8998
- Referred to election law
- Delivered to assembly
- Passed senateVote 40–21
- Ordered to third reading cal.118
- Referred to rules
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.
Expand Campus Voter Access
Assembly Floor Calendar · Sponsor Jeffrey Dinowitz
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7194
IN SENATE
January 10, 2020
Introduced by Sen. BENJAMIN -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to voter registration form distribution and assistance
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 18 of section 5-211 of the election law, as amended by a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the election law relating to voter registration form distribution and assistance, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 1128-A and A. 2599-A, is amended to read as follows:
18. (a) (i) On or before January first, two thousand twenty, all institutions of the state university of New York and the city university of New York shall create and make available to all students a webpage for voter education on each such institution's website, containing a link to an application for voter registration, a link to an application for an absentee ballot, contact information for the county board of elections, and the name and contact information for the administrator responsible for voter registration assistance on each campus.
(ii) Each such institution shall, at the beginning of the school year, and again in January of a year in which the president of the United States is to be elected, provide an application for voter registration and an application for an absentee ballot to each student in each such institution. [Such institutions shall also offer each student an application for an absentee ballot. Such institutions shall provide the same degree of assistance as required of participating agencies.] Each institution shall be considered in compliance with [these] the requirements of this subparagraph for each student to whom the institution electronically transmits a message containing the link to the webpage for voter education [and], the link to an application for voter registration and the link to an application for an absentee ballot, if such information is in an electronic message devoted exclusively to voter registration.
(iii) Each such institution shall provide the same degree of assistance as required of participating agencies.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01179-06-9
S. 7194 2
(b) [Each institution] The state university of New York and the city university of New York, on behalf of each institution within its system, shall on or before [January] June first, two thousand twenty, and each subsequent year, submit a report disaggregated according to each institution to the state board of elections that includes:
(i) the efforts of the institution to register voters in the preceding calendar year;
(ii) a date-stamped screen shot of the webpage for voter education that contains the required information under paragraph (a) of this subdivision;
(iii) the number of students who were registered for course work in the preceding twelve months at such institution and the number of [students who clicked] clicks on the links to online voter registration and absentee ballot applications; and
(iv) any other efforts or recommendations the institution plans to implement to improve access to voter registration and absentee ballot voting for students at the institution.
(c) The state board of elections shall make the reports provided pursuant to paragraph (b) of this subdivision publicly available on its website.
§ 2. This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the election law relating to voter registration form distribution and assistance, as proposed in legislative bills numbers S. 1128-A and A. 2599-A, takes effect.
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 voter registration form distribution and assistance
Purpose
This is a Chapter Amendment that makes changes to provisions of L.2019, Ch.587.
Summary of provisions
This legislation amends the underlying chapter by changing the deadline for the report on voter registration efforts to June 1, 2020 from Janu- ary 1, 2020; removing reference to students in language that required the report to contain the number of clicks to online voter registration and absentee ballot applications to the number of clicks to said appli- cations generally; and to provide that SUNY and CUNY provide the report on behalf of its respective institutions, but requires that the report contains disaggregated data from each institution.
Justification
The underlying chapter sought to increase voter registration rates among voters on New York's public college campuses, and to develop plans to educate students of their rights and ensure administrators are meeting obligations. This chapter amendment ensures that SUNY and CUNY are oper- ationally able to comply with the goals and provisions of the underlying bill.
Legislative history
Chapter amendment to Chapter 587 of the Laws of 2019.
Fiscal implications
None.
Effective date
This act shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as a chapter of the laws of 2019, amending the election law relating to voter registration form distribution and assistance, as proposed in legisla- tive bills numbers S. 1128-A and A. 2599-A, takes effect.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.