What's happening
The bill requires all counties outside New York City to allow voters to use any early voting site within their county.
Why it matters
Increases voter flexibility. By allowing voters to use any early voting site within their county (outside NYC), the bill makes it much easier for people to vote at a location that is most convenient to their daily routines, work, or travel, potentially reducing barriers to participation.
Could reduce wait times and crowding. When voters are not restricted to a single assigned location, foot traffic can be distributed more evenly across available sites, which may shorten lines and speed up the voting process.
Promotes equity in voting access. The requirement that all voters in a county have “substantially equal” access to early voting sites means local election boards must ensure fair geographic distribution, potentially addressing disparities that could disadvantage rural or underserved communities.
Modernizes election administration. The change implies counties must update technology and procedures to allow for real-time, countywide voter check-in and ballot issuance, which could result in better data integrity and pave the way for future election innovations.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Use Any Early Voting Site
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 39
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to elections
Full text
1 pageUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
7597
IN SENATE
January 29, 2020
Introduced by Sen. SKOUFIS -- 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 requiring counties outside of a city with a population of one million or more to allow voters to utilize any early voting site in the county
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 8-600 of the election law, as added by chapter 6 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
3. Any voter may vote at any polling place for early voting established pursuant to subdivision two of this section in the county where such voter is registered to vote; provided, however, if in a city with a population of one million or more it is impractical to provide each polling place for early voting all of the election district ballots or if early voting at any such polling place makes ensuring that no voter has not previously voted early during such election, the board of elections of such city may assign election districts to a particular early voting poll site. All voters in each county shall have one or more polling places at which they are eligible to vote throughout the early voting period on a substantially equal basis. If the board of elections in a city with a population of one million or more does not agree by majority vote to plan to assign election districts to early voting poll sites, all voters in the county must be able to vote at any poll site for early voting in the county.
§ 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14965-03-0
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 requiring counties outside of a city with a population of one million or more to allow voters to utilize any early voting site in the county
Purpose
To make it easier for New Yorkers to vote early by requiring that coun- ties allow any voter within the county to vote at any early voting site within a county.
Summary of provisions
Section 1: Amends section 8-600 of the Election Law to require every early voting polling place to allow any registered voter within the same county to cast an early vote at that polling site. For cities of more than a million people, the bill maintains the existing allowance that if it is "impractical" to allow voters to vote at any polling place, the county board of elections may assign election districts to a particular early voting poll site.
Section 2: Effective date.
Justification
New York's early voting law made it much easier for voters in our state to exercise their right to vote by allowing nine days of early voting before primary and general elections. As the new law was implemented in 2019, some counties required voters to vote at a specific assigned early voting site while other counties allowed voters to vote at any early voting site within the county. Giving voters more options of where to cast their ballot is preferable (for instance, some people may find it convenient to vote at an early voting site near their place of work), and will lead to higher rates of voter participation.
Legislative history
New bill
Fiscal implications
None to the state.
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.