NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A3859
SPONSOR: Jackson TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to providing voters an
opportunity to cure deficiencies regarding affidavit ballots
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To require that voters be notified if their affidavit ballots are inval-
idated for any reason and to allow voters the opportunity to cure inval-
idated affidavits in order to have their votes counted.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends Section 9-209 of the election law to include a subdivi-
sion specifying that the board of elections, upon determining that an
affidavit ballot envelope is incomplete or in any other manner defec-
tive, shall send the voter who submitted the affidavit a notice explain-
ing why the affidavit was rejected and providing the voter an opportu-
nity to submit a duly signed cure affirmation, which will be reviewed by
the board of elections.
Section 2 provides the state board of elections the authority to imple-
ment the act.
Section 3 sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In New York State, voters who are required to file affidavit ballots on
Election Day have no way to know whether their affidavit ballots were
counted, nor do they have the opportunity to correct any minor errors in
the affidavit form. Because New York does not have this kind of "cure"
process for affidavit ballots, New Yorkers -especially those in our
state's most vulnerable communities -- have, in the recent past, had
their right to vote denied, often on the basis of mere technicalities
that were irrelevant to the actual voting process. The lack of transpar-
ency regarding the rejection of affidavit ballots cast on Election Day
has occurred in recent years on a large scale in New York. During the
2016 presidential primary, for example, 121,000 voters in New York State
were required to fill out affidavit ballots; approximately 90,000 of
those votes were invalidated. The tens of thousands of voters who cast
these affidavits were not entitled to any kind or notification of the
statue of their ballot, nor did they have a right to correct or complete
any information on their affidavit that could have been easily recti-
fied. Similar issues were reported in New York City during the recent
June 2020 primary elections, where many voters had their affidavit
ballots rejected due in large part to widespread poll site and party
irregularities, which proved not only very confusing to many voters, but
also deeply disruptive during an election already affected by an ongoing
global pandemic.
By requiring a curing process for affidavit ballots, this legislation
would empower voters with the opportunity to ensure that minor mistakes
or other irregularities in the election process do not deny them one of
their most fundamental rights as members of our civic community. This
bill, if enacted, would therefore maximize the number of votes counted
in our state's elections, strengthening our democratic process in New
York.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-22 A.6082 Referred to Election Law / S.4184 Referred to Elections
2019-20 A.10943 Referred to Rules / S.8947 Referred to Election Law
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
3859
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 8, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JACKSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to providing voters an
opportunity to cure deficiencies regarding affidavit ballots
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 9-209 of the election law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 7-a to read as follows:
3 7-a. Curing of affidavit ballot. (a) Upon the board of elections
4 determination at or before the time of canvass that an affidavit ballot
5 envelope is incomplete or is in any other manner defective, the board
6 shall, within one day of such determination, send to the affidavit
7 ballot voter's address indicated on the affidavit ballot envelope, a
8 notice explaining the reason for such rejection and the procedure to
9 cure the rejection. The board shall also contact the voter by either
10 electronic mail or telephone, if such information is available to the
11 board in the voter's ballot envelope information, in order to notify the
12 voter of the deficiency and the opportunity and the process to cure the
13 deficiency.
14 (b) The voter may cure the aforesaid defects by filing a duly signed
15 affirmation attesting to the same information required by the affirma-
16 tion envelope and attesting that the signer of the affirmation is the
17 same person who submitted such affidavit ballot. The board shall include
18 a form of such affirmation with the notice to the voter. The affirmation
19 shall be in a form prescribed by the state board of elections.
20 (c) Such cure affirmation shall be filed with the board no later than
21 seven business days after the board's mailing of such curable rejection
22 notice. Provided the board determines that such affirmation addresses
23 the curable defect, the rejected ballot shall be reinstated and duly
24 canvassed. If the board of elections is split as to the sufficiency of
25 the cure affirmation, such envelope shall be set aside for three days
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03830-01-3
A. 3859 2
1 and then canvassed unless the board is directed otherwise by court
2 order.
3 (d) When the board of elections invalidates an affidavit ballot and
4 the defect is not curable, the voter shall be notified by mail sent
5 within three business days of such rejection.
6 § 2. The state board of elections shall promulgate rules and regu-
7 lations to implement this act.
8 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to
9 elections occurring on or after such effective date.
