Requires the board of elections to provide a domestic postage paid return envelope which a voter may use to return a cure affirmation in paper form by mail; provides that a cure affirmation may be delivered in person, by mail or in electronic form as an attachment to an email.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A10541
SPONSOR: Rules (Zinerman) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to curing ballots
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To ensure that voters are able to cure ballot defects within the allowed
timeframe.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends subdivision 3 of § 9-209 requiring the State Board of
Elections to provide a postage paid envelope within which a voter may
return a cure affirmation form. Voters may return the affirmation form
to the State Board of Elections in person, by mail or via electronic
form as an attachment to an email, specifying that such cure affirmation
shall include the signature of the voter. The section also amends the
timeframe in which the cure affirmation is required to be received by
the State Board of elections, allowing it to be received no later than
seven business days after the board's mailing of such curable rejection
notice or by five o'clock on the seventh day following the election,
whichever is later. The section also provides that any cure affirmation
that is received electronically as an email attachment or by upload
prior to midnight of the last day to cure is valid.
Section 2 contains the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
With the introduction of no-excuse vote by mail, it is expected that
more New Yorkers may choose to vote by mail. New York has one of the
highest post cure rejection rates behind North Carolina, Nevada, and
California. USPS issues are affecting ballot rejections tremendously,
and it may be argued that this is in no small part due to USPS delays in
mailing out and returning cure affidavits. If the cure deadlines remain
tied to when the cure affirmation is mailed out, we are highly likely to
see ballot rejections increase in NY this year due to these USPS delays.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is new legislation.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This bill would take on September 1, 2024.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
10541
IN ASSEMBLY
June 3, 2024
___________
Introduced by COMMITTEE ON RULES -- (at request of M. of A. Zinerman) --
read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to curing ballots
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Paragraphs (d) and (e) of subdivision 3 of section 9-209 of
2 the election law, as amended by chapter 474 of the laws of 2023, are
3 amended to read as follows:
4 (d) The voter may cure the aforesaid defects by filing a duly signed
5 affirmation attesting to the same information required by the ballot
6 affirmation envelope and attesting that the signer of the affirmation is
7 the same person who submitted such ballot envelope; provided, however,
8 that for the defect described in subparagraph (vii) of paragraph (b) of
9 this subdivision, such affirmation shall also include an attestation
10 that the voter mailed the ballot envelope on or before the day of the
11 election. The board shall include a form of such affirmation with the
12 notice to the voter. The affirmation shall be in a form prescribed by
13 the state board of elections, and with such affirmation the board of
14 elections shall provide to the voter a domestic postage paid return
15 envelope which may be used if the voter returns the cure affirmation in
16 paper form by mail. A cure affirmation, at the option of any voter
17 submitting such cure affirmation, may be transmitted to the board of
18 elections in person, by mail or in electronic form as an attachment to
19 an email. Such cure affirmation may also be provided to the board of
20 elections as an uploaded electronic document if such board of elections
21 provides such functionality. The cure affirmation, whether in paper or
22 electronic form, shall include the signature of the voter duly affixed
23 to the appropriately completed cure affirmation form.
24 (e) Such cure affirmation shall be received by the board no later than
25 seven business days after the board's mailing of such curable rejection
26 notice or [the day before] by five p.m. on the seventh day following the
27 election, whichever is later. Any cure affirmation received electron-
28 ically as an email attachment or by upload prior to midnight of the last
29 day to cure is timely. Provided the board determines that such affirma-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD15843-01-4
A. 10541 2
1 tion addresses the curable defect, the rejected ballot shall be rein-
2 stated and prepared for canvassing pursuant to subdivision two of this
3 section. If the board of elections is split as to the sufficiency of the
4 cure affirmation, such envelope shall be prepared for canvassing pursu-
5 ant to paragraph (d) of subdivision two of this section.
6 § 2. This act shall take effect September 1, 2024.
