Amd §§5-900, 5-902, 5-904 & 5-308, add §§5-901, 5-901-a & 5-901-b, El L
Provides for automatic voter registration and pre-registration for persons applying for certain department of motor vehicles documentation, and for persons applying for or re-enrolling in Medicaid; allows individuals to decline such automatic registration and pre-registration.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6772A
SPONSOR: Reyes TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to providing for automatic
voter registration and preregistration for persons applying for certain
department of motor vehicles documentation, and for Medicaid enrollees
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To upgrade our automatic voter registration (AVR) procedures
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 5-900 of the election law to carve out license
and ID transactions with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Medicaid
enrollment transactions with the Department of Health and county and
city departments of social services from existing automatic voter regis-
tration procedures, as these transactions are made subject to more
specific requirements in Section 2 beginning on June 30, 2027. This
Section also provides for the use of substantially equivalent text to
any text specified for automatic voter registration forms.
Section 2 amends the election law by adding new sections 5-901 and
5-901-a, which establish specific automatic voter registration proce-
dures for individuals conducting a driver's license or identification
card transaction with the Department of Motor Vehicles and for individ-
uals enrolling in Medicaid with the Department of Health or county and
city departments of social services.
Section 3 amends section 5-902 of the election law to clarify that
existing procedures for processing registration records without an
exemplar signature apply when a person is registered to vote other than
by affirmatively submitting a registration application.
Section 4 amends Section 5-904 of the election law to clarify that
existing procedures regarding a presumption of innocent authorized error
in registration apply when a person is registered to vote other than by
affirmatively submitting a registration application.
Section 5 amends section 5-308 to add that if no response is received
within 45-day notice sent to people registered through the automatic
voter registration process who did not select a political party, a
second notice regarding party affiliation shall be mailed.
Section 6 sets an effective date of June 30, 2027.
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2020, New York honored its commitment to expanding access to the
ballot box by adopting an automatic voter registration (AVR) system.
Rather than require citizens to opt into voter registration, AVR removed
this unnecessary barrier by registering eligible voters automatically
whenever they interact with government agencies such as the DMV or DOH.
Voters would be given the opportunity to decline - or opt out of - voter
registration, but the default would be to keep eligible voters regis-
tered in order to maximize voting access and participation.
Now, as we await the implementation of AVR, it is critical that we make
necessary upgrades to our AVR procedures, not only to streamline the
process even further, but also to ensure that vulnerable communities are
fully protected. This bill adopts an "Enhanced AVR" system, utilizing
best practices from other AVR states to refine and improve New York's
system.
Secure AVR relies on citizenship verification procedures already in
place for driver's licenses and Medicaid enrollment transactions-to
automatically filter those who are clearly citizens into a fully stream-
lined automatic voter registration process, while automatically filter-
ing those who are clearly not citizens out of any voter registratioh
opportunity. Individuals with indeterminate citizenship based pn these
agency procedures would be required to affirmatively indicate eligibil-
ity and select registration, instead of being automatically channeled
into an opt=out process.
Enhanced AVR has been adopted in 10 other states and Washington, D.C.,
to ensure that AVR systems are as secure and effective as possible.
These changes fully streamline the voter registration process for people
who are clearly eligible, providing the option to decline post-transac-
tion. These upgrades also ensure that address updates from DMV And Medi-
caid transactions automatically reach the voter file, ensuring current
and accurate registration records.
At the same time, these changes create additional protection to reduce
the risk of mistaken registration by ineligible people. By contrast,
under current law, the onus is on some ineligible people to affirmative-
ly decline registration, creating the possibility of human error due to
inattention, confusion, or limited English proficiency. In our efforts
to expand voting access, we must balance the goal of fully streamlining
registration for eligible people with the goal of protecting vulnerable
persons from an honest mistake. That is the balance Enhanced AVR
achieves.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A9732A (Reyes)/S8752-A (Gianaris)
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect June 30, 2027.
