Removes party lines from ballots and has candidates' names appearing only once on a ballot for an office for all elections that are not presidential or gubernatorial.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8178
SPONSOR: Burke TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to removing party lines
from ballots for all elections that are not presidential or gubernatori-
al
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This bill simplifies New York's ballot design by listing candidates only
once, with the exception of presidential and gubernatorial races, and
affixing party nominations to a candidate's name rather than listing
them on a party row or column..
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 7-104 of the election law so that only in pres-
idential and gubernatorial races will candidates' names appear more than
once.
Section 2 amends section 7-116 of the election law so the candidates
nominated by the party that received the highest number of votes in the
previous election appear first, followed by candidates of other parties
in descending order.
Section 3 amends section 2-104 of the election law to state that each
party which nominated a particular candidate in the preceding gubernato-
rial election will have the same county committee proportions.
Section 4 amends section 6-124 of the election law to state that each
party which nominated a particular candidate in the preceding gubernato-
rial election will have the same proportions for judicial conventions.
Section 5 establishes the effective date as one year after it becomes
law and states that it will apply to all elections which occur on or
after such date.
JUSTIFICATION:
A ballot is possibly the most important interaction between a government
and its citizens. Thousands of votes are lost in elections every year
because of poorly designed and confusing ballots, and these very often
make the crucial difference in determining who wins election. In 2022
alone, there were three state legislative races decided by less than 20
votes. Simple, straightforward ballot design saves votes and evades
electoral controversy.
Current New York law allows candidate names to appear more than once on
the ballot, creating a confusing and convoluted ballot that can be
difficult for many to navigate, especially seniors. New York's grid-
based design counterintuitively requires voters to potentially select
more than one candidate per column. Instead of candidates being listed
on the line of each party for which they're nominated, each candidate
will only be listed once and have each party for which they're nominated
listed with their name.
This bill does not do away with New York's system of fusion voting. The
bill also does not apply to presidential and gubernatorial races in
order to preserve how party ballot order, county committees, and judi-
cial convention delegates operate. This bill is solely to streamline
state ballots to ensure that voters feel more comfortable navigating the
voting process.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
None
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law.
