NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8228B
SPONSOR: Jacobson TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the election law, in relation to
change of enrollment by previously registered voters
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that voters who wish to vote for a
preferred presidential, state or local candidate in a political party's
primary election, but who are not enrolled members of that party, may
change their enrollment within a reasonable period before such primary.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of the bill amends subdivision 3 of section 5-304 of the
Election Law to provide that the deadline for a change in enrollment to
allow a voter to vote in a preferred party's presidential or June prima-
ry is February 14th in the same year as such primaries.
Section 2 of the bill amends subdivision 1 of section 5-604 of the
Election Law to provide that the board of elections shall publish a
complete list of registered voters, including party enrollment, on
February 21st of each year.
Section 3 provides for the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
The election law provides that a voter may register and enroll in a
political party. However, under current law, if a voter registers to
vote without enrolling in a party or wishes to change party enrollment,
the voter must do so at least 25 days before a general election in any
year in order to have that change take effect one week after that gener-
al election. This allows the voter to participate in the selected
party's primary the following year. The reasons for this requirement are
many.
New York has eight state wide parties currently. The election law
outlines how a candidate may access the ballot line of a party through
the circulation of a designating petition signed by party members or the
filing of a designating certificate issued by a party committee. A
candidate not enrolled in a party has additional requirements in order
to access that party's ballot line. To allow a candidate to change
parties during the petition period, would undermine the process by which
boards of elections and courts ensure that ballot access rules have been
followed.
Designating petitions for each party may only be signed by registered
voters who are enrolled party members in that party. When a voter in a
party participates in the petition process, a review of the petition
requires that the enrollment list for that party be utilized to confirm
enrollment of the signatory. Voters must remain in that party throughout
the petition period so that review and validation of the designating
petition may occur. To allow voters to change party during the petition
period would undermine the review that designating petitions undergo by
boards of elections and courts prior to the placement of the candidate's
name on a primary ballot.
The need for a uniform party change process that applies to all parties
is essential because implementing different rules for different parties
would create administrative impossibilities for boards of elections and
would cause confusion for voters. Moreover, party changes will often
impact more than one party - the party the voter purports to exit as
well as the party the voter wishes to align with.
The current law is intended to avoid "party raiding" where members of
one party change party enrollment shortly before a primary to vote in
another party's primary in order to either select the weakest candidate
against the voter's preferred general election candidate, or, in the
fusion voting context, provide the modicum of votes required in a small
party's primary to strategically deliver the nomination to the preferred
candidate.
Notwithstanding all of the above, the recent significantly increased
interest in participating in the political process, including the presi-
dential primary election, justifies a change to the general party
enrollment rule to allow a voter to change or enroll in a party closer
in time to the presidential and state party primaries. In particular,
the historic voter demand for party changes in the period before a pres-
idential primary indicates this is a critical time for partisan realign-
ment, as opposed to opportunistic party raiding.
This bill changes the deadline for a voter to change his or her party
enrollment from 25 days before a general election to February 14th in
each calendar year. This date falls within the period between the filing
of presidential petitions and the commencement of the petition period
for state and local offices to allow the enrollment list used by candi-
dates, boards of elections and courts to be up dated between the two
petition periods. This change is intended to balance the state's strong
interest in the integrity of the ballot, the integrity of the party
system, and the rules governing voter participation in party processes,
with the increased voter interest in participating in the political
process.
In sum, as a result of this change to the election law, a voter in New
York may file a change of enrollment on or before February 14th and such
change will take effect immediately, allowing the voter to participate
in the chosen party's next primary. Any change in enrollment received by
the board of elections after February 14th and before or on seven days
after the June primary shall take effect on the seventh day after the
June primary.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
This is a new bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
This legislation is not expected to have any impact on state or local
governments.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8228--B
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
June 7, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. JACOBSON -- read once and referred to the Commit-
tee on Election Law -- reported and referred to the Committee on Rules
-- Rules Committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as
amended and recommitted to the Committee on Rules -- Rules Committee
discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted
to the Committee on Rules
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to change of enrollment by
previously registered voters
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivision 3 of section 5-304 of the election law, as
2 amended by chapter 90 of the laws of 1991, is amended to read as
3 follows:
4 3. A change of enrollment received by the board of elections [not
5 later than the twenty-fifth day before the general election shall be
6 deposited in a sealed enrollment box, which shall not be opened until
7 the first Tuesday following such general election. Such change of
8 enrollment shall be then removed and entered as provided in this arti-
9 cle] will take effect immediately, provided however, any change of
10 enrollment received by the board of elections after February fourteenth
11 and before or on seven days after the June primary shall take effect on
12 the seventh day after the June primary.
13 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 5-604 of the election law, as amended by
14 chapter 5 of the laws of 2019, is amended to read as follows:
15 1. The board of elections shall also cause to be published for each
16 election district a complete list of the registered voters of each
17 election district. Such list shall, in addition to the information
18 required for registration lists, include the party enrollment of each
19 voter. At least as many copies of such list shall be prepared as the
20 required minimum number of registration lists.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13243-03-9
A. 8228--B 2
1 Lists for all the election districts in a ward or assembly district
2 may be bound together in one volume. The board of elections shall also
3 cause to be published a complete list of names and residence addresses
4 of the registered voters, including the party enrollment of each voter,
5 for each town and city over which the board has jurisdiction. The names
6 for each town and city may be arranged according to street and number or
7 alphabetically. Such lists shall be published before the [first] twen-
8 ty-first day of February. The board shall keep at least five copies for
9 public inspection at each main office or branch office of the board.
10 Surplus copies of the lists shall be sold at a charge not exceeding the
11 cost of publication.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
