S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  1707

                       2009-2010 Regular Sessions

                            I N  S E N A T E

                            February 5, 2009
                               ___________

Introduced  by Sens. PARKER, BRESLIN, DIAZ, DILAN, DUANE, HASSELL-THOMP-
  SON, KRUEGER, MONTGOMERY, ONORATO, OPPENHEIMER, SAMPSON,  SCHNEIDERMAN
  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to
  the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction

AN  ACT to amend the correction law and the election law, in relation to
  absentee voting by eligible inmates of local  correctional  facilities
  and  designating  certain  agencies  as  assisting  agencies for voter
  registration

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  The correction law is amended by adding a new section 510
to read as follows:
  S 510. ABSENTEE VOTING BY QUALIFIED INMATES. THE CHIEF  ADMINISTRATIVE
OFFICER  OF  THE  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY, OR HIS OR HER DESIGNEE,
SHALL INFORM EACH INMATE AT SUCH FACILITY OF THEIR RIGHT TO REGISTER  TO
VOTE.  IN  ADDITION,  SUCH  NOTICE  SHALL BE POSTED IN A PROMINENT PLACE
WHERE INMATES CONGREGATE AND PRINTED IN  BLOCK  LETTERS.    SUCH  POSTED
NOTICE  SHALL  INCLUDE  QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED TO EXERCISE THE RIGHT TO
VOTE, AND OF THE AVAILABILITY AT  THE  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY  OF
ASSISTANCE  TO REGISTER TO VOTE, REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION,
AND TO VOTE VIA ABSENTEE BALLOT. SUCH CHIEF ADMINISTRATIVE  OFFICER,  OR
HIS  OR  HER  DESIGNEE,  SHALL  ASSIST ANY OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE INMATES IN
REGISTERING TO VOTE IN THE SAME MANNER AND EXTENT AS THE AGENCIES LISTED
IN SECTION 5-211 OF THE ELECTION  LAW,  ASSIST  ANY  OTHERWISE  ELIGIBLE
INMATES IN REQUESTING AN ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION PURSUANT TO SECTION
8-400  OF THE ELECTION LAW, AND ASSIST ANY OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE INMATES IN
VOTING BY ABSENTEE BALLOT PURSUANT TO SECTION 8-407 OF THE ELECTION LAW.
  S 2. Section 8-406 of the election law, as amended by chapter  296  of
the laws of 1988, is amended to read as follows:
  S  8-406.  Absentee ballots, delivery of. If the board shall find that
the applicant is a qualified voter of the election  district  containing

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                           LBD02400-01-9
              

S. 1707                             2

his  residence  as  stated  in  his  statement and that his statement is
sufficient, it shall, as soon as practicable after it shall have  deter-
mined his right thereto, mail to him at an address designated by him, or
deliver  to him, or to any person designated for such purpose in writing
by him, at the office of the board, such an absentee voter's  ballot  or
set of ballots and an envelope therefor. If the ballot or ballots are to
be  sent  outside of the United States to a country other than Canada or
Mexico, such ballot or ballots shall be sent by air mail. However, if an
applicant who is eligible for an absentee ballot  is  a  resident  of  a
facility  operated  or  licensed  by,  or under the jurisdiction of, the
department of mental hygiene, or a resident of a facility defined  as  a
nursing  home  or  residential health care facility pursuant to subdivi-
sions two and three of section two thousand eight  hundred  one  of  the
public  health  law, or a resident of a hospital or other facility oper-
ated by the Veteran's Administration of the United States,  OR  A  LOCAL
CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY  such  absentee  ballot  need not be so mailed or
delivered to any such applicant but, may be delivered to  the  voter  in
the  manner  prescribed by section 8-407 of this [chapter] TITLE if such
facility is located in the county or city in which such voter is  eligi-
ble to vote.
  S  3. The section heading and subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 8-407 of
the election law, the section heading as added by  chapter  296  of  the
laws  of  1988 and subdivisions 1 and 3 as amended by chapter 195 of the
laws of 2001, are amended to read as follows:
  Voting by residents of nursing homes, residential health care  facili-
ties, facilities operated or licensed, or under the jurisdiction of, the
department  of mental hygiene or hospitals or facilities operated by the
Veteran's Administration of the United States, OR A  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL
FACILITY.  1.  The board of elections of a county or city in which there
is located at least one facility operated  or  licensed,  or  under  the
jurisdiction of, the department of mental hygiene, or a facility defined
as a nursing home or residential health care facility pursuant to subdi-
visions  two  and three of section two thousand eight hundred one of the
public health law or an adult care facility subject to the provisions of
title two of article seven of the social services law, or a hospital  or
other  facility  operated  by the Veteran's Administration of the United
States, OR A LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  FACILITY  AS  DEFINED  BY  SUBDIVISION
SIXTEEN  OF  SECTION  TWO OF THE CORRECTION LAW shall provide that resi-
dents of each such facility for which such board has  received  [twenty-
five]  FIFTEEN or more applications for absentee ballots from voters who
are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in such city or county  at  such
election, may vote by absentee ballot only in the manner provided for in
this section. Such board may, in its discretion, provide that the proce-
dure  described  in  this  subdivision  shall  be applicable to all such
facilities in such county or city without regard to the number of absen-
tee ballot applications received from the residents of any such  facili-
ty.
  3.  Not earlier than thirteen days before or later than the day before
such an election such a board of inspectors shall, between the hours  of
nine  o'clock  in the morning and five o'clock in the evening, attend at
each such facility for the residents of which the board of elections has
custody of [twenty-five] FIFTEEN or more absentee  ballots  or,  if  the
board  of  elections  has  so provided, each such facility for which the
board has custody of one or more such absentee ballots, pursuant to  the
provisions of this chapter.

S. 1707                             3

  S  4.  The  opening paragraph of section 5-211 of the election law, as
amended by chapter 200 of the laws  of  1996,  is  amended  to  read  as
follows:
  Each  agency designated as a participating agency under the provisions
of this section shall implement and administer a program of distribution
of voter registration forms pursuant to the provisions of this  section.
The  following  offices  which  provide public assistance and/or provide
state funded programs primarily engaged in providing services to persons
with disabilities are hereby designated as voter registration  agencies:
designated as the state agencies which provide public assistance are the
department  of [social services] FAMILY ASSISTANCE and the department of
health.  Also designated as public assistance agencies are all  agencies
of  local  government  that provide such assistance. Designated as state
agencies that provide programs primarily engaged in  providing  services
to  people with disabilities are the department of labor, office for the
aging, division of veterans' affairs, office of mental health, office of
vocational and educational services for individuals  with  disabilities,
commission  on  quality  of  care  for  the mentally disabled, office of
mental retardation and developmental disabilities,  commission  for  the
blind and visually handicapped, office of alcoholism and substance abuse
services,  the  office  of the advocate for the disabled and all offices
which administer programs established or funded by such agencies.  Addi-
tional  state  agencies designated as voter registration offices are the
department of state [and], the division of  workers'  compensation,  THE
DIVISION  OF  PROBATION AND CORRECTIONAL ALTERNATIVES, THE DEPARTMENT OF
CORRECTIONAL SERVICES AND THE DIVISION OF PAROLE. Such agencies shall be
required to offer voter  registration  forms  to  persons  upon  initial
application  for  services,  renewal or recertification for services and
change of address relating to such services. Such agencies shall also be
responsible for providing assistance to applicants in  completing  voter
registration forms, receiving and transmitting the completed application
form  from  all applicants who wish to have such form transmitted to the
appropriate board of elections. The  state  board  of  elections  shall,
together  with representatives of the department of defense, develop and
implement procedures for including  recruitment  offices  of  the  armed
forces  of  the  United  States  as voter registration offices when such
offices are so designated by federal law.   The state board  shall  also
make request of the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service
to  include  applications  for  registration  by mail with any materials
which are given to new citizens.  All institutions of the state  univer-
sity  of  New  York  and  the city university of New York, shall, at the
beginning of the school year, and again in January of a  year  in  which
the president of the United States is to be elected, provide an applica-
tion  for  registration  to  each student in each such institution.  The
state board of elections may, by regulation, grant a waiver from any  or
all  of  the requirements of this section to any office or program of an
agency, if it determines that it is not  feasible  for  such  office  or
program to administer such requirement.
  S 5. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
it  shall have become a law, provided, however that effective immediate-
ly, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any  rules  or  regulations
necessary  for  the  implementation of this act on its effective date is
authorized and directed to be made  and  completed  on  or  before  such
effective date.