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Monday, February 23, 2004
The New York State Senate today passed a comprehensive package of legislation sponsored by Senator Tom Morahan (R-C-I, New City), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Elections, that would bring New York State a step closer to compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA). HAVA is designed to improve and enhance voter access, as well as modernize elections across the nation.
"These bills are designed to bring New York into compliance with HAVA," said Senator Morahan, Chairman of the Senate Elections Committee. "It is important that we take the needed steps to improve the voting process in New York so that we are able to enhance voter access and modernize elections."
"Our democracy is based on the participation of citizens and I believe that it functions best when people exercise their right to vote," Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno said. "The main goal of this package of bills is to encourage participation in the election process and ensure the integrity of the process in New York State."
HAVA is a direct result of the 2000 Florida Presidential election ballot debacle, which served as a catalyst for the drafting of legislation to improve and modernize elections in the United States. President Bush signed HAVA into law on October 29, 2002. Under the HAVA mandates, all states are required to make changes to their voting systems by 2006, to improve the elections process. The federal government will provide significant funding to states in order to meet HAVA�s requirements.
Voting Machines
The Senate passed the Voting Machine Modernization Act of 2004 (S.6207), sponsored by Senator Morahan. Required by HAVA, this bill will make it easier for New York to replace voting machines with modern computerized voting systems. In New York State there are 19,843 lever voting machines that were used in 15,571 election districts in the 2000 election.
The bill would facilitate the process of replacing these machines by amending the election law to require:
* The New York State Board of Elections NYSBE to set minimum standards for voting machines;
* the voting machines certified by the NYSBE shall be contracted for through a competitive bidding process;
* the establishment of an 11 member Citizen�s Election Modernization Advisory Committee to recommend voting machine selection criteria and specifications;
* the elimination of punch card ballots and punch card ballot counting machines;
* voting machines to produce and retain a voter verifiable permanent paper record with a manual audit capacity;
* manufacturers to supply copies of the computer source code to the state for each voting machine to ensure that it has not been corrupted.
Voter Registration
The Senate approved a bill (S.6205) that would amend and add a new section to the election law to provide for the verification of voter registration information. Pursuant to HAVA�s requirements, in order to register to vote, an applicant must provide a valid driver�s license number, or the last four digits of the applicant�s social security number. If the applicant has neither, they will be assigned a unique number by the statewide voter registration system to identify the applicant for voter registration purposes.
The bill would also require:
* the New York State Board of Elections (NYSBE) and the Commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicles to match information in the statewide voter registration system with information in the DMV database to verify accuracy of the information provided by the applicant;
* Commissioner of DMV will enter into a similar agreement with the federal Commissioner of Social Security; and
* if a voter has registered by mail and has not previously voted in the state, a voter must provide a current and valid photo identification or a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter. If the person does not meet these requirements, they may cast a provisional ballot.
Should a person violate these provisions, by attempting to register knowingly using any form of identification which is fraudulent or is not the identification of that person, they could be charged with a felony. HAVA requires states to institute voter verification procedures.
Statewide Voter Registration List & Election Results Reporting System
The Senate also approved a bill that would create a statewide voter registration list and election results reporting system. HAVA requires both the implementation of a statewide voter registration list and election results reporting system.
The bill (S.6201) would create the voter verification list and the reporting system by requiring:
* county board of elections to transmit a copy of the county voter registration records electronically to the NYSBE;
* NYSBE to compile such information from the counties into a statewide voter registration list and maintain the list, which will be the official list of voters in New York State;
* the list will be accessible to each county board of elections;
* NYSBE to establish a statewide voter hotline for voters to obtain information regarding their voter registration;
* the system developed to compile the statewide voter registration list shall be used by the NYSBE to provide election results information; and
* NYSBE to provide security measures to prevent unauthorized access to the list.
Anyone who knowingly submits or aids the submission of false or baseless voter registration information to either the NYSBE or a county board of elections would be guilty of a class E felony.
Statewide Administrative Complaint Procedure
The Senate passed legislation (S.6204) that would establish a HAVA statewide administrative complaint procedure. Required by HAVA, the administrative complaint procedure would be used by any person for reporting, to the NYSBE, voting violations that have occurred, or are occurring with regard to HAVA. The complaint must be notarized, signed and sworn to. If requested, the procedure allows for a formal hearing to be conducted by NYSBE staff. If the NYSBE fails to resolve the complaint within 90 days after it is filed, the matter will be sent to an alternative dispute resolution process. Anyone who knowingly files a false or baseless complaint would be charged with a class E felony.
The Senate also passed a bill that would establish the Help America Vote Act Implementation Fund (S.6202). The fund is required by HAVA for the State to properly administer the funding provided by the federal government to implement HAVA. Currently, the Comptroller has received approximately $66 million in HAVA funding from the federal government. The fund would be in the joint custody of the Comptroller and the NYSBE. When appropriated the money shall be solely available to the NYSBE and local boards of elections for the purposes of implementing HAVA.
The bills were sent to the Assembly.
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