STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1115--C
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 7, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, GALEF, ABINANTI, DICKENS, GOTTFRIED,
REYES, J. RIVERA, SAYEGH, SIMON, DeSTEFANO, COOK, EPSTEIN, KELLES,
McDONALD, WOERNER, L. ROSENTHAL, LUPARDO, JACKSON, RAJKUMAR, FORREST,
CARROLL, BURDICK, DINOWITZ, BICHOTTE HERMELYN, THIELE, ENGLEBRIGHT,
JACOBSON, FAHY, DURSO, GALLAGHER, MAMDANI, NORRIS, TAGUE, BURGOS,
ANDERSON, BRABENEC, TAYLOR, BARRETT, McDONOUGH, ZINERMAN, COLTON,
CLARK, SIMPSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. MIKULIN -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Election Law -- committee discharged,
bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said
committee -- recommitted to the Committee on Election Law in accord-
ance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 -- committee discharged, bill
amended, ordered reprinted as amended and recommitted to said commit-
tee -- again reported from said committee with amendments, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to construction of and
requirements for voting machines and systems
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 7-104 of the election law is amended by adding a
2 new subdivision 28 to read as follows:
3 28. The ballot shall be marked or printed on durable paper. For
4 purposes of this section, "durable paper" is defined as paper capable of
5 withstanding multiple counts and recounts by hand or machine without
6 compromising the fundamental integrity of the ballots, and capable of
7 retaining the information marked or printed on such paper for the full
8 duration of a retention and preservation period set forth in section
9 3-222 of this chapter.
10 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 7-200 of the election law, as amended by
11 chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, is amended to read as follows:
12 1. The board of elections of the city of New York and other county
13 boards of elections may adopt any kind of voting machine or system
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02135-29-2
A. 1115--C 2
1 approved by the state board of elections, or the use of which has been
2 specifically authorized by law; and thereupon such voting machine or
3 system may be used at any or all elections and shall be used at all
4 general or special elections held by such boards in such city, town or
5 village and in every contested primary election in the city of New York
6 and in every contested primary election outside the city of New York in
7 which there are one thousand or more enrolled voters qualified to vote.
8 [No more than two types of voting machines or systems may be used by any
9 local board of elections at a single election.] Notwithstanding the
10 other provisions of this subdivision, any local board of elections may
11 borrow or lease for use on an experimental basis for a period of not
12 more than one year each, voting machines or systems of any type approved
13 by the state board of elections.
14 § 3. Paragraphs b, e, j, s and t of subdivision 1 of section 7-202 of
15 the election law, as added by chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, are
16 amended and three new paragraphs u, v and w are added to read as
17 follows:
18 b. permit a voter to vote for any person for any office, whether or
19 not nominated as a candidate by any party or independent body [without
20 the ballot, or any part thereof, being removed from the machine at any
21 time];
22 e. provide the voter an opportunity to privately and independently
23 mark and verify votes selected [and the] on an individual, voter-verifi-
24 able paper ballot and the ability to privately and independently change
25 such votes or correct any error before the ballot is cast and counted,
26 including by offering the voter a new paper ballot as many times as is
27 allowed by statute or regulation. For the purposes of this subdivision,
28 the term "individual, voter-verifiable paper ballot" means either: (i) a
29 paper ballot marked by the voter by hand; or (ii) a paper ballot marked
30 through the use of a nontabulating ballot marking device or system. For
31 the purposes of this title, a "ballot marking device" is a device that
32 provides voters, including voters with disabilities, the ability to mark
33 votes on physical, paper ballots privately and independently. For the
34 purposes of this title, a "nontabulating ballot marking device" is a
35 ballot marking device that does not tabulate or transmit votes or retain
36 any record of a voter's selections, other than the original paper
37 ballot, after the voter has finished marking the paper ballot and using
38 the device to review selections;
39 j. [retain all paper ballots cast or produce and retain a voter veri-
40 fied permanent paper record which shall be presented to the voter from
41 behind a window or other device before the ballot is cast,] for ballot
42 scanners, retain paper ballots in a manner intended and designed to
43 protect the privacy of the voter; for nontabulating ballot marking
44 devices, produce or process paper ballots in a manner intended and
45 designed to protect the privacy of the voter; such ballots [or record]
46 shall allow a manual audit and shall be preserved in accordance with the
47 provisions of section 3-222 of this chapter;
48 s. permit alternative language accessibility pursuant to the require-
49 ments of section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C.
50 1973aa-1a) such that it must have the capacity to display the full
51 ballot in the alternative languages required by the federal Voting
52 Rights Act if such voting machine or system is to be used where such
53 alternative languages are required or where the local board deems such
54 feature necessary; [and]
A. 1115--C 3
1 t. not include any device or functionality potentially capable of
2 externally transmitting or receiving data via the internet or via radio
3 waves or via other wireless means[.];
4 u. be constructed so that, after the paper ballot is cast by the
5 voter, the voting machine or system never passes the cast ballot under a
6 printer that can print votes onto the ballot, including as a result of
7 unauthorized, malicious or faulty software or firmware;
8 v. be constructed so the configuration or functionality of a voting
9 machine or system does not include, within the same physical device,
10 both (i) ballot marking and (ii) tabulating or transmitting a voter's
11 selections at any time or retaining any record of a voter's selections,
12 other than the original paper ballot, after the voter has finished mark-
13 ing the paper ballot and using the device to review selections; and
14 w. not encode votes on a ballot, whether as a barcode, QR code or any
15 kind of recording code that cannot be verified by the voter without
16 using a code-reading device. For the purposes of this paragraph, a "code
17 reading device" is a device that reads and translates coded marks like
18 QR codes or barcodes into language that can be understood without any
19 kind of device.
20 § 4. Subdivision 4 of section 7-202 of the election law, as added by
21 chapter 181 of the laws of 2005, is amended and a new subdivision 5 is
22 added to read as follows:
23 4. Local boards of elections which obtain voting machines pursuant to
24 this chapter [may determine to] shall purchase [direct recording elec-
25 tronic machines or optical scan machines] ballot scanners and nontabu-
26 lating ballot marking devices in conformance with the requirements of
27 this chapter.
28 5. Local boards of elections must provide every voter, at every poll-
29 ing place, both of the following options: (a) to hand mark a paper
30 ballot; or (b) to use a nontabulating ballot marking device or system to
31 mark a paper ballot. All paper ballots must be printed, scannable, and
32 include all relevant contests and candidates.
33 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately; provided, however, that
34 any local board of elections that purchased voting machines or systems
35 prior to such date which are not in compliance with the requirements of
36 paragraph u or v of subdivision 1 and subdivision 4 of section 7-202 of
37 the election law, may continue to use, maintain and replace such voting
38 machines and systems, but may replace them only with identical model
39 voting machines or systems made by the same manufacturer, or identical
40 model voting machines or systems with de minimis changes in such voting
41 machines' or systems' hardware, software, technical data package, or
42 data, the nature of which will not materially alter the voting machines'
43 or systems' reliability, functionality, capability, or operation; any de
44 minimis changes shall be approved by the state board of elections.
