New York Assembly Bill A00396 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 396 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN ASSEMBLY (Prefiled) January 8, 2025 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. STIRPE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Election Law AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to exempting certain public school buildings from being designated as early polling locations The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Subdivision 2 of section 8-600 of the election law is 2 amended by adding a new paragraph (i) to read as follows: 3 (i) No public school building with instructional space shall be desig- 4 nated as an early polling location. 5 § 2. Subdivision 3 of section 4-104 of the election law, as amended by 6 chapter 694 of the laws of 1989, is amended to read as follows: 7 3. A building exempt from taxation shall be used whenever possible as 8 a polling place if it is situated in the same or a contiguous election 9 district, and may contain as many distinctly separate polling places as 10 public convenience may require. The expense, if any, incidental to its 11 use, shall be paid like the expense of other places of registration and 12 voting. If a board or body empowered to designate polling places chooses 13 a public school building for such purpose, the board or agency which 14 controls such building must make available a room or rooms in such 15 building which are suitable for registration and voting and which are as 16 close as possible to a convenient entrance to such building and must 17 make available any such room or rooms which the board or body designat- 18 ing such building determines are accessible to physically disabled 19 voters as provided in subdivision one-a. Notwithstanding the provisions 20 of this subdivision, no board or body empowered to designate polling 21 places shall designate a public school building with instructional space 22 as an early polling location, and if such board or body designates a 23 public school building that does not have instructional space as an EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01513-01-5 
 A. 396 2 1 early polling location, the superintendent of such school district may 2 decline such designation. Notwithstanding the provisions of any general, 3 special or local law, if a board or body empowered to designate polling 4 places chooses a publicly owned or leased building, other than a public 5 school building, for such purposes the board or body which controls such 6 building must make available a room or rooms in such building which are 7 suitable for registration and voting and which are as close as possible 8 to a convenient entrance to such building, and must make available any 9 such room or rooms which the board or body designating such building 10 determines are accessible to physically disabled voters unless, not 11 later than thirty days after notice of its designation as a polling 12 place, the board or body controlling such building, files a written 13 request for a cancellation of such designation with the board or body 14 empowered to designate polling places on such form as shall be provided 15 by the board or body making such designation. The board or body 16 empowered to so designate shall, within twenty days after such request 17 is filed, determine whether the use of such building as a polling place 18 would unreasonably interfere with the usual activities conducted in such 19 building and upon such determination, may cancel such designation. 20 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.