BILL NUMBER: S88A
SPONSOR: GIANARIS
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to providing for automatic
voter registration and preregistration for persons applying for certain
department of motor vehicles documentation, and for Medicaid enrollees
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To upgrade our automatic voter registration (AVR) procedures
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 5-900 of the election law to carve out license
and ID transactions with the Department of Motor Vehicles and Medicaid
enrollment transactions with the Department of Health and county and
city departments of social services from existing automatic voter regis-
tration procedures, as these transactions are made subject to more
specific requirements in Sections 3 and 4 beginning on January 1, 2028.
This Section also provides for the use of substantially equivalent text
to any text specified for automatic voter registration forms.
Section 2 amends section 5-900 of the election law to prohibit the
Department of Motor Vehicles from providing an opportunity to register
to vote to any person who provides documentation conclusively demon-
strating that they are not a US citizen.
Section 3 amends the election law by adding a new section 5-901, which
establishes specific automatic voter registration procedures for indi-
viduals conducting a driver's license or identification card transaction
with the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Section 4 amends the election law by adding a new section 5-901-a, which
establishes specific automatic voter registration procedures for indi-
viduals applying or re-enrolling in Medicaid with the Department of
Health or county and city departments of social services.
Section 5 amends the election law by adding a new section 5-901-b, which
establishes specific automatic voter registration procedures for indi-
viduals applying for housing at the New York City Housing Authority.
Section 6 amends section 5-902 of the election law to clarify that
existing procedures for processing registration records without an
exemplar signature apply when a person is registered to vote other than
by affirmatively submitting a registration application.
Section 7 amends Section 5-904 of the election law to clarify that
existing procedures regarding a presumption of innocent authorized error
in registration apply when a person is registered to vote other than by
affirmatively submitting a registration application.
Section 8 amends section 5-308 to add that if no response is received
within 45-day notice sent to people registered through the automatic
voter registration process who did not select a political party, a
second notice regarding party affiliation shall be mailed.
Section 9 sets an effective date of January 1, 2028, except that the
amendments to subdivision 12 of section 5-900 in Section 2 shall take
effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
In 2020, New York honored its commitment to expanding access to the
ballot box by adopting an automatic voter registration (AVR) system.
Rather than require citizens to opt into voter registration, AVR removed
this unnecessary barrier by registering eligible voters automatically
whenever they interact with government agencies such as the DMV or DOH.
Voters would be given the opportunity to decline - or opt out of - voter
registration, but the default would be to keep eligible voters regis-
tered in order to maximize voting access and participation.
Now, as we await the implementation of AVR, it is critical that we make
necessary upgrades to our AVR procedures, not only to streamline the
process even further, but also to ensure that vulnerable communities are
fully protected. This bill adopts an "Enhanced AVR" system, utilizing
best practices from other AVR states to refine and improve New York's
system.
Secure AVR relies on citizenship verification procedures already in
place for driver's licenses and Medicaid enrollment transactions-to
automatically filter those who are clearly citizens into a fully stream-
lined automatic voter registration process, while automatically filter-
ing those who are clearly not citizens out of any voter registration
opportunity. Individuals with indeterminate citizenship based on these
agency procedures would be required to affirmatively indicate eligibil-
ity and select registration, instead of being automatically channeled
into an opt-out process.
Enhanced AVR has been adopted in 10 other states and Washington, D.C.,
to ensure that AVR systems are as secure and effective as possible.
These changes fully streamline the voter registration process for people
who are clearly eligible, providing the option to decline post-transac-
tion. These upgrades also ensure that address updates from agency trans-
actions automatically reach the voter file, ensuring current and accu-
rate registration records.
At the same time, these changes create additional protection to reduce
the risk of mistaken registration by ineligible people. By contrast,
under current law, the onus is on some ineligible people to affirmative-
ly decline registration, creating the possibility of human error due to
inattention, confusion, or limited English proficiency. In our efforts
to expand voting access, we must balance the goal of fully streamlining
registration for eligible people with the goal of protecting vulnerable
persons from an honest mistake. That is the balance Enhanced AVR
achieves.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-24: A9732A (Reyes)/S8752-A (Gianaris)
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
TBD
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect January 1, 2028; provided, however, the
amendments to subdivision 12 of section 5-900 of the election law, made
by section two of this act, shall take effect immediately. .

Statutes affected:
S88: 5-902 election law
S88A: 5-900 election law, 5-900(12) election law, 5-902 election law