BILL NUMBER: S568
SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to establishing portable
polling locations for early voting
 
PURPOSE:
Section 1: amends the election law to allow counties the option to
establish two or more locations for portable polling places for early
voting, which must be operative for no fewer than three consecutive days
and that will not replace or otherwise decrease the mandated number of
regular early voting polling places.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: amends the election law to allow counties the option to
establish two or more locations for portable polling places for early
voting, which must be operative for no fewer than three consecutive days
and that will not replace or otherwise decrease the mandated number of
regular early voting polling places. The location for such polling plac-
es must be determined no more than 14 days prior to the election and
must be part of the communication plans developed by boards of
elections.
Section 2: effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Unlike many states around the country, New York has taken many steps to
make voting easier and less confusing. One of the major steps toward
greater ballot access taken by the state is early voting. Creating a
broader window for people to cast their ballot is a proven way to
increase voter turnout. However, fully accessible allocation of polling
places has proven difficult to achieve. A simple solution to this is to
add portable early voting polling places to the regular polling places
designated by counties. portable early voting sites have proven very
effective in other states, especially in allowing for expanded access by
rural and elderly voters. This legislation creates the option for coun-
ties to run two or more portable sites for three consecutive days during
the early voting period, allowing them the flexibility to bring early
voting to harder-to-reach parts of their districts.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024 - S.242 (May) Passed Senate / A6971 (Sillitti)
2021-2022 - S.55A (May) Passed Senate / A.4568 (Galef)
2019-2020 - S.6926-A (May) Passed Senate / A.9613 (Galef)
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the state.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately.

Statutes affected:
S568: 8-600 election law