BILL NUMBER: S843
SPONSOR: MAY
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to establishing minimum
staffing levels for local board of elections
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
The purpose of this bill is to ensure that each local board of elections
is properly staffed with an appropriate number of employees proportional
to the number of registered voters.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 of this bill would require every board of elections to employ,
at a minimum, four full time employees in addition to the appointed
commissioners, within four years of the effective date; furthermore,
every board of elections shall employ two additional employees for every
full allotment of 20,000 active registered voters beyond 40,000 active
registered voters.
Section 2 of this bill provides that the effective date shall take
effect immediately.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Voting is a part of an individual's civic duty. Participation in poli-
tical discourse and elections have increased over the past two years.
This is largely in part to the fact that New York State has taken affir-
mative action to increase voter participation and increase access to
voting.
Recent chapters allow for early voting, ballot drop boxes, and mail-in
voting. The State is also poised to adopt automatic voter registration,
same day registration, and a permanent no-fault absentee ballot program.
Many boards of elections currently rely on a combination of full-time
employees and temporary employees during election seasons. These new
programs require a full-time staff that is qualified, trained, and up to
date with current election law.
The State has assisted local boards with funding early voting initi-
atives, including, most recently, $2 million in additional funding for
Local Boards of Elections in the Adopted Budget FY 2021-2022. Most local
boards' current staffing structures already comply with this legis-
lation. This bill would ensure uniformity so that boards of elections
are equipped to handle the volume of voters in each area. Nothing in
this law would prohibit a board of elections from hiring more staff than
is required by this legislation.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: S644 (Mannion) / A1258 (Hunter)
2021-2022: S6684 (Mannion) / A7780 (Hunter)
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.

Statutes affected:
S843: 3-300 election law