BILL NUMBER: S2056
SPONSOR: WEBB
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to enacting the "student
voter empowerment act"
 
PURPOSE:
Enacts the student voter empowerment act to expand civic engagement
among public college students.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 includes the title as the student voter empowerment act.
Section 2 amends subdivision 18 of section 5-211 of the election law to
require all public colleges and universities to provide additional
information on polling places on websites and requires that each public
college or university designate a staff member to serve as a student
voting coordinator. The coordinator's goal is to develop an action plan
and to hold outreach events in an election cycle.
Section 3 amends section 17-288 of the election law to include "resi-
dents of college or university" for the provision assistance for
language-minority groups.
Section 4 sets the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
During the 2022 midterm elections, 23% of eligible voters ages 18 to 29
turned out to vote across the country, making it the second-highest
youth turnout in over three decades. New York's youth turnout rate has
improved in recent elections but still falls behind the national average
with only 20.7% of young voters turning out to vote in 2022. With an
increasing trend of newer voters not relying on major political parties
or candidates for election information, it is critical that we reimagine
how public universities can expand their voter education efforts to
increase youth turnout, dispel voter confusion, combat misinformation
about elections, and promote an informed citizenry of young New Yorkers.
According to the National Study for Learning, Voting and Engagement
(NSLVE), there was a notable gap in the turnout rate of student voters
and the rate of eligible student voters who registered to vote in the
last presidential election. Even if a young person is registered to
vote, one of the most common reasons young people cite for not voting in
an election is the lack of information about election processes and who
is running for office.
Some public universities like Binghamton University, have robust
programs in place to engage students on the importance of voting and
civic engagement. However, not all colleges and universities have a high
level of engagement or any engagement in civics and the importance of
voting.
This legislation would require all public colleges and universities to
develop and implement student voter action plans with multiple civic
events a year, provide students with regular nonpartisan election-relat-
ed information via different mediums, work with local boards of
elections to standardize student voter registration, create university
voter committees with students and support student groups doing voter
engagement. Furthermore, the Act outlines the required election-related
information to be sent to students, allows excusel policies for students
to vote, and will enroll all CONY/SONY schools in Tuft's National Study
for Learning, Voting and ,Engagement.
The Student Voter Empowerment Act will play a key role in ensuring our
public colleges and universities are doing everything they can as trust-
ed messengers of civic information to close the voter registration and
turnout gap of young voters across New York.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New bill.
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a law;
provided, however, that if chapter 226 of the laws of 2022 shall not
have taken effect on or before such date then section three of this act
shall take effect on the same date and in the same manner as such chap-
ter of the laws of 2022 takes effect. Effective immediately, any rules
and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this act on its
effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
date.

Statutes affected:
S2056: 5-211 election law, 5-211(18) election law, 17-208 election law, 17-208(1) election law