BILL NUMBER: S7401
SPONSOR: RYAN C
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to county committee desig-
nations of candidates for certain offices
 
PURPOSE:
To provide that party designation of candidates for nomination for
certain offices shall be made by county committee and eliminate unneces-
sary petitioning for designated candidates.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1: Amends election law to add a new section 6-127 that outlines
the process by which county committees may designate candidates for
nomination for certain offices, not including any office whose electoral
district intersects with a county located within a city having a popu-
lation greater than 1 million. This process will allow candidates
receiving a majority of the weighted vote of eligible county committee
members to be placed on the primary ballot without petitioning. Addi-
tionally, candidates who receive at least 25% of the weighted committee
vote will be granted access to the primary ballot. Candidates will also
still be able access the primary ballot by gathering petitions.
Section 2: Establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
Under New York State Election Law, individuals who desire to run for
political office are required to obtain signed petitions in a burdensome
petitioning process in order to qualify to appear on the ballot. The
process of gathering these signatures takes extensive time, effort and
resources. The goal of getting candidates on the ballot can be accom-
plished more efficiently by removing the burden of gathering petition
signatures for those candidates who are designated by their parties.
This legislation would give parties the option of eliminating the need
to circulate petitions for their own designated candidates.
Recent events have made the need for these changes more urgent. Moving
the petitioning period from early summer to winter, along with increased
political polarization, has made the process more onerous, and, in some
cases, even dangerous. In a recent election, someone circulating a peti-
tion had a gun drawn on them when they mistakenly went to the wrong
address.
The difficulty of the petitioning process is having a particularly
strong negative impact on civic and political engagement in rural areas.
Many rural party committees are finding it almost impossible to recruit
new committee members due to the expectation that committee members help
fulfill burdensome petitioning requirements. As a consequence, many
candidates face no opposition from the other major party in rural
districts. Creating an alternate mechanism for candidates to access the
ballot will, therefore, promote more competitive elections. In fairness
to primary challengers, this legislation borrows from the statute for
statewide elected officials whereby candidates who receive at least 25%-
of the vote at the convention are also placed on the primary ballot.
Importantly, this bill does not eliminate prospective candidates' abili-
ty to gain access to the primary ballet through the standard petitioning
process.
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2023-2024: A.253-B; 2021-2022: A.1449; 2019-2020: A.1725; 2018:
A.10912
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of January next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.