"Transparent elections are crucial to ensuring voters have their voices heard." Governor Cuomo said. "By signing these measures into law, we modernize our elections, bringing efficiency and common sense to a process that has been unnecessarily ambiguous for far too long."
S.3141-A/A.1525 Clarifying the Process for Appointing Poll Watchers
This measure clarifies the process for appointing poll watchers in any general, primary, special, village or town election, allowing candidates on the ballot and political committees three watchers for each election district and only one within the guardrail at any time. By amending this law, New York State is providing greater insight and clearer authority for appointing poll watchers, which has historically been a convoluted and contentious process.
S.3146/A.1454 Ensuring Poll Locations are Adequately Staffed
This measure allows a board of elections to design an alternative poll site staffing plan based on the individual needs of a polling location. Currently, many staffing plans are determined and structured based on when voting was conducted on lever voting machines. However, over time the organization and voting methods of poll sites have changed significantly. By allowing boards of elections to determine the staffing plan based on actual demand and BOE regulation, and not statutory requirements, New Yorkers will see increased efficiency at individual polling locations.
On January 24, 2019, Governor Cuomo signed a comprehensive package of reforms to modernize New York's voting laws, including synchronizing federal and state elections to ensure that voters only go to the polls once to choose their nominees; allowing 16 and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote; and enacting universal transfer of voter registrations.
