File #: Int 0180-2022    Version: * Name: Designation and usage of public libraries as polling places.
Type: Introduction Status: Filed (End of Session)
Committee: Committee on Governmental Operations
On agenda: 4/14/2022
Enactment date: Law number:
Title: A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to the designation and usage of public libraries as polling places
Sponsors: Keith Powers , Tiffany Cabán, Althea V. Stevens, Shahana K. Hanif, Gale A. Brewer, Eric Dinowitz, Julie Won, Lincoln Restler, Shekar Krishnan, Crystal Hudson, Sandy Nurse, Shaun Abreu, Erik D. Bottcher, Pierina Ana Sanchez
Council Member Sponsors: 14
Summary: This bill would require the New York City Board of Elections (“BOE”) to establish all eligible public libraries within the New York Public Library system, Brooklyn Public Library system, and Queens Public Library system as polling places for general elections, both on Election Day and during the early voting period preceding a general election. Eligibility would be determined by current legal requirements as set forth in state election law, as well as through a consultation by the BOE with the New York Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library, or Queens Public Library as to the permissibility of using each public library within each respective system. The proposed legislation would also require the BOE to issue a report to the Council on the use of public libraries as polling places following each general election.
Indexes: Report Required
Attachments: 1. Summary of Int. No. 180, 2. Int. No. 180, 3. April 14, 2022 - Stated Meeting Agenda, 4. Hearing Transcript - Stated Meeting 4-14-22, 5. Minutes of the Stated Meeting - April 14, 2022

Int. No. 180

 

By Council Members Powers, Cabán, Stevens, Hanif, Brewer, Dinowitz, Won, Restler, Krishnan, Hudson, Nurse, Abreu, Bottcher and Sanchez

 

A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to the designation and usage of public libraries as polling places

 

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

 

Section 1. Chapter 46 of the New York city charter is amended by adding a new section 1057-h to read as follows:

§ 1057-h Usage of public libraries as polling places. a. Where permitted by section 4-104 of the election law, the board of elections in the city of New York, in consultation with the New York Public Library system, Brooklyn Public Library system, and Queens Public Library system, shall designate every public library as a polling place for any general election, including during the early voting period for such general election. Such designation and usage of permissible public libraries as polling places shall be made in addition to the designation and usage of any other site which the board of elections in the city of New York has previously designated as a polling place for any general election and early voting period for such general election. Refusal by the board of elections in the city of New York to designate a public library as a polling place may not be based on the library’s proximity to an existing polling place.

b. Report. No later than 60 days following the completion of a general election, the board of elections in the city of New York shall submit a report to the speaker of the council on the use of public libraries as polling places. Such report shall include the following information:

1. A complete list of the public libraries in the New York Public Library system, Brooklyn Public Library system, and Queens Public Library system, and whether each such library was designated as a polling place for the preceding general election or the early voting period for such general election;

2. The criteria used to determine the permissibility of public libraries as polling places for a general election and early voting period for a general election; and

3. The reasoning used in each decision not to designate a public library as a polling place for a general election or early voting period for a general election.

§ 2. This local law takes effect 120 days after it becomes law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Session 12

CP

LS #1960

1/12/2022 2:58 PM

 

Session 11

CP

LS #9082