Int. No. 786
By Council Members Brooks-Powers, Epstein, Williams, Won, Brewer, Salaam, Schulman, Joseph and Louis
A Local Law to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to procedures for and reporting on curing ballots for voters in department of correction custody
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Chapter 1 of title 9 of the administrative code of the city of New York is amended by adding a section 9-177 to read as follows:
§ 9-177 Curing early mail and absentee ballots of incarcerated individuals. a. Definitions. For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
Board. The term “board” means the board of elections of the city of New York.
Commissioner. The term “commissioner” means the commissioner of correction.
Curable defect. The term “curable defect” means any defect described by paragraph (b) of subdivision 3 of section 9-209 of the election law, or any other defect on an early mail or absentee ballot envelope which the board or the board of elections for the state of New York has determined may be corrected by the voter who submitted such early mail or absentee ballot envelope.
Cure. The term “cure” means the process of correcting a curable defect on an early mail or absentee ballot envelope.
Department. The term “department” means the department of correction.
b. Development of curing procedures. 1. The commissioner shall, in consultation with the board, develop procedures for assisting voters in the custody of the department with curing. In developing such procedures, the commissioner shall collect from the board a physical copy of any notice of curable defects on a ballot envelope and the accompanying cure affirmation where the corresponding voter is still in the custody of the department. The commissioner shall deliver such notice and cure affirmation to the corresponding voter within the custody of the department. The commissioner shall collect a completed cure affirmation and return such affirmation to the board within 7 business days of the board’s issuance of a notice required pursuant to paragraph (b) of section 6210.21 of title 9 of the New York code, rules, and regulations, regarding the provision of notices of the need to cure, or a successor provision.
2. The commissioner shall provide any known mailing address, email address, or phone number to the board of any voter who submitted an early mail or absentee ballot to the board through the department but has since left the custody of the department if the board informs the commissioner that the ballot envelope containing such ballot has a curable defect.
3. If the board informs the commissioner that a ballot envelope has been rejected because of a defect other than a curable defect and such ballot envelope was submitted by a voter who is still in the custody of the department, the commissioner, in collaboration with the board, shall use best efforts to procure a new early mail or absentee ballot for such voter.
c. Reporting. 1. Beginning on January 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the commissioner shall submit to the mayor, the speaker of the council, the public advocate, and shall post on the department’s website, an annual report regarding the curing process within jails under the department’s purview.
2. The annual report shall, at minimum, include:
i. For the last 5 years, the number of notices and cure affirmations received from the board to be delivered to voters within the custody of the department for the purposes of curing, disaggregated by borough, election, and year;
ii. For the last 5 years, the number of cure affirmations returned to the board, disaggregated by borough, election, and year;
iii. If reported to the commissioner by the board, for the last 5 years, the number of ballot envelopes delivered by the commissioner to the board which, at any point, were determined to have defects that were not curable defects, disaggregated by borough, election, and year; and
iv. If reported to the commissioner by the board, for the last 5 years, the number of ballots delivered by the commissioner to the board that were not counted in the final election tally because no voter cured them or no voter submitted a new ballot, disaggregated by borough, election, and year.
3. The commissioner shall, in preparing the report required by this subdivision, request from the board all information necessary to complete the report.
4. No report required by this subdivision shall contain personally identifiable information.
§ 2. This local law takes effect 60 days after it becomes law.
JMF
LS #22555
3/18/2026 3:36 PM