One of my favorite New York City Council member is Benjamin (Ben) Kallos for the 5th District, that represents East-side of Manhattan (54-100 Street). He is also the Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations.
Recently he discussed his upcoming pending legislation, at a meeting of the New York Democratic Lawyers Council (NYDLC), that I was invited to.
Here is a list:
Legislation that has received a hearing
Int. 536-2014 - Contemporaneous Registration and Absentee Ballot Request
This would change the current election law and absentee ballot application from a already qualified voter, to a voter who is registering to vote, and will be deemed eligible by the time of the next election.
Int. 0659-2015 - Adds a new section to the City Charter, 1057-c Absentee Ballot Tracking. Providing a secure website for a voter to request an absentee ballot and track it. The New York City Board of Elections then will:
(1) Receive voter request.
(2) Improve or reject and post the reason for the rejection.
(3) Mail or deliver the absentee ballot.
(4) Receive the absentee ballot from the voter.
(5) Verify the absentee ballot or reject it and post a reason for the rejection.
The voter then should be able to track the status of their absentee ballot as it works its way through the system.
Pending Legislation
Int. ___ - Allowing per-registration for 16 and 17 year olds.
Res. ___ - Allowing high school students to serve as poll workers.
Int. 062-2014 - Requiring the posting of notice of the new poll site or sites on any former poll site used in the previous four calendar years. Currently it is only one year, and many voters only vote in the presidential year.
Int. 255-2014 - Require publication of the Voter Guides in at least eight languages.
Int. 508-2014 - Online voter registration. Website will indicate the date of the next election the voter can participate in. If signature is missing, voter can bring necessary documents and ID photo to the poll site and sign before voting.
Int. 593-2014 - Early voting for municipal officers beginning second Tuesday prior and ending the Friday prior the election, BOE to designate at least one site per council district. Polls to be open from 8am to 8pm during the week and 9am to 5pm on the weekends.
Res. 232-2014 - Calls on the state to move its primary date in line with the federal primary date.
Int. 628-2015 - Young Adult Voter Registration Act amendment to include tracking and reporting.
With Congress not passing a new formula for the coverage formula in Section 4(b) of the Voting Rights Act to determine which jurisdictions are subject to the preclearance requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, Shelby County v. Holder, 133 S. Ct. 2612 (2013). The Supreme Court did not rule on the constitutionality of Section 5 itself. The effect of the Shelby County decision is that the jurisdictions identified by the coverage formula in Section 4(b) no longer need to seek preclearance for new voting changes, unless they are covered by a separate court order entered under Section 3(c) of the Voting Rights Act.
The state will work on a New York State Voting Rights Act.
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker
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