As of March 19, Ballotpedia has tracked 124 election-related bills in the New York State Senate since the beginning of the year. Of the 124, Ballotpedia tracked four from March 13-19. Democrats sponsored all four. The four bills are:
- NY S04597: Excludes indebtedness for the construction of sewage facilities contracted prior to 2034 in determining current local debt limitation, Sen. Monica Martinez (D).
- NY S05729: Authorizes electronic submission of absentee ballots, Sen. Brad Hoylman (D).
- NY S05693: Provides that whenever a contiguous property of a college or university contains three hundred or more registrants, the polling place designated for such election district shall be on such contiguous property or at a location approved by the college or university, Sens. Neil Breslin (D), Michael Gianaris (D), Andrew Gounardes (D), John Liu (D), Rachel May (D), Zellnor Myrie (D), Kevin Parker (D), Roxanne Persaud (D), and Toby Stavisky (D).
- As introduced, this bill provides that when there is a property contiguous to a college or university, with 300 or more voters registered at the property, the college or university will approve a designated early voting polling location on the site.
- NY S05677: Relates to an electronically submitted absentee ballot application, Sen. James Sanders (D).
- Requires the board of elections to accept absentee ballot delivery, military ballot applications, and special federal ballot applications by fax machine, as an email attachment, [or] through an online filing system.
- Requires the online filing system to be created by the state board of elections.
- Requires the website for each board of elections to advertise the email address, website address, and fax number to return absentee ballots.
- Specifies that applications received outside of normal business hours will be deemed as received the next day.
- Allows for electronic signature on the absentee ballots.
- Specifies that military ballot applications and special federal ballot applications sent by fax, email, and the online portal are considered the original application and the original copy does not need to also be mailed.
During the week of March 13-19, Ballotpedia tracked 61 Senate election-related bills nationally. As of March 19, Ballotpedia has tracked 720 Senate bills nationally. Ballotpedia tracked the most Senate bills this year in the New York State Senate with 124, while Ballotpedia tracked the fewest Senate bills in Louisiana and Massachusetts with zero. Republicans sponsored 331 of these bills, while Democrats sponsored 302. Third party sponsorship and bills with no sponsors accounted for 63 bills, while bipartisan legislators sponsored 24.
As of March 19, Ballotpedia has tracked 376 Senate bills in Democratic trifectas and 265 Senate bills in Republican trifectas. A trifecta is when one political party holds the governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. Ballotpedia has tracked 79 Senate bills in states where neither party holds trifecta control.
The New York Senate is scheduled to be in session from Jan. 4 to June 8 this year. In 2022, Ballotpedia tracked 190 Senate bills related to election administration. Ten of these bills passed both chambers and eight were enacted into law. New York is a Democratic trifecta.
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