NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8608
SPONSOR: Lavine TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting the
suppression of voters
PURPOSE:
The purpose of this act is to create a new electoral crime of voter
suppression, punishable as a misdemeanor.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section one names the bill the "deceptive practices and voter
suppression prevention act."
Section two amends article seventeen of the Election Law by adding a new
section 17-151, creating the crime of deceptive practices in relation to
elections.. Under this bill, knowingly spreading deceptive information
aimed at interfering with others' right to vote would become a misdemea-
nor offense.
Section three amends the Election Law by making it a crime to suppress
the voting rights of others, or to force them to vote for or against a
particular candidate.
Section four amends the Election Law by stating that any individual
convicted of the misdemeanor of deceptive practices a second time shall
be guilty of a class E felony, and for any subsequent convictions of the
same crime the individual shall be guilty of a class D felony.
Section five is the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Voter suppression continues to impact the most at-risk New Yorkers every
election cycle, even well into the twenty-first century. While sometimes
subtle, the effort is often much more pronounced and widespread. With
recent advancements in technology, bad actors from anywhere in the coun-
try or the rest of the world are able to take easy actions to delib-
erately suppress the voting rights of individuals, especially those in
marginalized groups.
One example of these suppression tactics is when conservative actors
Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, based in Arlington, Virginia, sent out
robocalls to 85,000 individuals located in predominately minority commu-
nities in New York, Illinois, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in August 2020.
These robocalls contained misinformation regarding mail-in voting,
including that authorities would use information on absentee ballots to
track down arrest warrants or outstanding debt. In October 2020, these
bad actors were ordered by a federal court to call all 85,000 individ-
uals to correct their misinformation.
This legislation would fill a void in the Election Law by directly
addressing and holding accountable those who intentionally suppress the
right to vote. While it is unfortunate such a law is needed, New York
State must send a message that such actions will no longer be tolerated,
and that those who seek to infringe on others' constitutional rights
will be held criminally liable.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021 - 2022:S1032 Stewart-Cousins - Passed Senate in 2022 2019 -
2020:S5758 Stewart-Cousins - Referred to Elections 2017 - 2018:S2952
Stewart-Cousins - Referred to Elections 2015 - 2016:S2352 Stewart-Cous-
ins - Referred to Elections 2013 - 2014:S676 Stewart-Cousins -
Referred to Elections 2011 - 2012:S1009 Stewart-Cousins - Referred to
Elections 2009 - 2010:S2554B Passed Senate
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8608
IN ASSEMBLY
January 12, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE, SILLITTI -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Election Law
AN ACT to amend the election law, in relation to prohibiting the
suppression of voters
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "deceptive
2 practices and voter suppression prevention act".
3 § 2. The election law is amended by adding a new section 17-151 to
4 read as follows:
5 § 17-151. Deceptive practices. 1. Any person, political committee,
6 labor organization, corporation, or other entity, whether acting under
7 color of law or otherwise, who knowingly communicates or knowingly caus-
8 es to be communicated deceptive information, knowing such information to
9 be false and, in acting in the manner described, prevents or deters
10 another person from exercising the right to vote in any election, is
11 guilty of a misdemeanor.
12 2. The following definitions are applicable to this section: (a)
13 "deceptive information" means false information regarding: (i) the time,
14 place, or manner of any election; (ii) the qualifications for or
15 restrictions on voter eligibility for any election, including any penal-
16 ties associated with voting by ineligible voters; (iii) information
17 regarding a voter's registration status or eligibility; or (iv) the
18 political party affiliation of any candidate; and
19 (b) "election" as used in this article shall be deemed to apply to and
20 include all elections administered by the state or city of New York
21 boards of elections, or any county board of elections, including any
22 general, primary, run-off, or special election for any state or local
23 office or ballot proposition.
24 3. Any person aggrieved by a violation of subdivision one of this
25 section may institute a civil action or other proper proceeding for
26 preventative relief, or may apply for a permanent or temporary injunc-
27 tion, restraining order, declaratory judgment, or other order in any
28 court with jurisdiction pursuant to section 16-100 of this chapter.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02246-01-3
A. 8608 2
1 4. Any attempt to commit an offense described in subdivision one of
2 this section, in accordance with the applicable provision of the penal
3 law, is a class B misdemeanor.
4 5. The provisions of article twenty and article one hundred five of
5 the penal law, relating to criminal liability for conduct of another and
6 conspiracy, shall apply to prosecutions under this section.
7 6. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the attorney general
8 shall have concurrent jurisdiction with any district attorney in the
9 prosecution of any offenses under this section relating to deceptive
10 practices as well as any offenses arising out of such prosecution.
11 § 3. The election law is amended by adding a new section 17-153 to
12 read as follows:
13 § 17-153. Suppression of voters. 1. Any person, political committee,
14 labor organization, corporation, or other entity who suppresses or
15 threatens to suppress the right of any person to lawfully exercise their
16 franchise, or in any other manner compels such person to vote or to
17 refrain from voting for or against a particular candidate for public
18 office or for or against a particular ballot proposition is guilty of a
19 class A misdemeanor.
20 2. For purposes of this section, the term "suppress" shall mean to use
21 force, authority or an abuse of power to prevent, restrain, inhibit or
22 compel another from acting in his or her own interests or intentions, or
23 into not acting at all.
24 3. Any person, political committee, labor organization, or corporation
25 who attempts to commit an offense described in subdivision one of this
26 section is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.
27 4. The provisions of article twenty and article one hundred five of
28 the penal law, relating to criminal liability for conduct of another and
29 conspiracy shall apply to prosecutions under this section.
30 5. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the attorney general
31 shall have concurrent jurisdiction with any district attorney in the
32 prosecution of any offenses under this section relating to deceptive
33 practices as well as any offenses arising out of such prosecution.
34 § 4. Section 17-166 of the election law is amended to read as follows:
35 § 17-166. Penalty. Any person convicted of a misdemeanor under this
36 article shall for a first offense be punished by a sentence of imprison-
37 ment for not more than one year, or by a fine of not less than one
38 hundred dollars nor more than five hundred dollars, or by both such fine
39 and imprisonment, unless otherwise provided by law. Any person who,
40 having been convicted of a misdemeanor under this article, shall there-
41 after be convicted of another misdemeanor under this article, shall be
42 guilty of a class E felony. For any subsequent offense, he or she shall
43 be guilty of a class D felony.
44 § 5. This act shall take effect immediately.
