New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 9 - EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT › Subtitle A - Governor's Office › Chapter I - Executive Orders › Part 8 - Executive Orders (Andrew M. Cuomo) › Section 8.62 - Executive Order No. 62: Temporary Suspension of Provisions Relating to the Election Law

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
WHEREAS, on October 26, 2012, I issued Executive Order
					 Number 47, declaring a disaster emergency in all 62 counties in the State of
					 New York; and
WHEREAS, New York State is firmly committed to holding a
					 fair and accessible general election and maximizing voter participation in this
					 election; and
WHEREAS, Hurricane Sandy has struck a deadly blow,
					 destroying lives, countless houses and businesses, displacing thousands of New
					 Yorkers from their homes, disrupting transportation, the flow of commerce and
					 daily life and complicating even the simplest and most routine acts of living;
					 and
WHEREAS, New Yorkers who are victims of Hurricane Sandy
					 should not lose their right to vote; and
WHEREAS, it is incumbent upon the State not to let this
					 devastation undermine our democracy, and to actively facilitate the exercise of
					 the fundamental, constitutional right to vote of registered voters who reside
					 in the federally declared counties who have been impacted and displaced by
					 Hurricane Sandy;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, ANDREW M. CUOMO, Governor of the State
					 of New York, by virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 29-a of Article
					 2-B of the Executive Law to temporarily suspend and otherwise alter or modify
					 specific provisions of any statute, local law, ordinance, orders, rules or
					 regulations, or parts thereof, of any agency during a State disaster emergency,
					 if compliance with such provisions would prevent, hinder or delay action
					 necessary to cope with the disaster, hereby temporarily suspend and otherwise
					 alter or modify, for the period from the date of this Executive Order until
					 further notice, the following:
Section 8-302  of the Election Law is temporarily suspended
					 and otherwise altered and modified so that a voter seeking to vote by affidavit
					 ballot need not affirm that such voter is duly registered in the election
					 district in which such voter seeks to cast an affidavit ballot if such voter is
					 registered to vote within one of the federally declared counties or New York
					 City.
Section 9-209  of the Election Law is temporarily suspended
					 and otherwise modified so that every board of elections in the State shall
					 transmit the affidavit or provisional ballot of any voter who resides in one of
					 the federally declared counties to the board of elections wherein such voter is
					 registered to vote to be canvassed with other affidavit and absentee ballots
					 for the election district wherein the voter resides.
Subparagraph (iii) of Paragraph (a) of Subdivision 2 of
					 Section 9-209  of the Election Law is temporarily suspended and otherwise
					 altered and modified so that the board of elections for the county in which
					 such voter resides shall cast and canvass such ballot, if it determines that
					 such voter was entitled to vote regardless of the fact that the voter may have
					 appeared in the incorrect polling place, provided that such vote shall not be
					 cast and canvassed for such contests for which the person was not entitled to
					 vote at such election.
FURTHER, the State Board of Elections shall promptly
					 instruct county boards of elections on the proper implementation of this
					 Executive Order including requiring such boards:
1. to instruct poll workers to provide
				  affidavit ballots and guidance to voters; and
2. to provide notice and guidance to voters
				  in accordance with this Executive Order:
(a)
				  that indicates that voters who reside in the counties of Nassau, Rockland,
				  Suffolk, or Westchester, or in New York City may receive and complete an
				  affidavit ballot at any polling place in New York State; and
(b) that the voter's vote will count for the
				  office of President and United States Senator and it will also count for any
				  other candidate for office and district as well as any ballot initiative that
				  appears on the official ballot in the voter's home district.
Notice of this Executive Order and its contents shall be
					 provided by the State Board of Elections on its website and by boards of
					 elections, at a minimum, at every poll site and on any website maintained by
					 such boards.
Signed: Andrew M. Cuomo
Dated: November 5, 2012