Legislature Passes Abinanti COVID-19 Election Law.
The Assembly and the Senate have passed legislation sponsored by Assemblymember Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh) that will significantly reduce the number of signatures needed for a candidate’s name to be placed on the ballot in a town election in 2021.
“Democracy should not require that we risk spreading Covid-19,” said Abinanti. “This bill significantly lessens person-to-person contact by significantly reducing the number of signatures candidates need to get on the ballot.”
New York election law requires that candidates seeking to run for office must file a specified minimum number of signatures on a “petition” with the Board of Elections. The election law usually requires a large number of signatures. This year the Legislature has amended the election law several times to reduce the number of signatures needed for various public offices because of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the previous amendments failed to sufficiently reduce the number of required signatures in small towns. Abinanti’s legislation remedies that omission.
The legislation now goes to the Governor for action.
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