Only two New York state election law bills are likely to be signed into law this year. One is A8501, which makes it much easier to use the local initiative process, but only for initiatives that would abolish local units of government, or permit two local government bodies to merge with each other. That bill passed the Senate on June 3, before the New York State Senate dissolved into disorder. The bill was sent to Governor David Patterson on June 12.

The other bill, S2810, was signed into law on May 26. It says an absentee ballot outer envelope should be accepted if the voter signed it using initials or common abbreviations for given names, such as “Wm.” for William. It’s unfortunate that the bill only applies to absentee ballot envelopes, and not petitions.

The bill to require voters to approve repeals of local term limits, A1224, passed the Assembly on June 16, but chances are won’t clear the Senate. The National Popular Vote bill, A1580, passed the Assembly Election Law Committee on June 17 and may yet pass the Assembly, but again the Senate is unlikely to take it up.