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Right Number, But the Wrong Answer
A Survey of New York 's Local Boards of Elections' Answers
about New Identification Requirements for Voters
Methodology
NYPIRG contacted each of the 57 county Boards of Elections in New York State plus the New York City Board of Elections for this survey. In all cases we phoned the contact number listed for each board on the current New York State Board of Elections voter registration application. In New York City surveyors also called the VOTE-NYC number listed on city printed forms.
NYPIRG called each local Board of Elections to monitor aspects of their implementation plans for the HAVA. Surveyors asked to speak to a Board representative who could answer questions about whether ID would be required at the polls this fall. (See attached questionnaire.)
Surveyors sought to determine which IDs will be accepted as valid when Boards of Elections eventually require them by asking the following two questions: "Will ID be required at the polls this year?" If the surveyor received a "Yes" response to this question, it was followed up with "What kind of ID can I use?"
If a Board representative responded that ID would be required of some voters this fall, we also asked a follow-up question to ascertain whether they would consider a student ID a “current and valid photo identification.” These boards were then asked: "Can I use a college ID card?"
Counties were deemed to have given partially or substantially incorrect answers if they identified three or less acceptable forms of ID to surveyors. HAVA broadly defines six categories including current and valid photo identification, a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter. We also credited local boards with a 'right response' when they identified a particular type of ID that would fall in the above categories. For example, Boards that listed passports or Sheriff's IDs were counted as providing a correct form of ID. This study considered a county's listing of both a driver’s license and non-driver ID as a single acceptable form of ID.
According to HAVA, IDs will be required for first time voters in New York State who register by mail when they show up at the polls for their next federal election. This would be either this fall's September primary elections or any special election for federal office that occurs before then. Voters using new voter registration forms are also given the opportunity to provide a driver's license number or last four digits of their social security number. Voters providing such information may be exempt from the law's ID provisions this fall (the policy of the State Board of Elections is still unclear on this point).
The survey was conducted by NYPIRG staff on March 26 th and 29 th, 2004. In New York City surveyors called both the general number listed on the back of State Board of Elections voter registration forms and the Board's (212) VOTE-NYC hotline number listed on city forms. Because the VOTE-NYC number is more commonly used by the general public we credited the correct information they provided to the city Board in this report. It should be noted, however, that the general info number for the NYC Board of Elections listed on the state voter registration forms provided an incomplete answer to our survey question on what qualified as acceptable ID.
This report was written by Neal Rosenstein. The survey was coordinated by John Flanigan and Neal Rosenstein. We would like to thank the following for their contributions to this report: Farouk Abdallah, Sue Craine, Suzanne Durocher, Devin Faraci, Diana Fryda, Mike Hernandez, Joel Kelsey, Miriam Kramer, Gene Russianoff, Rachel Tronzano, and Phil Wittman. | 
