---
type: "Bill"
title: "Relates to absentee ballots for school district elections during a declared disaster emergency"
description: "Relates to absentee ballots for school district elections during a declared disaster emergency; a voter can apply for an absentee ballot when they are unable to appear personally at the polling place of the school district in which they are a qualified voter because there is a risk of contracting or spreading a disease that may cause illness to the voter or to other members of the public."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ny"
legislature: "New York Legislature"
session: "2021-2022"
identifier: "S 5545"
citation: "New York S 5545 (2021-2022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: []
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["MAYER"]
version_count: 1
action_count: 13
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2021-03-10"
last_action: "2021-04-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/08c5ac3b-295b-4d5e-9a96-e6e98c789b30"
source_url: "http://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S5545"
source_hash: "8b47d022eca66e6f16059d6d1e00c44d3684272073153375d15259560ac0085a"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ny"]
---

# New York S 5545 (2021-2022) — Relates to absentee ballots for school district elections during a declared disaster emergency

Relates to absentee ballots for school district elections during a declared disaster emergency; a voter can apply for an absentee ballot when they are unable to appear personally at the polling place of the school district in which they are a qualified voter because there is a risk of contracting or spreading a disease that may cause illness to the voter or to other members of the public.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **S5545** (committee substitute) — [source](http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?sh=printbill&bn=S5545&term=2021&Text=Y)

## Votes

- Assembly Vote — **138–8** (pass) · lower
- Education Vote — **15–0** (pass) · upper
- Floor Vote — **61–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- MAYER — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2021-03-10** REFERRED TO EDUCATION `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-23** 1ST REPORT CAL.617
- **2021-03-24** 2ND REPORT CAL.
- **2021-03-25** ADVANCED TO THIRD READING
- **2021-03-30** PASSED SENATE `passage`
- **2021-03-30** DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY
- **2021-03-30** REFERRED TO EDUCATION `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-31** SUBSTITUTED FOR A6475
- **2021-03-31** ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.211
- **2021-03-31** PASSED ASSEMBLY `passage`
- **2021-03-31** RETURNED TO SENATE
- **2021-04-14** DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR `executive-receipt`
- **2021-04-26** SIGNED CHAP.60 `executive-signature`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/08c5ac3b-295b-4d5e-9a96-e6e98c789b30`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official New York legislature records).