STATEMENT TO

SENATE, No. 1591

with Senate Floor Amendments

(Proposed By Senator DiFRANCESCO)

ADOPTED: OCTOBER 24, 1996

      These amendments require that, before a county board of elections could exercise the power it would acquire under the legislation to appoint unaffiliated voters to membership on the district boards of election, the board would have to (1) solicit from the county chairpersons of the principal political parties lists of candidates to fill any positions not already filled with party-affiliated individuals, (2) fill as many of these unfilled positions from among those candidates, and (3) assign or reassign appointees to the several district boards within the county as necessary to ensure that each district board included at least one member of each of the two parties.