New York State Senator Pete Harckham (S.D. 40) and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) introduced legislation on Dec. 3 which aims to protect residents from civil arrest while going to, remaining at, or returning from polling places in New York State. According to the both Harckham and Dinowitz, civil arrests supported by a judicial warrant or a court will still be allowable under this new bill, however.

 

They said the new bill was prompted by numerous extrajudicial arrests being made by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents around the country. They said those arrests, in homes, workplaces, schools, college campuses and immigration courts, along with traffic stops on roadways, have included citizens and non-citizens alike, green card holders, asylum seekers and children, some held incommunicado for days.

 

“To maintain lawful access to polling places during our free elections in New York, our residents need to be assured that they will be protected from civil arrest while exercising their right to vote, as guaranteed by Article II in the State Constitution,” said Harckham. “It is too easy to see that efforts to conduct arrests at polling places without warrants are simply intimidation tactics aimed at disenfranchising voters.”

 

Meanwhile, Dinowitz said, “Defending democracy means defending lawful access to polling places. Time and time again we have seen the Trump administration target citizens, legal residents, and undocumented immigrants by using federal law enforcement in the name of ‘public safety.’” He said this includes intimidating and illegally arresting both citizens and non-citizens in the pursuit of what was described as the Trump administration’s “extremist agenda.”

 

Dinowitz added, “No one should ever feel threatened when engaging in one of our core democratic tenets; tenets which people have died to protect. Whether as a voter, a family member, or a friend, no New Yorker should ever fear being unlawfully arrested when visiting a polling place.”

 

The legislation (S.8596 / Assembly bill number still pending), which amends the state’s Civil Rights Law, Judiciary Law and Election Law, states that residents who are present at polling places and there in “good faith” are “privileged” from civil arrest, and that it is a contempt of court and false imprisonment for anyone in violation of these proposed protections who makes or willfully assists in a prohibited arrest.

 

The two elected officials said that, in a sense, the new bill simply grants lawful, state authorized protections to residents that already exist regarding courts and school property. They said that, after all, during elections, polling sites are an extension of state property being used for governance. They said, nonetheless, the legislation does not pertain to law enforcement professionals acting lawfully in their duty to maintain safety and order regardless of the nature of the property or premises.

 

Harckham and Dinowitz said all New Yorkers should feel safe at polling places, whether they are U.S. citizens casting their ballot, or non-citizens accompanying a family member or friend. They said recent claims by the federal government that non-citizens are voting in elections and that election fraud is widespread are false.

They said in November 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), without justification, sent federal election monitors to key polling sites with high Latino populations in California, and in this past general election, 66% percent of Latino voters expressed a concern regarding the presence of federal agents at polls.

 

They said New York State Law already protects against intimidation at the polls but this new legislation will further solidify those protections, as well as ensuring that individuals cannot be civilly arrested while traveling to and from a polling location. They said this will allow all New Yorkers to feel safer casting their ballot or accompanying someone who is casting their ballot while also improving New York State’s efforts in carrying out its constitutional duty of holding free and fair elections.

 

Harckham and Dinowitz went on to say that to prevent voter disenfranchisement, the new bill notes that representatives of a law enforcement agency, when entering a polling place and acting in an official capacity, must identify themselves to polling place personnel and state their specific law enforcement purpose and proposed enforcement action to be taken.

 

They said the representative must provide a copy of a warrant to the polling place personnel, the warrant will be reviewed by appropriate court system personnel in the election district of the polling place, and only in extraordinary circumstances can arrests be made.

 

They said reports must be filed of any unusual occurrences regarding law enforcement action taken inside polling places, NYS Board of Elections will publish those reports on its website, and an annual report of compiling statewide statistics regarding arrests, warrants and court locations from where the warrants originated will sent to the governor and leaders in the State Senate and Assembly.

 

*Featured photo of  Assemblyman Dinowitz – file photo