Election Law § 17-200 · Title 2. John R Lewis Voting Rights Act of New York
Legislative purpose and statement of public policy
Text — Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 17-200. Legislative purpose and statement of public policy. In recognition of the protections for the right to vote provided by the constitution of the state of New York, which substantially exceed the protections for the right to vote provided by the constitution of the United States, and in conjunction with the constitutional guarantees of equal protection, freedom of expression, and freedom of association under the law and against the denial or abridgement of the voting rights of members of a race, color, or language-minority group, it is the public policy of the state of New York to:
1. Encourage participation in the elective franchise by all eligible voters to the maximum extent; and
2. Ensure that eligible voters who are members of racial, color, and language-minority groups shall have an equal opportunity to participate in the political processes of the state of New York, and especially to exercise the elective franchise.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 30, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/ELN17-200
- Text hash
- sha256 e2aa4021684843cd71f8c31d39527709f54985538dda1a0d1b2be2cb8b944062
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.