BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The New York state Board of Elections said there have been cases reported in 13 counties where voters were approached about their registration allegedly by people impersonating elections officials.

"We heard from board of elections commissioners and the statewide BOE that there were people going door to door impersonating elections officials, possibly fraudulently to get detailed information about people," state Sen. Mark Walczyk, R-Watertown, said.

Walczyk has introduced legislation he believes will help combat the new trend. Currently, impersonating any official is a misdemeanor in New York but the legislator's bill would make it a felony to impersonate elections officials.

"This is a crime that we want to take very seriously in the state of New York because the defense of our republic and the way we do democracy in the state of New York is in the balance here," he said.

Walczyk said he feels confident about the bill's chance at passage this session. He said he already has co-sponsors and doesn't believe it's a partisan issue.

The League of Women Voters and the Democratic caucus chair of the state Elections Commissioners Association said they're supportive.

"We're really supportive of any step forward that is taken to combat some of these blatant attempts to suppress the vote and to dissuade New Yorkers from heading to the polls," said Erica Smitka, League of Women Voters of New York deputy director.

"Voters should not be harassed at their homes for just simply registering to vote and they should definitely not be told that election personnel are doing that. We just don't have the resources to do that even if we wanted to and we would never go door-to-door," Onondaga County Democratic Elections Commissioner Dustin Czarny said.

The state board said there's no way to know how many times there were incidents that weren't reported to county boards or local law enforcement. Although the practice appears relatively uncommon at this point, Walczyk said it's important to be proactive.

"We wanted to nip this thing in the bud. Obviously next year we're going into a presidential campaign year where lots of campaigns will be out knocking on doors," Walczyk said.

Elections commissioners reiterate their staff will never go door-to-door approaching people. If someone from a campaign comes to the door, experts said it is okay to ask for identification and never give personnel information.