2006 New York Code - Definitions.

 
    §  1-104.  Definitions.  The terms used in this chapter shall have the
  significance herein defined unless another meaning is  clearly  apparent
  in  language or context. 1. The term "political unit" means the state or
  any political subdivision thereof or therein.
    2. The term "unit of representation" means  any  political  unit  from
  which  members of any committee or delegates to a party convention shall
  be elected as provided in this chapter.
    3. The term "party" means any political organization which at the last
  preceding election for governor polled at least fifty thousand votes for
  its candidate for governor.
    4. The term "party position" means membership on a party committee  or
  the position of delegate or alternate to a party convention.
    5.  The term "party officer" means one who holds any party position or
  any party office whether by election, appointment or otherwise.
    6. The term "committee" means any committee chosen, in accordance with
  the provisions of this chapter, to represent the members of a  party  in
  any political unit.
    7.  The  term  "designation"  means  any method in accordance with the
  provisions of this chapter by which candidates for party nomination  for
  public  office  or  for  election to party position may be named for the
  purpose of any primary election.
    8. The term "official ballot" refers to the paper ballot on which  the
  voter  casts  his  vote, or the face of a voting machine as prepared for
  the voter to cast his vote at any election held in accordance  with  the
  provisions of this chapter.
    9.  The  terms  "primary" or "primary election" mean only the mandated
  election at which enrolled members of a party may vote for  the  purpose
  of nominating party candidates and electing party officers.
    10. The terms "uncontested office" and "uncontested position", used in
  connection  with  a  primary  election  of  a  party,  mean an office or
  position for which the number of candidates designated does  not  exceed
  the  number  to  be  nominated  or elected thereto by the party, and for
  which no valid petition of enrolled members of the party  requesting  an
  opportunity  to  write in the name of an undesignated candidate has been
  filed.
    11. The term "nomination" means the selection in accordance  with  the
  provisions of this chapter of a candidate for an office authorized to be
  filled at an election.
    12.  The  term  "independent  body" means any organization or group of
  voters which nominates a candidate or candidates for office to be  voted
  for at an election, and which is not a party as herein provided.
    13.   The   term  "independent  nomination"  means  nomination  by  an
  independent body.
    14. Words of masculine gender include the feminine  except  where  the
  provision clearly applies to only one sex.
    15.  The  term  "veterans'  hospital"  means any sanitarium, hospital,
  soldiers' and sailors'  home,  United  States  Veterans'  Administration
  Hospital,  or  other  home  or  institution, which is used, operated and
  conducted exclusively for the care, maintenance and treatment of persons
  serving in or honorably discharged from the military or naval service or
  coast guard of the United States or the state of New York.
    16.  The  term  "county  legislative  body"  shall  mean  the  elected
  governing  body  of  a  county,  and  in  the city of New York, the city
  council.
    17. The term "ballot proposal"  means  any  constitutional  amendment,
  proposition, referendum or other question submitted to the voters at any
  election.
    18.  The  word  "ballot"  when referring to voting machines or systems
  means that portion of the  cardboard  or  paper  or  other  material  or
  electronic  display  within  the ballot frame containing the name of the
  candidate and the emblem of the  party  organization  by  which  he  was
  nominated,  of  the  form  of  submission  of  a proposed constitutional
  amendment, proposition  referendum  or  question  as  provided  in  this
  chapter,  with  the  word  "yes" for voting for any question or the word
  "no" for voting against any question except that where the  question  or
  proposition is submitted only to the voters of a territory wholly within
  a  county  or city, such form shall be determined by the county board of
  elections.  Such  statement  and  the  title  shall  be  printed  and/or
  displayed  in the largest type or display which it is practicable to use
  in the space provided.
    19. The term "ballot label" means the printed strips of  cardboard  or
  paper  used on the voting machine containing the names of the candidates
  nominated, and the questions submitted.
    20. The term "write-in ballot" means a vote cast for  a  person  whose
  name does not appear on the ballot labels.
    21.  The term "protective counter" means a separate counter built into
  the voting machine that cannot be reset, and  which  records  the  total
  number of movements of the operating lever.
    22.  The  term  "residence" shall be deemed to mean that place where a
  person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home and to which  he,
  wherever temporarily located, always intends to return.
    23.  The  term  "voting  machine custodian" shall mean a city, town or
  board of elections employee charged  with  the  duty  of  repairing  and
  maintaining voting machines.
    24.  The  term  "major  political parties" means the two parties which
  polled for their respective candidates for the office  of  governor  the
  highest  and next highest number of votes at the last preceding election
  for such office.
    25. The term "election officer" shall mean any person who, pursuant to
  the provisions of this chapter, performs any official duty  or  function
  in the electoral process.
    26. The term "board of elections" shall mean the board of elections of
  any  county  in  the state of New York and the board of elections of the
  city of New York and with respect to villages located in more  than  one
  county, shall mean the board of elections of that county containing more
  than fifty percent of the population of the village as shown by the last
  federal decennial or special census.
    27.  The  term "personal application" means a signed writing which may
  be delivered by mailing or in person.
    28. The term "caucus" shall mean an open meeting held in  a  political
  subdivision  to  nominate the candidates of a political party for public
  office to be elected in such  subdivision  at  which  all  the  enrolled
  voters of such party residing in such subdivision are eligible to vote.
    29.  The  term  "ballot  label  programming"  means  any  computerized
  instructions which control the placement or the printing of  candidates'
  names  and  ballot proposals on voting machines of a type approved after
  September first, nineteen hundred eighty-six.
    30. The term "ballot label  programming  data"  means  the  names  and
  ballot  positions  of  candidates  and  ballot  proposals  stored on any
  computerized device through the use of ballot label programming.
    31.  The  term  "resident  vote  tabulation  programming"  means   the
  permanent  computerized  instructions  which are built into any approved
  voting  machine  or  equipment  and  which  control   the   recordation,
  aggregation,  tabulation,  storage  and  printing  of  votes by any such
  machine or equipment.
    32. "General village election" means the annual or  biennial  election
  for village officers.
    33. "Special village election" means any election of village officers,
  other than the general village election.
    34. "Village primary" means any election held by a political party for
  the purpose of nominating candidates for elective village offices.
    35.  The term "election" shall include a "general village election" or
  "special village election" except where a  specific  provision  of  this
  chapter  may  not  be  consistently  applied  to  the  village  election
  procedure.
    36. "Name stamp" means any device which,  when  applied  with  ink  or
  other  permanent  dye,  can  be  used  to  imprint  a person's name to a
  write-in ballot permanently.
    37. The term "inactive status" means a category of  registered  voters
  who  have  failed to respond to a residence confirmation notice provided
  for by section 5-712  of  this  chapter  and  whose  registrations  have
  neither  been  restored  to  the  active  registration  rolls  nor  been
  cancelled pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.