2019 New York Laws
EDN - Education
Title 2 - School District Organization
Article 53 - School Elections in City School Districts of Cities With Less Than One Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Inhabitants
2609 - Conduct of Election; Challenges.

§ 2609. Conduct  of  election;  challenges. 1. Such elections shall be
conducted, so far as may be, in accordance with the  provisions  of  the
election  law,  relative  to  general  elections,  except  as  otherwise
provided herein.  Ballot  boxes  shall  be  provided  by  the  board  of
education for each school election district, at least one to contain the
ballots  voted  and  at  least  one  other for the rejected or defective
ballots.
  2. All persons whose names appear upon the register prepared for  such
election  as  residing  in  such election district shall be permitted to
vote and shall be given ballots for such purpose.
  Where the general election registers have  been  turned  over  to  the
board  of education, the board may require that the registers be used on
election day for the purpose of verifying the signature of  each  voter.
Where  the  board of elections, or other authority having lawful custody
of the register or registers, has elected to furnish certified  registry
lists  in  place  of  the original registers, the board of education may
require that any voter offer evidence to prove his identity before being
permitted to vote. In such  case,  not  less  than  ten  days  prior  to
election day, the board shall establish reasonable rules and regulations
governing the evidence necessary to prove the identity of each voter.
  3. Booths shall be provided and voters shall be required to enter such
booths  for  the  purpose  of  marking  their  ballots. The ballots when
presented to the inspector shall be folded so as to conceal the names of
the candidates for whom the voter has voted.
  4. All voters entitled to vote who are in the place where the election
is held at or before the time of closing the polls shall be  allowed  to
vote.  The  inspectors  shall  keep a poll list, containing the name and
address of each qualified elector who votes at  such  election  for  the
candidates or propositions voted for thereat.
  4-a. (a) At each such election there shall be conspicuously placed, by
the  inspectors  of  election,  distance  markers  at  a distance of one
hundred feet  from  the  polling  place.  Such  distance  markers  shall
indicate  the prohibition contained in paragraph (b) of this subdivision
and shall be so placed at least one-half hour before the opening of  the
polls and shall remain until the polls are closed.
  (b) Where such markers are so placed and the polls are open, no person
shall  do  any  electioneering  within  the polling place, or within one
hundred feet therefrom in any public street, or within such distance  in
any  place in a public manner and no banner, poster or placard on behalf
of or in opposition to any candidate or issue to be voted upon shall  be
allowed  in  or  upon  the  polling  place  or  within  one hundred feet
therefrom during the election. For the purposes of this subdivision, the
one hundred foot distance shall be deemed to include a one hundred  foot
radial  measured  from  the  entrances,  designated by the inspectors of
election, to a building where such election is being held. This  section
shall  not  be  deemed  to  prohibit  the  board of trustees or board of
education from displaying within any polling place a copy or  copies  of
any proposition to be voted upon.
  (c)  Any  person who wilfully violates the provisions of paragraph (b)
of this subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
  5. Any qualified voter of a city school  district  may  challenge  the
right  of  a  person  to vote at the time when he requests a ballot. All
persons named upon the applicable register  as  having  been  challenged
prior  to  the  day of the election shall also be challenged before they
are given ballots to vote. The chairman of the board of inspectors shall
administer to each person  so  challenged  the  following  oath:  "I  do
solemnly  swear  (or  affirm)  that I am a citizen of the United States;
that I am of the age of eighteen years or more;  that  I  have  been  an

inhabitant  of the State for the past year, a resident of the county for
the past four months and for the thirty days past an actual resident  of
this  city  school  district  and am therefore qualified to vote at this
election."  If  the  person challenged so swears or affirms, he shall be
permitted to vote at such election; but if he shall refuse to  so  swear
or affirm, he shall not be given a ballot or be permitted to vote.
  6.  A person who wilfully swears or affirms falsely as to his right to
vote at such election after his right to vote  has  been  challenged  is
guilty  of perjury and may be punished in the manner provided by law for
the punishment of such crime. A person who is not qualified to  vote  at
such  election who shall vote thereat, although not challenged, shall be
guilty of  a  misdemeanor,  punishable  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than
twenty-five  dollars,  or by imprisonment for not less than thirty days,
or by both such fine and imprisonment.