2019 New York Laws
ELN - Election
Article 1 - General Provisions
1-104 - 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.
  * NB Effective until November 12, 2020
  * 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  the  military or naval service or coast guard of the United
States or the state of New York,  or  persons  who  (a)  were  honorably

discharged  from  such  service,  or (b) have a qualifying condition, as
defined in section three hundred fifty of the executive  law,  and  have
received  a  discharge  other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such
service,  or  (c)  are  a discharged LGBT veteran, as defined in section
three hundred fifty of the executive law, and have received a  discharge
other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such service.
  * NB Effective November 12, 2020
  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.
  38.  "Computer  generated  registration  list"  means  a  printed   or
electronic  list  of  voters in alphabetical order for a single election
district or poll site, generated from a computer registration  file  for
each  election  and containing for each voter listed, a facsimile of the
signature of the voter. Such a list may be in a single volume or in more
than one volume. The list may be utilized in place of registration  poll
records,  to  establish  a  person's  eligibility to vote in the polling
place on election day.
  (a) The state board of elections  shall  promulgate  minimum  security
standards  for any electronic device, and any network or system to which
the electronic device is connected, that is used to store  or  otherwise
access a computer generated registration list, and shall also promulgate
a list of devices that are approved for use. No local board of elections
shall  be  permitted  to  use  such  a  device unless the state board of
elections has previously approved the device for use and  has  certified
that  the  network or system to which the electronic device is connected
is compliant with the minimum security standards.
  (b)  The  minimum  security  standards  for  such  devices  shall   be
commensurate  with the level of security risk applicable to such devices
and shall specifically take into account any  security  risk  associated
with  voting  equipment-related  supply  chains in addition to any other
applicable security risk.
  (c) The state board of elections shall promulgate  minimum  redundancy
procedures  to  ensure  a list of registration records is available that
provides necessary information in a compressed format to  ensure  voting
continues  if  the  electronic  computer  generated  registration system

becomes unavailable for any poll site or election district that utilizes
such an electronic computer generated registration list.