2021 New York Laws
ELN - Election
Article 9 - Canvass of Results
Title 1 - Canvass at Polling Places
9-126 - Unofficial Tally of Election Results.

§  9-126.  Unofficial  tally  of  election  results. 1. In an election
district of the county of Nassau, the chair of the board of  inspectors,
upon  the  completion  of  the  return  of canvass, and the announcement
thereof in a primary or general election, shall deliver  to  the  police
officer  on duty at the polling place a statement signed by the board of
inspectors stating the number of votes received by each person voted for
and the number of votes cast for and the number of  votes  cast  against
each  ballot proposal. Such officer forthwith shall convey the statement
to the stationhouse of the  police  precinct  in  which  such  place  of
canvass  is  located,  and  shall deliver it inviolate to the officer in
command thereof, who shall immediately transmit by telegraph,  telephone
or  messenger,  the contents of such statement to the officer commanding
the police department of such county  who  shall  immediately  make  the
contents  of  such  statement  available for the press. The chair of the
board of inspectors in each election district of such county shall  make
two  copies  of  the statement hereinbefore provided for, which shall be
taken to the police station, whence one such copy shall  be  transmitted
without  delay  to police headquarters, or such other location as may be
designated by the officer commanding the  police  department,  where  it
shall  be  made  immediately  available  to  the  press  for purposes of
tabulation. The other copy shall be transmitted within twenty-four hours
to the board of elections. All statements made pursuant to this  section
shall be preserved for six months by the police and shall be presumptive
evidence of the result of such canvass.
  2.  (a)  Except  in  the  county  of Nassau, the chair of the board of
inspectors,  upon  completion  of  the  return  of   canvass   and   the
announcement   thereof,   in   a  general  or  primary  election,  shall
immediately communicate such results by telephone, or delivery,  to  the
board  of  elections.  Such  results  shall  include the number of votes
received by each person voted for and the number of votes cast  for  and
against each ballot proposal.
  (b)  The  board  of elections shall remain open after the close of the
polls and shall receive and tabulate the  voting  results  as  they  are
received.  The  board  of  elections  shall make such unofficial results
available to the media and the state board of elections, and shall  post
running  totals  in  a  public  place and on the internet as the results
become known to it.
  3. The results made public pursuant to this section shall be  released
as the unofficial tally.
  4.  A  county board of elections may require the chair of the board of
inspectors in each election district to report unofficial election night
results by telephone, fax or other means. Such results shall include the
total aggregate number of votes received by each person voted  for,  the
total aggregate number of write-ins and the number of votes cast for and
against each ballot proposal.
  5.  (a)  The  board  of elections of counties in which voting machines
which have portable memory  devices  are  used,  may  establish  written
procedures consistent with the provisions of this section and filed with
the  state  board  of  elections  by  which  such devices may be used to
provide the unofficial tally of results required by this section.
  (b) Such procedures may include: the installation,  at  the  board  of
elections  or  at town or city halls, police stations, sheriff's offices
or other public buildings, of machines which  record  and  transmit  the
totals recorded in such devices to the board of elections or directly to
a  representative  of  the  press;  the delivery of the devices from the
polling places to such locations and the removal of such devices, by  at
least  two clerks or other agents of such board of elections of opposite
political parties, from the containers or envelopes in which  they  were

sealed at the polling places and the insertion of such devices into such
machines.
  (c)  In  the  city  of New York, unless the board of elections of such
city designates two clerks or other agents of opposite political parties
for delivery of the devices from the polling places to  such  locations,
police  officers or peace officers designated by the police commissioner
of such city shall provide such delivery as soon as practicable.
  (d) The board of elections  shall  provide  containers,  at  all  such
locations  other  than  the  offices  of such board, into which all such
devices shall be placed by the clerks or other agents of such  board  of
elections  after  they  are  removed from such machines. Such containers
shall be sealed by such clerks or agents  who  shall  also  enter  on  a
certificate  which  shall  be  printed on each such container, the total
number of such  devices  placed  in  such  container  and  the  election
districts from which such devices came. Such clerks shall also sign such
certificate in the places provided.
  (e)  Such  containers  shall be delivered to the board of elections by
the public officials in  whose  offices  such  machines  were  installed
within  twenty-four hours after the closing of the polls. In the city of
New York, unless the board of elections  of  such  city  designates  two
clerks  or  other  agents  of opposite political parties for delivery of
such containers to the board of  elections,  police  officers  or  peace
officers  designated  by  the  police  commissioner  of  such city shall
deliver  such  containers.  The  board  of  elections  shall  give  such
officials,  police  officers, or peace officers a receipt therefor which
states therein the date and hour of delivery, the  name  of  the  person
making the delivery and the name of the person to whom such delivery was
made.  The  board of elections shall keep a duplicate of such receipt on
file at the office of such board.
  (f) The cost of installing such machines at locations other  than  the
board  of  elections  and the cost of transmitting the results from such
machines may be paid by the board of elections or by a representative of
the press. If such results are transmitted from a  location  other  than
the  board  of elections directly to a representative of the press, such
cost shall be paid by such representative of the press.