N.Y. Education Law § 2018-f: Early mail ballots for school district elections by poll registration

§ 2018-f. Early mail ballots for school district elections by poll

registration. 1. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections two thousand

fourteen and two thousand eighteen-e of this part, the trustees or the

board of education of any common, union free, central or central high

school district which does not provide for the personal registration of

voters for school district meetings and elections but which elects

trustees or school board members by ballot, shall provide for early mail

ballots for the election of the trustees or members of the board and

school district public library trustees, the adoption of the annual

budget and school district public library budget and referenda.

1-a. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections two thousand fourteen

and two thousand eighteen-e of this part, in any county with a

population of one million or more, the trustees or the board of

education of any common, union free, central or central high school

district which does not provide for the personal registration of voters

for school district meetings and elections but which elects trustees or

school board members by ballot shall provide for early mail ballots for

the election of the trustees or members of the board and school district

public library trustees, the adoption of the annual budget and school

district public library budget and referenda.

2. a. An applicant for such an early mail ballot shall submit an

application setting forth (1) their name and residence address,

including the street and number, if any, or town and rural delivery

route, if any; (2) that they are or will be, on the day of the school

district election, a qualified voter of the school district in which he

resides in that he is or will be, on such date, over eighteen years of

age, a citizen of the United States and has or will have resided in the

district for thirty days next preceding such date. Such application must

be received by the district clerk or designee of the trustees or school

board at least seven days before the election if the ballot is to be

mailed to the voter, or the day before the election, if the ballot is to

be delivered personally to the voter.

b. Such application shall include the following statement to be signed

by the voter.

I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of

my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material

false statement in the foregoing statement of application for early mail

ballot, I shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Date ................... Signature of Voter ............................

3. If, upon examining the application required under the provisions of

subdivision two of this section, and upon such inquiry as it deems

proper, the clerk of the school district or designee of the trustees or

school board shall be satisfied that the applicant is a qualified voter

of the district, and entitled to vote by early mail ballot, such clerk

of the school district or designee of the trustees or school board shall

cause to be issued or mailed to the applicant an early mail voter's

ballot and the clerk of the school district or designee of the trustees

or school board shall make an appropriate entry on the poll list

pursuant to section two thousand twenty-nine of this part.

4. The clerk of the school district or a designee of the trustees or

school board shall also mail an early mail ballot to every qualified

voter otherwise eligible for such ballot, who requests an early mail

ballot from such clerk or trustees or school board designee in a letter

which is signed by the voter and received by the clerk or trustees or

school board designee not earlier than the thirtieth day nor later than

the seventh day before the election for which the ballot is first

requested and which states the address where the voter resides and to

which the ballot is to be mailed. The clerk or designee of the trustees

or school board shall enclose with such ballot a form of application for

early mail ballot. The early mail ballot of a voter who requested such

ballot by letter, rather than application, shall not be counted unless a

valid application form, signed by such voter, is received by the clerk

of the school district or designee of the trustees or school board with

such ballot.

5. Ballots for early mail voters shall be, as nearly as practicable,

in the same form as those to be voted at the district election; if the

vote at such election shall be by ballot, the early mail ballot shall

conform to the regular ballot; if the vote of such election shall be by

voting machine, the early mail ballot shall conform as closely as

possible to the manner in which the names of the candidates, the

questions and the propositions appear on the voting machines, except

that the early mail ballot shall also contain a space for a write-in or

write-ins. On the back of such early mail ballots shall be printed words

"Official Ballot, Early Mail Voter".

6. a. The clerk of the school district or designee of the trustees or

school board shall enclose each early mail voter's ballot in an envelope

which shall be labelled:

ELECTION MATERIAL

PLEASE EXPEDITE

On one side of such envelope shall be printed:

OFFICIAL BALLOT, EARLY MAIL VOTER

for

School District Election

Name of Voter ............

Residence (street and number, if any) ...............

City (or Town) of .....................

County of ....................

School District ...................

School Election District (if applicable) ................

The date of the election and name of the school district shall be

printed, and the name of the voter, residence, school district and

school election district (if applicable) shall be included.

b. On the reverse side of such envelope shall be printed the following

statement:

STATEMENT OF EARLY MAIL VOTER

I do declare that I am a citizen of the United States, and will be at

least eighteen years of age on the date of the school district election;

that I will have been a resident of this state and of the school

district and school election district, if any, shown on the reverse side

of this envelope for thirty days next preceding the said election and

that I am or on such date will be, a qualified voter of said school

district; that I have not qualified, or do I intend to vote, elsewhere

than as set forth on the reverse side of this envelope; that I have not

received or offered, do not expect to receive, have not paid, offered or

promised to pay, contributed, offered or promised to contribute to

another to be paid or used, any money or other valuable thing, as a

compensation or reward for the giving or withholding of a vote at this

school district election, and have not made any promise to influence the

giving or withholding of any such votes; that I have not made or become

directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the

result of this school district election; and that I have not been

convicted of bribery or any infamous crime, or, if so convicted, that I

have been pardoned or restored to all the rights of a citizen, without

restriction as to the right of suffrage, or have received a certificate

of relief from disabilities or a certificate of good conduct pursuant to

article twenty-three of the correction law removing my disability to

vote.

I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of

my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material

false statement in the foregoing statement of early mail voter, I shall

be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Date .................. Signature of Voter .............................

c. The envelope shall be gummed, ready for sealing, and shall have

printed thereon, on the side opposite the statement, instructions as to

the duties of the voter after the marking of the ballot, which

instructions shall include a specific direction stating that the

envelope must reach the office of the clerk of the school district or

designee of the trustees or school board not later than five P.M. on the

day of the election in order that their vote may be canvassed.

d. A person who shall make any material false statement in the

statement of the early mail voter appearing on the reverse side of the

envelope as provided in this subdivision, shall be guilty of a

misdemeanor.

7. The clerk of the school district or designee of the trustees or

school board shall make a list of all persons to whom early mail voter's

ballots shall have been issued and maintain such list where it shall be

available for public inspection during regular office hours until the

day of the election. Any qualified voter may, upon examination of such

list, file a written challenge of the qualifications as a voter of any

person whose name appears on such list, stating the reasons for such

challenge. A challenge to an early mail ballot may not be made on the

basis that the voter should have applied for an absentee ballot. Such

written challenge shall be transmitted by the clerk or the designee of

the trustees or school board to the inspectors of election on election

day.

8. a. The clerk of the school district or designee of the trustees or

school board shall be authorized to call upon the commissioner of police

and the officers and members of the police force for such assistance in

the enforcement of the provisions of this section as such trustees or

board shall require, and such commissioner and officers and members of

the police force shall be authorized to render such assistance.

b. The clerk of the school district or designee of the trustees or

school board may require any person to attend before it at the office of

the clerk of the school district or the office of the designee of the

trustees or school board and be examined by the trustees or board as to

any matter in relation to which such trustees or board is charged with a

duty under this section, and may issue a subpoena therefor. Each member

of such trustees or board shall be authorized to administer any oath

that may be required or authorized by law in this connection.

9. No early mail voter's ballot shall be canvassed, unless it shall

have been received in the office of the clerk of the school district or

designee of the trustees or school board not later than five P.M. on the

day of the election.

10. The clerk of the district or designee of the trustees or school

board shall, on the day of the election, transmit all early mail voters'

envelopes, received by him in accordance with subdivision eight of this

section, to the inspectors of election.

11. If a person whose name is on an envelope as a voter shall have

already voted in person at such school district election, or if there is

no signature on the envelope, this envelope shall be laid aside unopened

and be returned unopened to the clerk of the district or designee of the

trustees or school board. If such person has not so voted in person, and

if no objection is made, or if an objection made be not sustained, the

envelope shall be opened and the ballot withdrawn without unfolding and

deposited in the proper box or boxes.

12. If the inspectors of election shall have received an envelope, and

upon opening the same no ballot shall be found therein, the inspectors

shall make a memorandum showing that the ballot is missing. When the

casting of early mail voters' ballots shall have been completed, the

inspectors shall ascertain the number of such ballots which have been

deposited in the ballot box by deducting from the number of envelopes

opened the number of missing ballots, and shall make a separate return

thereof in duplicate. The number of early mail voters' ballots deposited

in the ballot box shall be added to the number of other ballots to be

accounted for in the ballot box. Such ballots shall then be counted or

canvassed by the inspectors of election along with the other ballots

cast at such school district election, or, where voting machines are

used, shall be added to the votes recorded on such machines.