N.Y. Election Law § 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, excluding

blank and void ballots, at the last preceding election for governor

received, at least two percent of the total votes cast for its candidate

for governor, or one hundred thirty thousand votes, whichever is

greater, in the year in which a governor is elected and at least two

percent of the total votes cast for its candidate for president, or one

hundred thirty thousand votes, whichever is greater, in a year when a

president is elected.

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 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 one of the veterans' services 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 one of the

veterans' services law, and have received a discharge other than bad

conduct or dishonorable from such service.

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.

39. The term "name" for purposes of designating or nominating a

candidate for public office or party position shall mean an individual's

formal name or an alternate, anglicized, or familiar form of a name or

nickname, notwithstanding the candidate's proper name as it appears on

his or her voter registration form, provided that such name is

demonstrated to be commonly used to identify the candidate in the

candidate's community, does not include a descriptive term, and further

provided that the use of such name is not intended to mislead or confuse

potential signatories, and would not tend to confuse or mislead

potential signatories, as to the candidate's identity.