N.Y. Election Law § 3-102: State board of elections; general powers and duties

§ 3-102. State board of elections; general powers and duties. In

addition to the enforcement powers and any other powers and duties

specified by law, the state board of elections shall have the power and

duty to:

1. issue instructions and promulgate rules and regulations relating to

the administration of the election process, election campaign practices

and campaign financing practices consistent with the provisions of law;

2. visit boards of elections, examine their procedures and records and

direct that any such procedures be modified in any manner consistent

with the provisions of this chapter;

3. conduct any investigation necessary to carry out the provisions of

this chapter, provided, however, that the state board of elections chief

enforcement counsel, established pursuant to section 3-100 of this

article, shall conduct all investigations necessary to enforce the

provisions of this chapter;

4. conduct private or public hearings;

5. administer oaths or affirmations, subpoena witnesses, compel their

attendance, examine them under oath or affirmation and require the

production of any books, records, documents or other evidence it may

deem relevant or material;

6. confer immunity in accordance with the provisions of section 50.20

of the criminal procedure law, in any investigation relating to any

crime or offense with respect to which, by express provisions of

statute, a competent authority is authorized to confer immunity;

provided, however, that such immunity shall be conferred only after the

attorney general and appropriate district attorney are afforded the

opportunity to be heard respecting any objections which either may have

to the conferring thereof; and provided, further, that if either the

attorney general or any such appropriate district attorney shall object

to the conferring of immunity, immunity may be conferred only by

unanimous vote of all four commissioners of the state board;

7. institute, or direct a board of elections to institute such

judicial proceedings as may be necessary to enforce compliance with any

provision of article fourteen of this chapter or any regulation

promulgated thereunder including, but not limited to, application, on

notice served upon the respondent in the manner directed by the court at

least six hours prior to the time of return thereon, to a justice of the

supreme court within the judicial district in which an alleged violation

of any such provision or regulation occurred or is threatened, for an

order prohibiting the continued or threatened violation thereof or for

such other or further relief as the court may deem just and proper;

8. prepare uniform forms for the statements required by article

fourteen of this chapter and uniform forms for use by local election

officials in the conduct of registration and voting; design, prepare and

make available to county boards of election and to such other

institutions and groups as such board in its discretion shall determine

uniform application forms for registration and enrollment, transfer of

registration and/or enrollment and special enrollment upon application

filed by mail pursuant to the provisions of section 5-210 of this

chapter;

9. study and examine the administration of elections within the state

including campaign financing, campaign financing reporting, and campaign

practices;

9-A. (a) develop an electronic reporting system to process the

statements of campaign receipts, contributions, transfers and

expenditures required to be filed with any board of elections pursuant

to the provisions of sections 14-102, 14-104 and 14-201 of this chapter;

(b) prescribe the information required in the form for each statement

to be filed;

(c) establish an educational and training program on all reporting

requirements including but not limited to the electronic reporting

process and make it easily and readily available to any such candidate

or committee;

(d) make the electronic reporting process available to any such

candidate or committee which is required to file or which agrees to file

such statements by such electronic reporting process;

(e) cause all information contained in such a statement filed with the

state board of elections which is not on such electronic reporting

system to be entered into such system as soon as practicable but in no

event later than ten business days after its receipt by the state board

of elections; and

(f) make all data from electronic reporting process available at all

times on the internet.

10. establish rules allowing the admission of news media

representatives to the area of the polling place where the canvass of

ballots cast can be directly observed;

11. recommend such legislation or administrative measures as it finds

appropriate to promote fair, honest and efficiently administered

elections, including, but not limited to, legislation to adjust the

contribution limitations set forth in article fourteen of this chapter;

12. monitor the adequacy and effectiveness of the election laws and

report thereon at least annually to the governor and the legislature;

13. compile the information required with respect to the operation of

the National Voter Registration Act and report such information annually

to the governor, the legislature and the Federal Election Commission

together with an assessment of the operation of such act and any

recommendations for changes and improvements.

14. take all appropriate steps to encourage the broadest possible

voter participation in elections including the administration of a

program of registration form distribution by participating state

agencies as prescribed by section 5-211 of this chapter;

15. receive from the secretary of the senate and the clerk of the

assembly a list of the mailing addresses of senators and members of the

assembly. When members of the public, government officials, or agencies

request the mailing addresses of senators and members of the assembly,

the mailing addresses submitted to the board by the secretary of the

senate and the clerk of the assembly shall be provided;

16. administer the administrative complaint procedure as provided for

in section 3-105 of this article;

16-a. provide the department of corrections and community supervision

with a sufficient number of voter registration forms to allow the

department of corrections and community supervision to comply with the

duty to provide such voter registration forms to persons upon the

expiration of their maximum sentence of imprisonment. Such voter

registration forms shall be addressed to the state board of elections.

16-b. Develop and implement a program to educate attorneys, judges,

election officials, corrections officials, including parole and

probation officers, and members of the public regarding the requirements

of the chapter of the laws of two thousand twenty-one which added this

subdivision.

17. perform such other acts as may be necessary to carry out the

purposes of this chapter.

18. promulgate rules and regulations to provide for the ability of

individuals who do not exclusively identify as a binary gender to run

for positions elected in gendered contests which respect the

individuals' gender identity. In no case shall the board of elections

promulgate rules that are inconsistent with a system that requires

individuals filing for candidacy to self-identify their gender marker as

"M", "F", or "X", requires all candidates to run in a single race, and

maintains requirements for gender diversity.