N.Y. Election Law § 7-116: Ballots; order of names on

§ 7-116. Ballots; order of names on. 1. In printing the names of

candidates on the ballot, the candidate or candidates of the party which

polled for its candidate for the office of governor at the last

preceding election for such office the highest number of votes, shall be

row or column A or one and the candidates of the other parties shall be

placed on such ballot in descending order of such votes.

2. The officer or board who or which prepares the ballot shall

determine the order in which shall appear, below the names of party

candidates the nominations made only by independent bodies. Such officer

or board also shall determine the order in which shall be printed the

names of two or more candidates nominated by one party or independent

body, for an office to which two or more persons are to be elected;

provided, however, that any such candidate may, by a writing filed with

such board or officer not later than three business days after the

adjournment of the convention or one week after the primary election

nominating him or her, or otherwise not later than two days after the

filing of the petition or certificate nominating him or her, demand that

such order be determined by lot, and in that case such order shall be so

determined, upon two days notice by mail given by such board or officer

to each candidate for such office. The state board of elections shall

perform the duties required by this subdivision in all cases affecting

nominations filed in its office.

3. The officer or board with whom or which are filed the designations

for a public office or party position shall determine by lot, upon two

days notice by mail given by such board or officer to each candidate for

such office or position and to the committee, if any, named in the

designating petition, the order in which shall be printed on the

official primary ballot, under the title of the office or position, the

names of candidates for public office, the names of candidates for a

party position to which not more than one person is to be elected, and

the groups of names of candidates for party position where two or more

persons are to be elected thereto and any petition designates two or

more persons therefor, provided, however, that whenever groups of names

for more than one party position are designated by the same petition,

the order in which they shall be printed on the official primary ballot

shall be determined by a single lot. Candidates for delegate or

delegates and alternate delegate or delegates to conventions designated

by the same petition shall, for the purpose of this subdivision, be

treated as one group. The names of candidates, if any, for a party

position to which two or more persons are to be elected, who are

designated by individual petitions and not in a group shall be printed

after such group or groups, in such order between themselves, as such

officer or board shall determine by lot upon the notice specified in

this subdivision. The names within a group of candidates designated for

party position by one petition shall be printed in the same order in

which they appear in the petition, unless they appear in a different

order on different pages of the petition, in which case their order

within the group shall be determined by such officer or board by lot

upon the notice specified in this subdivision. Candidates for members of

a state committee designated by a single petition shall, for the

purposes of this subdivision, be treated as one group. However, the

notice to a committee of the drawing need not be mailed to more than

five members, if there be that many, and as to offices or party

positions for which designating petitions are filed with the board of

elections of the city of New York the notice shall be given to the

committees only.

3-a. The state board of elections shall prescribe the method, or two

or more alternative methods, for making the determinations by lot

required by subdivisions two and three of this section. Each county

board of elections shall adopt one of such methods at least ninety days

before any election to which such method shall apply.

4. If a vacancy in a designation or nomination be filled after the

making, in the manner provided in this section, of a determination of

the order in which the names of candidates for the office or position

are to be printed, to the extent practicable, the name of the candidate

designated or nominated to fill such vacancy shall be printed in the

place so determined for the original candidate.

5. The titles of public offices shall appear on ballots for primary

elections in the same consecutive order that they will appear on the

general election ballot. The titles of the party positions shall appear

in the following order: member of state committee, assembly district

leader, associate assembly district leader, members of county committee

in the city of New York, delegate or delegates to conventions, alternate

delegate or delegates to conventions, and members of county committee in

counties outside of the city of New York. Where, pursuant to the rules

of the county committee, the party position involved is that of assembly

district leader or associate assembly district leader for a part of an

assembly district, such part shall be so indicated in the title on the

ballot.

6. (a) In cases where a name is added to or removed from the ballot by

court order too late to make a complete adjustment to these requirements

feasible, the name may be added at the end of the list of candidates in

all election districts, or removed from the ballot in all election

districts without changing the previously arranged order of other names

and without invalidating the election. Any inadvertent error in the

order of names discovered too late to correct the order of the names on

the ballots concerned shall not invalidate an election.

(b) Except where a contest or candidate is removed from the ballot by

court order too late to make complete compliance with this paragraph

feasible, the title of each public office or party position and the

names of the candidates for such office or position appearing on any

ballot used for primary elections over which the county board of

elections has jurisdiction shall appear on such ballot immediately

adjacent to one another, either horizontally or vertically; and no blank

spaces shall separate the names of candidates actually running for an

office or party position on such ballot, and no blank spaces shall

separate any two such offices or positions which appear on such ballot

in the same column or row.

7. Whenever a county board of elections or the board of elections in

the city of New York must conduct a primary election in the respective

county or the city of New York in which separate contests for candidates

of different genders for the same party position are to be printed upon

the ballots, and when rules require these positions be listed separately

on the ballot, the respective county board of elections or the board of

elections in the city of New York shall determine by lot the order of

the various gendered contests. This lottery will be conducted separately

for each election that is separated by gender.