N.Y. Town Law § 175: Election of fire district officers

§ 175. Election of fire district officers. 1. An annual election shall

be held in each fire district on the second Tuesday in December, except

that in the Ocean Bay Park fire district, the Lonelyville fire district,

the Davis Park fire district, the Cherry Grove fire district, the Fair

Harbor fire district and the Fire Island Pines fire district, Suffolk

county, such annual election shall be held on the second Tuesday in

July, except that in the town of Salisbury, Herkimer county, such annual

election shall be held on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday

in November from six o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock in the

evening and except that in the Belfast fire district, Allegany county,

such annual election shall be held on the first Tuesday in December. The

board of fire commissioners shall give notice thereof by the publication

of a notice once in one or more newspapers having a general circulation

in the district. The first publication of such notice shall be not less

than twenty-seven days and not more than thirty-four days prior to the

date of such election. Such notice shall specify the time when and the

place where such election will be held, the officers to be elected

thereat and their terms of office, and the hours during which the polls

will be open for the receipt of ballots. The secretary of such fire

district shall prepare the ballots for all elections of fire district

officers and the polls shall remain open for the receipt thereof at all

elections of fire district officers from six o'clock in the evening

until nine o'clock in the evening and such additional consecutive hours

prior thereto as the board of fire commissioners of such district may

have determined and specified in the notice thereof. The board of fire

commissioners shall designate a resident fire district elector, who

shall be a registered voter of the town, to act as chairman of any

election of said district and shall designate not less than two nor more

than four resident fire district electors, who shall be registered

voters of the town to act as election inspectors and ballot clerks at

such elections. No elective officer of the fire district shall serve as

such chairman or as an election inspector or ballot clerk. The board of

fire commissioners may adopt a resolution providing that such chairman,

election inspectors and ballot clerks shall be paid for their respective

services at any such annual election or at any special election of the

fire district. Such resolution, if adopted, shall fix the amount of such

compensation, as follows: if the hours during which the polls will be

open for the receipt of ballots are from six o'clock in the evening

until nine o'clock in the evening, a sum not to exceed seventy dollars

for each such official; if additional consecutive hours prior to six

o'clock in the evening are determined and specified in the notice of

election, a sum not to exceed one hundred dollars for each such

official.

2. Every elector of the town who shall be a registered voter and who

shall have resided in the district for the period of thirty days next

preceding any election of fire district officers shall be qualified to

vote for such officers. Every elector of the town who shall be a

registered voter and who shall have resided in the fire district for the

period of thirty days next preceding any election at which a proposition

shall be submitted, shall be qualified to vote upon such proposition.

3. Every fire district commissioner, treasurer and secretary must at

the time of his election or appointment and throughout his term of

office be a resident of such fire district. Membership in a volunteer

fire company shall not disqualify any such fire district commissioner,

treasurer or secretary. A person who has been convicted of arson in any

degree shall not be eligible for election or appointment to the office

of fire district commissioner, treasurer or secretary. Any fire district

commissioner, treasurer or secretary who is convicted of arson in any

degree during his term of office shall be disqualified from completing

such term of office.

4. There shall be conspicuously placed, by the resident fire elector,

distance markers at a distance of one hundred feet from the polling

place. Such distance markers shall be so placed at least one-half hour

before the opening of the polls and shall remain until such polls are

closed. The one hundred foot distance shall be deemed to include a one

hundred foot radial measured from the entrances, designated by the

resident fire elector, to a building where such election is being held.

While the polls are open no person shall do any electioneering within

the polling place, or in any public street within the one hundred foot

radial, or within such distance in any place in a public manner. No

electioneering banner, button, poster or placard on behalf of or in

opposition to any candidate or issue to be voted upon shall be allowed

in or upon the polling place or within such one hundred feet therefrom

during the election. Any person who willfully violates the provisions of

this subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

5. All official ballots shall remain in the custody of election

inspectors within the polling place from the opening of the polls until

the announcement of the result of the canvass and the signing of the

inspectors' returns thereof. After the polls shall have been closed at

any election held for the election of fire district officers or to vote

upon a proposition, the election inspectors and ballot clerks shall

immediately canvass publicly the ballots cast and the chairman of the

election shall publicly announce the result. Within seventy-two hours

thereafter, the chairman, election inspectors and ballot clerks shall

execute and file a certificate of the result of the canvass with the

board of fire commissioners and with the town clerk of each town in

which said district or any part thereof may be located.

6. If in any fire district the number of voters is so great as to

render it inexpedient or impossible to conduct the election at one

polling place, the board of fire commissioners may divide the fire

district into election districts and provide a polling place for each

such election district, provided, however, that the number of election

districts in any fire district shall not exceed one for each six hundred

electors plus one for a remaining fraction of six hundred. In such

event, the notice specified in subdivision one of this section shall

describe the election districts and state where the polling places will

be located, and the board of fire commissioners shall designate not less

than two nor more than four resident fire district electors, who shall

be registered voters of the town, to act as election inspectors and

ballot clerks at each such polling place. The board of fire district

commissioners may adopt a resolution providing that such election

inspectors and ballot clerks shall be paid for their respective services

at any such annual election or at any special election of the fire

district. Such resolution, if adopted, shall fix the amount of such

compensation as follows: if the hours during which the polls will be

open for the receipt of ballots are from six o'clock in the evening

until nine o'clock in the evening, a sum not to exceed seventy dollars

for each such official; if additional consecutive hours prior to six

o'clock in the evening are determined and specified in the notice of

election, a sum not to exceed one hundred dollars for each such

official. No elective officer of the fire district shall serve as an

election inspector or ballot clerk.