2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 2 - School District Organization › Article 41 - District Meetings › Part 1 - General Provisions › 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.