2023 New York Laws › ELN - Election › Article 3 - Election Officials › Title 2 - Board of Elections › 3-220 - Records and Photostats; Preservation and Sale.

§  3-220.  Records  and  photostats;  preservation  and sale.   1. All
  registration records, certificates, lists, and inventories  referred  to
  in,  or  required  by,  this chapter shall be public records and open to
  public inspection under  the  immediate  supervision  of  the  board  of
  elections or its employees and subject to such reasonable regulations as
  such  board  may  impose,  provided,  however,  that  a voter's driver's
  license number, department of motor vehicle non-driver photo ID  number,
  social  security  number  and facsimile number shall not be released for
  public inspection. No such records shall be handled at any time  by  any
  person  other  than  a  member  of  a  registration  board  or  board of
  inspectors of elections or board of  elections  except  as  provided  by
  rules imposed by the board of elections.
2.  The  central  file  registration  records  shall be kept in locked
  filing cabinets in the office of the  board  of  elections  or,  in  the
  appropriate branch offices of the board of elections. Such records shall
  be taken from such file and handled only where necessary to make entries
  thereon or take other action in connection therewith as required by this
  article.  The  board of elections may cause to be made, photostatic copy
  or copies of the registration poll records of registered voters  in  any
  election  district  and shall cause such photostatic copies to be placed
  in one or more ledgers in the same manner and in the same order  as  the
  original  registration  poll  records  appear  in  the ledger or ledgers
  containing the registration poll records  for  such  election  district.
  Such  photostatic records shall be open to public inspection, in lieu of
  the original registration records.
3. Registration records which have been mutilated or voided or  which,
  following  the  refusal  of  a  board  taking registrations to permit an
  applicant to register, have been marked "Refused" shall be  retained  by
  the  board  of elections for at least two years. Upon destruction of any
  such records the board shall keep a file of the serial  numbers  of  the
  records  so  destroyed. Reports of deaths shall be retained by the board
  of elections for two years. In  January  of  each  year,  the  board  of
  elections  may  remove from its files and may destroy the check cards of
  persons  whose  registrations  were  cancelled  more  than   two   years
  previously.
4. Subsequent to the expiration of ten years after the receipt thereof
  or, in the case of registration records, subsequent to the expiration of
  two  years  after cancellation of the registration to which they relate,
  the board of elections, in lieu of preserving  any  of  the  records  as
  hereinbefore  provided,  may  preserve photostatic, microphotographic or
  photographic film copies thereof, and may destroy the  original  records
  and  is authorized to do so in accordance with the provisions of article
  thirteen of the state finance law. If the board of elections maintains a
  computer readable registration record for each registered  voter,  which
  includes  a  copy  of the entire registration poll record or application
  for registration of  each  such  voter,  the  original  poll  record  or
  application for registration may, with the permission of the state board
  of  elections, be so destroyed subsequent to the expiration of two years
  after such copy is entered in the  computer  readable  record.  If  such
  copies in the computer readable record do not include the backs of those
  registration poll records which have been used at one or more elections,
  then all such poll records which have been used at one or more elections
  may,  with  the  permission  of  the  state  board  of  elections, be so
  destroyed subsequent to the expiration of two years after such  copy  is
  entered in the computer readable record, or subsequent to the expiration
  of  four  years  after  the  last election at which such poll record was
  used, whichever is later.
5. Any such photostatic, microphotographic or photographic  film  copy
  made pursuant to this section or any such computer readable record shall
  be  deemed  to  be  an  original  record  for  all  purposes  and,  when
  satisfactorily identified, may be introduced in evidence in any judicial
  or  administrative  proceeding.  An  enlargement, facsimile or certified
  copy thereof shall, for all purposes, be deemed to  be  an  enlargement,
  facsimile  or  certified copy of the original record and may likewise be
  introduced in evidence if the film copy or the computer readable  record
  is  in  existence  and  available  for inspection under direction of the
  court or administrative agency. The introduction in evidence of  a  film
  copy  or  a  copy  of  a  computer  readable  record, or an enlargement,
  facsimile or certified copy thereof, shall not preclude introduction  of
  the original record.
6.   All  petitions,  certificates,  objections  or  papers  filed  or
  deposited with a board or officer before  an  election  or  primary  and
  relating  to  designations  or  nominations,  and  all registers, books,
  statements, returns or papers so filed or deposited after  registration,
  enrollment, election or primary at which they were used or to which they
  relate,  not  including,  however, the voted, unused, protested, void or
  wholly blank ballots, shall be preserved by such board or officer for at
  least two years after the receipt thereof and until the determination of
  any action or proceeding touching the same or in which they are  ordered
  to  be  preserved pending the action or proceeding and at the expiration
  of such time they may be either destroyed or sold. Lists  of  registered
  voters  with  computer  generated  facsimile  signatures used in lieu of
  registration poll records at any election shall be preserved  until  the
  end  of the second calendar year after the year of such election. In all
  jurisdictions, the original statements of  results  made  by  the  state
  board  of  canvassers  or  a  county or city board of canvassers and any
  original record specifying the name of a person declared  to  have  been
  elected  to  a public office shall not be destroyed or sold but shall be
  preserved, as part of the  records  of  such  board  or  officer,  until
  otherwise provided by law.
6-a.  During the period prescribed by subdivision six of this section,
  no petition shall be removed from the office of the board  of  elections
  for  copying  or any other purpose except while in the custody, or under
  the supervision of a member or employee of such  board  or  pursuant  to
  court order.
7.  Upon  the  sale  of  any property authorized by this section to be
  destroyed or sold, the proceeds shall be paid over as follows:  If  sold
  by  the  board  of elections, the proceeds shall be paid into the county
  treasury, or, in the city of New York, into the city treasury.  If  sold
  by  the  clerk of a city, town or village, the proceeds shall be paid to
  its fiscal officer for its benefit. Proceeds of the  sale  of  any  such
  property  in  the  office  of the state board of elections shall be paid
  over as provided by law with respect to other state moneys in the  hands
  of a state officer.
* 8.  Where  a  board of elections receives a notification pursuant to
  paragraph (c) of subdivision two of section eight hundred fifty-nine  of
  the  judiciary  law,  such  board  of  elections  shall comply with such
  notification, except that where the notification requires the  board  of
  elections  to  cease  making a person's address public, such board shall
  not comply therewith from the date of filing of  any  ballot  access  or
  related  document  containing  such  address until thirty days after the
  last day to commence a special proceeding or action with respect to such
  filing.
* NB Effective July 19, 2024