We are writing to inform you that due to the recently enacted New York Early Mail Voter Act, all qualified voters can vote early by mail in advance of a school district vote. A school district that elects school board members by ballot and/or provides for personal registration of voters must provide for early mail ballots for the election of members of the board of education and school district public library trustees, the adoption of the annual budget and school district public library budget and referenda. For school district elections, the procedures are analogous to those already in use for absentee ballot voters.
The published legal notice must state that applications for early mail ballots may be applied for.
For School Districts that Provide for Personal Registration of Voters
1. Application Form
The state board of elections must specify the format for application forms. The use of any application that is on a form prescribed by the state board of elections must be acceptable.
A. The application must contain the following information:
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
2. Application Submission
A. The application must be received by the district clerk no earlier than the thirtieth (30th) day before the election for which an early mail ballot is sought.
B. If the application requests that the early mail ballot be mailed, such application must be received not later than seven (7) days before the election.
C. If the applicant or their agent delivers the application to the district clerk in person, such application must be received not later than the day before the election.
D. The district clerk shall examine each application and shall determine from the information contained therein whether the applicant is qualified to receive an early mail ballot.
3. Mailing of Early Ballots
A. No less than six (6) days before the applicable election, the District clerk must mail, by regular mail, an early mail ballot to each qualified applicant who has applied before such day and who has requested that such early mail ballot be mailed to him or her at the address set forth in their application.
B. The district clerk must promptly deliver early mail ballots for those applicants who the district clerk determined are qualified to make such applications and to receive such ballots to such applicants or the agents named in the applications when such applicants or agents appear in the district clerk’s office if the applicant or their agent delivers the application to the district clerk in person after the seventh (7th) day before the election and not later than the day before the election.
4. Early Mail Ballots and Envelopes
A. Ballots for early mail voters must be, as nearly as practicable, in the same form as those to be voted at the district election; if the vote at such election must be by ballot, the early mail ballot must conform to the regular ballot; if the vote of such election must be by voting machine, the early mail ballot must 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 must also contain a space for a write-in or write-ins. Early mail ballots of this type must also include instructions on how they should be properly marked. The words “Official Ballot, Early Mail Voter” must be printed on the back of early mail ballots.
B. The board of registration must enclose each early mail voter’s ballot in an envelope which must be labeled:
ELECTION MATERIAL
PLEASE EXPEDITE
C. One side of the envelope must be printed with the following:
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 must be printed, and the name of the voter, residence, school district and school election district (if applicable) must be written in by the board of registration.
D. The reverse side of the envelope must be printed with 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 duly registered in the school district and school election district, if any, shown on the reverse side of this envelope 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 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 register and 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 ……………………….
E. The envelope must be gummed, ready for sealing, and must have printed on the side opposite the statement regarding instructions as to the duties of the voter after the marking of the ballot. Among the instructions must be a specific direction stating that the envelope must reach the office of the clerk of the school district no later than 5:00PM on the day of the election so that their vote may be canvassed.
F. The board of registration places the names of qualified applicants on the register, with an entry indicating that an early mail ballot was applied for by and issued to the applicant.
5. List of Early Mail Voters
The board of registration must make a list of all persons to whom early mail voter’s ballots must have been issued. The list must then be filed in the office of the clerk and made 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 voter may not be made on the basis that the voter should have applied for an absentee ballot. Such written challenge must be transmitted by the clerk to the inspectors of election on election day.
6. Authority to Conduct Subsequent Examination
The board of registration may subpoena anyone to appear before it at the office of the clerk of the school district and be examined by the board regarding any matter that the board is legally charged with performing. Each member of such board must be authorized to administer any oath that may be required or authorized by law.
7. Canvassing
A. A ballot cast by early mail voter may not be canvassed unless it is received in the school district clerk’s office before 5:00 PM on the election day.
B. All early mail voter envelopes received by the district clerk must be forwarded to the election inspectors on the day of the election.
C. If early mail voters’ envelopes for the school district election were received at the polling place, the election inspectors shall inspect them as soon as the polls close and compare the signature, if any, on each envelope with the signature, if any, on the register, of the person of the same name who registered from the same address.
Should the signatures be determined to match, the inspectors are required to attest to this by placing their initials next to the voter’s name at the relevant spot in the register. If a person whose name is on an envelope as a voter, must have already voted in person at such school district election, or if their name, residence and signature, as stated on the envelope, are not on the register, or if there is no signature on the envelope, this envelope must be laid aside unopened and be returned unopened to the clerk of the district.
If such person is found to be registered and has voted in person, and if no objection is made, or if an objection made be not sustained, the envelope must be opened and the ballot withdrawn without unfolding and deposited in the proper box or boxes. At the time of the deposit of such ballot, the inspectors must enter the words “early mail vote” at an appropriate place in the register.
D. During the examination of early mail ballots, any qualified voter present in the polling place may object to the voting of an early mail ballot on the grounds that the person named is not a qualified voter of the school district, or school election district (where applicable). An inspector must make such an objection if the inspector knows or suspects that the person named on the envelope is not such a qualified voter. The election inspectors must immediately consider each objection including any written challenge transmitted to them by the district clerk. Unless the inspectors, by majority vote, must sustain the objection, the chairman, or if the chairman refuses, another inspector must endorse upon the envelope the objection and the words “not sustained,” must sign the endorsement, and must open the envelope and deposit the ballot.
Should the inspectors, by majority vote, sustain the objection, the objection and word “sustained” must be similarly endorsed upon the envelope. The envelope cannot be opened nor the ballots inside be canvassed, and the envelope must be returned unopened to the district clerk.
E. If the election inspectors have received an envelope endorsed with the name of a person who to the knowledge of the inspectors is deceased on the day of the election, the inspectors must return such envelope unopened to the clerk of the district with the words “deceased–objection sustained” endorsed on the envelope.
For School Districts that do not Provide for Personal Registration of Voters
With the following modifications, the previously outlined procedure applies to school districts situated in counties with a population of one million or more that do not offer personal registration:
1. In addition to filling out an application and mailing it in or picking it up in person, voters may also request an early mail ballot by letter.
2. Any qualified voter who requests an early mail ballot in writing that is received by the district clerk no later than the seventh day before the election—or no earlier than the thirty-first—must be sent an early mail ballot and a form application from the district clerk or another trustees’ or school board designee. The ballot may only be counted if the voter returns a signed valid application with the ballot.
3. Since these school districts lack a board of registration, the district clerk, or another representative designated by the trustees or school board, enters the names of voters who apply for and receive early mail ballots on the poll list. A list of people who have received early mail ballots is also compiled by the district clerk or another trustees’ or school board representative’s designee.
Please note that the timing of the early mail ballot procurement and delivery is the same as that employed for absentee ballots and, thus, the new notice language is included in the absentee ballot section. [2]
More information is available via the link below.
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/bills/2023/s7394a
We hope you find this information helpful. Please contact us with any questions.
____________________
[1] Districts should assess if they need to add more election inspectors to guarantee that there are enough inspectors to count early votes, absentee and military ballots, and machine votes.
[2] Please contact us if a method other than personal registration is used for the vote.
