§ 16-106 — Proceedings as to the casting and canvass of ballots

New York § 16-106

• Jurisdiction: New York
• Law ELN: Election
• Art. 16: Judicial Proceedings

Text

§ 16-106. Proceedings as to the casting and canvass of ballots. 1.\nThe post-election refusal to cast: (a) challenged ballots, blank\nballots, or void ballots; (b) early mail, absentee, military, special,\nor federal write-in ballots; (c) emergency ballots; and (d) ballots\nvoted in affidavit envelopes may be contested in a proceeding instituted\nin the supreme or county court, by any candidate or the chairman of any\nparty committee, and by any voter with respect to the refusal to cast\nsuch voter's ballot, against the board of canvassers of the returns from\nsuch district, if any, and otherwise against the board of inspectors of\nelection of such district. If the court determines that the person who\ncast such ballot was entitled to vote at such election, it shall order\nsuch ballot to be cast and canvassed, including if the court finds that\nministerial error by the board of elections or any of its employees\ncaused such ballot envelope not to be valid on its face.\n 2. The canvass of returns by the state, or county, city, town or\nvillage board of canvassers may be contested, in a proceeding instituted\nin the supreme court by any voter, except a proceeding on account of the\nfailure of the state board of canvassers to act upon new returns of a\nboard of canvassers of any county made pursuant to the order of a court\nor justice, which may be instituted only by a candidate aggrieved or a\nvoter in the county.\n 3. The attorney general, on behalf of the state, and the chairman of\nthe state committee of a party, may institute any proceeding allowed\nherein relating to the returns of canvass by inspectors upon the vote of\nany ballot proposal submitted to the people of the state.\n 4. The court shall ensure the strict and uniform application of the\nelection law and shall not permit or require the altering of the\nschedule or procedures in section 9-209 of this chapter but may direct a\nrecanvass or the correction of an error, or the performance of any duty\nimposed by this chapter on such a state, county, city, town or village\nboard of inspectors, or canvassers.\n 5. In the event procedural irregularities or other facts arising\nduring the election suggest a change or altering of the canvass\nschedule, as provided for in section 9-209 of this chapter, may be\nwarranted, a candidate may seek an order for temporary or preliminary\ninjunctive relief or an impound order halting or altering the canvassing\nschedule of early mail, absentee, military, special or affidavit\nballots. Upon any such application, the board or boards of elections\nhave a right to be heard. To obtain such relief, the petitioner must\nmeet the criteria in article sixty-three of the civil practice law and\nrules and show by clear and convincing evidence, that, because of\nprocedural irregularities or other facts arising during the election,\nthe petitioner will be irreparably harmed absent such relief. For the\npurposes of this section, allegations that opinion polls show that an\nelection is close is insufficient to show irreparable harm to a\npetitioner by clear and convincing evidence.\n 6. A proceeding under subdivisions one and three of this section must\nbe instituted within twenty days and under subdivision two, within\nthirty days after the election or alleged erroneous statement or\ndetermination was made, or the time when the board shall have acted in\nthe particulars as to which it is claimed to have failed to perform its\nduty, except that such a proceeding with respect to a village election\nmust be instituted within ten days after such election, statement,\ndetermination or action.\n