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left the whole matter of the collective naturalization of Porto Ricans to Congress, and its inaction has precluded them from the privileges of full citizenship which are necessary to the rights of suffrage. People ex rel. Juarbe v. Inspectors of the 24th Election District, (1900) 32 Misc. 584, 67 N. Y. Supp. 236.

A person residing upon West Point and having no other qualification as a resident of the State except such as he gains from a residence upon West Point is not a resident of the State and not qualified to vote. Matter of Town of Highlands, (1892) 48 N. Y. St. Rep. 795, 22 N. Y. Supp. 137.

§ 163. Gaining or losing a residence.

For the purpose of registering and voting no person shall be deemed to have gained or lost a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States, nor while engaged in the navigation of the waters of this state, or of the United States, or of the high seas; nor while a student of any seminary of learning; nor while kept at any almshouse, or other asylum, or institution wholly or partly supported at public expense or by charity; nor while confined in any public prison. Any person claiming to belong to any class of persons mentioned and referred to in this section shall file with the board of inspectors at the time of registration a written statement showing where he actually resides and where he claims to be legally domiciled, his business or occupation, his business address, and to which class he claims to belong. Such statement shall be attached to the register, and be open for public inspection, and the fact thereof shall be noted in the register opposite the name of the person so registered.

Derivation:

Election Law, § 34, subd. 2.

Amended by L. 1918, ch. 323, in effect Apr. 24, 1918.

Cross-references.-Certain occupations and conditions not to affect residence of voters., N. Y. Const., art 2, § 3 (part 2, post).

Forms.-Of affidavit as to residence. See Forms (part 12, post).

Persons unable to get possession of premises.-An affidavit stating, among other things, that the petitioner's brother-in-law, with whom he had been living for several years, had taken a lease of premises in another election district, but had been unable to get possession because of an order of the court in a dispossess proceeding giving the tenant time in which to get out, held insufficient to entitle the petitioner to registration in the election district in which the leased premises were located, and that, therefore, an order denying his petition for a writ of mandamus to the board of registration must be affirmed. Matter of Gorman v. Doe (1919), 189 App. Div. 107, 178 N. Y. Supp. 270.

A soldier may acquire a residence in the locality in which he is placed by reason of his employment in the service of the United States. Matter of Cunningham (1904), 45 Misc. 206, 91 N. Y. Supp. 974.

Persons employed by the United States may gain a residence where employed. Report of Atty.-Gen. (1904), 443.

Where a person enlisted in the Spanish-American war and subsequently accepted employment under the government and actually resides in a Federal arsenal, he may continue to register for voting purposes from his former residence, where there is no question of his good faith. Nor does he lose his right to vote because he did not file with the registration officers the statement showing his actual domicile, business or occupation though, it seems, he should have complied with said section had it been called to his attention. Matter of Lewis (1916), 172 App. Div. 271, 158 N. Y. Supp. 1036.

Student of seminary of learning. One who is present in a seminary of learning for the purposes of a student only does not thereby gain a new residence in the seminary district and lose his prior one for the purpose of voting. Matter of Goodman (1895), 146 N. Y. 284.

Occupants of Mount St. Alphonsus, a branch of "the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer," are not entitled to vote in the town where such institution is located, where there is nothing to indicate that they would be there, except for the fact that they are students. The fact that their location and vocation is determined for them by their superior rather than by themselves, does not affect the question. The right of students to vote in the town where the institution which they attend is located must depend on acts independent of their presence as students in that locality. Matter of Gardiner (1918), 183 App. Div. 491, 171 N. Y. Supp. 327.

A student at a seminary in the State of New York, who, before taking his abode at the seminary, had a residence elsewhere, is not entitled to vote in the election district in which the seminary is situated, unless it appears that by some unequivocal act independent of his attendance at the seminary he has abandoned such other residence. Matter of McCormack (1903), 86 App. Div. 362, 83 N. Y. Supp. 847.

Letters written by a student at a seminary in the State of New York to the mayor of the city and to the board of registry in the election district in which the seminary is located, stating that it was his intention, when he became a student at the seminary, to make it his actual and legal residence, but which did not suggest any facts showing such a change of residence other than his abode at the seminary, are insufficient to show a change of residence. Matter of McCormack (1903), 86 App. Div. 362, 83 N. Y. Supp. 847.

Residence for the purpose of voting is neither gained nor lost by a sojourn in a seminary of learning, and the fact that a student enters a seminary to be educated for a certain calling and to remain there after graduation until assigned to duty, instead of a fixed course for four years, as is usual in institutions of learning, does

not entitle him to vote in the election district in which such seminary is situated. Matter of Barry (1900), 164 N. Y. 18, 8 Ann. Cas. 148, aff'g 95 N. Y. St. Rep. 124, 61 N. Y. Supp. 124.

It is essential to entitle a student, whose legal residence has been previously elsewhere, to vote in the election district in which the seminary which he is attending is situated, that the intent to change his residence be manifested by things which are independent of his presence as a student in the new locality. Matter of Garvey (1895), 147 N. Y. 117, 69 N. Y. St. Rep. 393, aff'g and rev'g in part 84 Hun, 611, 32 N. Y. Supp. 689.

A student at a theological seminary is entitled to vote at the place where the seminary is located, where he notifies the proper authorities at the place of his former residence that he has changed his residence and requests his name to be taken from the list of voters, and notifies the proper religious authorities that he has changed his ecclesiastical residence. Matter of Garvey (1895), 147 N. Y. 117, 69 N. Y. St. Rep. 393, aff'g and rev'g in part 84 Hun, 611, 32 N. Y. Supp. 689.

The fact that a theological student at a seminary sells books and is a lay reader, or that he teaches, is insufficient to qualify him to vote where the seminary is located. Matter of Garvey (1895), 147 N. Y. 117, 69 N. Y. St. Rep. 393, aff'g and rev'g in part 84 Hun, 611, 32 N. Y. Supp. 689.

The statute contemplates a bona fide residence on the part of the student. Although the statute is complied with if a student at the time of registration files a written statement or declaration showing where he is actually domiciled, bis business or occupation, his business address, and to which class he claims to belong, he should, in order to establish his good faith and honesty of intention of becoming a resident, declare his intention a certain length of time before the date of registration. Rept. of Atty.-Gen., Apr. 26, 1909.

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A student at the seminary of learning known as St. Anthony's-on-theHudson," maintained by the Franciscan order, who abandons his christian name by which he was formerly known and takes a new name as a member of said order and receives instruction as a candidate for the Roman Catholic priesthood, is not entitled to register in the election district in which the seminary is located and his name should be stricken from the registry list. Matter of Gardiner (1917), 101 Misc. 414, 167 N. Y. Supp. 26.

Person at institution supported at public expense or charity.- The home for aged men in the town of Colonie, county of Albany, is an institution supported wholly or partly by charity, within the meaning of section 3 of article 2 of the Constitution as amended in 1895. Such amendment is not retroactive and does not deprive an inmate of such institution who gained a residence to vote in the district prior to January 1, 1895, of his right to vote therein. Matter of Batterman (1895), 14 Misc. 213, 71 N. Y. St. Rep. 515, 35 N. Y. Supp.

593.

The "Home for Aged Men and Couples" in the city of Utica, N. Y., is the residence of its members for the purpose of voting. Matter of Merrill (1917), 99 Misc. 353.

An inmate of an institution supported wholly or partly by charity who has gained a legal voting residence in the district prior to the taking effect of the Constitution of 1894 is not deprived of his right to vote by the provisions of section 3 of article 2 of said Constitution. Matter of Griffiths (1896), 16 Misc. 128, 38 N. Y. Supp. 953.

A soldier kept in the Soldier's Home maintained in a town by the State is a person kept in an "asylum," and does not, when becoming an inmate of the home for the sole purpose of enjoying its benefits, thereby lose his former residence, which remains his domicile for citizenship. Matter of Smith (1904), 44 Misc. 384, 89 N. Y. Supp. 1006.

A person permitted to remain in Bellevue Hospital, which is supported at the public expense, during the pleasure of the superintendent of the institution, who has no authority to employ unpaid help, under an arrangement by which such person is to get his board and lodging and an occasional suit of dead men's clothes, is "kept" in the hospital within the meaning of this section. People ex rel. McShane v. Hagen, (1900), 48 App. Div. 203, 62 N. Y. Supp. 816, aff'd 164 N. Y. 570.

The removal to the Soldiers' Home at Bath by a legal voter whose legal residence is in New York City neither gives him a new voting residence at Bath nor deprives him of his old voting residence at New York city; he is temporarily absent therefrom and is legally entitled to vote there on his return. Silvey v. Lindsay (1887), 107 N. Y. 54, 11 N. Y. St. Rep. 185, rev'g 42 Hun 116, 5 N. Y. St. Rep. 157.

Inmates of an institution partly supported by charity do not gain a residence. Report of Atty.-Gen. (1904), 378.

An inmate of a home for aged men situated in an election district in the city of Utica, which institution, though originally founded by charitable gifts, is now self-supporting with the exception that it occasionally receives voluntary con

tributions from outsiders, is entitled to register as a resident of such institution and to vote as such resident where he has claimed such residence as a voting domicile for many years. The fact that such institution is empowered to take and administer gifts made to it does not make it a charitable institution. Moreover, the statute and the constitutional inhibition of which it is a re-enactment do not seek to disqualify any person from the voting privilege. They merely declare that he shall not be deemed to have gained or lost a residence while kept in an institution wholly or partially supported by public expense or by charity. Matter of Merrill (1918), 183 App. Div. 216, 171 N. Y. Supp. 163.

Prisoners. The constitutional provision against gaining a residence while confined in a public prison applies to a person committed to such prison, even if the commitment was made upon his own application, notwithstanding the fact that he had no family and no home and made the application for the commitment to gain a home and work in the prison. People v. Cady (1894), 143 N. Y. 100, 60 N. Y. St. Rep. 474.

In general. The question as to the place at which an elector is entitled to vote, notwithstanding the provision of the Constitution that, for the purpose of voting, no person shall be deemed to have lost or gained a residence by reason of his presence or absence while employed in the service of the United States, is still, in each case, as it was before the adoption of this provision, one of domicile or residence to be decided upon all the circumstances of the case. Matter of Cunningham (1904), 45 Misc. 206, 91 N. Y. Supp. 974.

It seems that the subsequent demolition of the building bona fide given as a residence does not invalidate the registration therefrom. People ex rel. Perry v. Hagan (1898), 25 Misc. 125.

§ 164. Illiterate and disabled voters.

If, at any meeting for the registration of voters, any person entitled to be registered shall appear personally for registration and shall declare to the board of inspectors at the time he applies for registration that he is unable to write by reason of illiteracy, or that he will be unable to prepare his ballot without assistance by reason of blindness, or of such degree of blindness as will prevent him, with the aid of glasses, from seeing the names printed upon the official ballot, loss of both hands, or such total inability of both hands that he cannot use either hand for ordinary purposes, or that he will be unable to enter the voting booth without assistance by reason of disease or crippled condition, the nature of which he must specify, it shall be the duty of the said board of inspectors to administer an oath to such person in the following language namely: "You do solemnly swear (or affirm) that you will be unable to prepare your ballot without assistance, because," and after the word because," continuing with a statement of the specific disease or crippled condition assigned by the person as the cause of his alleged disability, and the said inspectors and each of them shall make a note upon the register of each instance in which such oath is administered, and of the cause or reason so assigned.

Derivation: Election Law, § 34, subd. 3.

Amended by L. 1919, ch. 370, in effect May 5, 1919.

Secrecy in voting does not require that the voter must so cast his ballot that none other than he may know for whom it is cast, to the extent of preventing the casting of the vote by an illiterate or disabled person. People ea rel. Klein . McDonald, (1896) 52 N. Y. Supp. 898.

Physical disability oath should be in the language of the statute. Report of Atty.-Gen., (1893) 147.

Preparation of ballots by illiterate voters. Report of Atty.-Gen., (1905)

541.

165. Change of residence within election district.

If any voter after being registered shall change his place of residence within the same election district, he may appear before the board of inspectors of such district on any day of registration, or on the day of election, and state under oath that he has so changed his residence, and the board of inspectors shall thereupon make the proper correction upon the register of such district.

Derivation: Election Law, § 34, subd. 4.

§ 166. Registration days not holidays.

No part of a day fixed for the registration of voters shall be deemed a holiday so as to affect any meeting or proceeding of the board of inspectors for registration.

Derivation: Election Law, § 34, subd. 5.

§ 167. Preparation of challenge affidavits.

The secretary of state shall prepare and cause to be printed on good writing paper in book form' wherever he deems it desirable for the best interests of the state, at least fifteen blank challenge affidavits for each election district in cities and at least ten such blanks for each election district outside of cities and shall transmit to each board of elections or other officer to whom or which he is required to deliver the register of voters, at the same time and in the same manner as such register of voters is transmitted, a sufficient number of such books of blank challenge affidavits as shall provide one such book for each board of inspectors in each county, and such officers shall transmit the said books to the respective boards of inspectors in the same manner and at the same time as the register of voters, The secretary of state shall also furnish to such board such additional number of such books of challenge affidavits and copies thereof, as hereinafter provided, as in his judgment shall be necessary to replace lost or damaged books and to provide extra books to any election district in which the supply may be exhausted during the registration of voters. Such extra books shall be furnished by such board to the inspectors upon application by the inspectors or any citizen.

Derivation: Election Law, § 34. pt. of subd. 6, as amended by L. 1899, ch. 630. § 8; L. 1901, ch. 544, § 1.

Amended by L. 1914, ch. 244, in effect Apr. 8, 1914.

Challenge affidavits are to be furnished, although there is no appropriation therefor. Report of Atty.-Gen., (1899) 278.

§ 168. Form of challenge affidavits.

Each challenge affidavit shall have a stub attached thereto and separated from such affidavit by a perforated line with a space on such stub for writing the name and the address of the challenged person, and both the stub and affidavit shall bear the same printed number and shall be numbered in consecutive order in each book, beginning with number one. Such challenge affidavit shall be printed in the following form, to wit:

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Assembly District (or Ward)

City (or town) of ...

What is your true name?

Where do you actually reside?

Under what name are you known at that address?
Are you a householder?

What is the name of the householder with whom you reside?

....

What is the character of the house in which you reside? (By character is meant whether it is a hotel, lodging house, tenement, furnished room house, or private dwelling.)..

How old are you?..

Where were you born?....

If naturalized, give name of court issuing and date of certificate

What is your occupation?..

What is the name of your present employer?.

Where is his place of business?.....

What is the name of your last employer?.

Where is or was the place of business?.
When did you last register or vote?...

From what address did you last register or vote?..
City or town...

Street and number.

How long have you been an inhabitant of this state?.

How long have you been a resident of this county?..

How long have you been a resident of this election district?.

Are you married or single?.

If married, where does your family reside?.

If single, where do your parents reside?.

How long do you contemplate residing in this election district?

Give place or places by street and number, the city, town or village of your residence or residences during the past four months..

Where did you actually reside immediately prior to taking up your present residence? ...

Have you been convicted of felony?....

If so, have you been pardoned and restored to all the rights of citizenship?

By whom?

When? Have you made any bet or wager, or are you directly or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending on the result of the next ensuing election?

Have you received or offered to receive, or do you expect to receive, any money or other valuable thing as a compensation or reward for registering or for giving your vote or refraining from voting at the next election?

Have you 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, or made any promise, to influence the giving or withholding of any vote at the next ensuing election?..

I, the undersigned, do hereby solemnly swear (or affirm) that the answers to the above questions were given by me and that they are true answers to such questions.

(Signature of applicant.)..

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