§ 512. Returns not to be rejected because of informality of election..

No mere informality in the manner of carrying out or executing the provisions of this article shall invalidate the election held under the same or authorize the rejection of the returns thereof; and the provisions of this article shall be liberally construed for the purposes herein expressed or intended.

Derivation: L. 1898, ch. 674, § 13.

The mere omission to paste the paster ballot and the official war ballot' together does not invalidate the ballot, where they were folded together. The general provisions of the Election Law with reference to erasing and marking ballots, apply to soldiers, and they are not excepted by § 512, which relates only to informalities in carrying out the law. People ex rel. Colne v. Smith (1919), 188 App. Div. 834, 176 N. Y. Supp. 608.

Intent of voters.-All formalities provided by Election Law need not be applied. People ex rel. Brush v. Schum (1917), 102 Misc. 143, 168 N. Y. Supp. 391.

§ 513. Disposition of envelopes and ballots.

1. Upon the receipt by the governor of the poll books of the votes cast at any such election, he shall deliver the same to the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall upon receipt of the packages notify the chairman or any member of the state committees of the parties which at the last election for governor cast the highest and the next highest number of votes for such office, that at a day and hour named therein at his office he will begin opening the packages and comparing the poll books with the envelopes containing ballots received by him and with the poll books, if any, received from the governor. Such notice shall be served personally or by mail directed to the last known place of residence of such person. The secretary of state may proceed with such work from day to day. without further notice. He shall forthwith prepare from said poll books and envelopes a separate statement for each county under his official seal in which shall appear all the information hereby required to be entered in such poll books, concerning the voters resident in such county. He shall affix his seal of office to each such envelope and shall transmit such statement with envelopes containing ballots of such voters resident in such county, to the board of elections of each such county, except that in any county within the city of New York such statement and envelopes shall be transmitted to the board of elections of such city taking their receipt for such statement and the number of such envelopes.

2. A statement for each election district, showing the names and residence addresses of all such voters in said election districts, as near as may be, shall be open to public inspection at the office of each such board of elections on and after the fourth Tuesday

following election day. Such statements shall be added to from time to time as names of additional voters are received by such boards of election. Each such statement shall be prepared in duplicate and the duplicate copy thereof shall be mailed immediately to the secretary of state and it shall be open at all times to public inspection at the office of the secretary of state together with all additions made thereto.

3. Such board of elections shall then designate from the duly constituted inspectors of election, in each election district in which any such voter resides as appears from the envelopes, two inspectors of election, one from each political party represented on the board of inspectors of election in the election district, who shall constitute a board of inspectors of election, in their respective election districts, for the purposes hereinafter provided. The board of elections shall also designate one of the two inspectors to be chairman of such board in each election district. The board of elections shall then forthwith give writ ten notice of the receipt of such statement and envelopes and of the designation of such inspectors, including the chairman, to the inspectors of election so designated in each district to which such statements and envelopes respectively relate, by inclosing such notice in a properly sealed wrapper addressed to such inspectors at their respective post-office addresses and by prepaying the postage thereon. Each board of elections, after the receipt of such statements and envelopes, shall notify the chairman or any member of the county committees of the parties which at the last election for governor cast the highest and next highest number of votes for such office in the state, that at a day and hour named therein at his or their office he or they will open the packages containing such statement and envelopes. Such notice shall be served personally or by mail directed to the last known place of residence of such person.

4. It shall be the duty of such board of elections to prepare a statement in like form for each election district in said county in which any such voter shall reside, and to cause such statement with the envelopes containing ballots of voters resident in such election district to be delivered to the board of inspectors of election of each election district at least one-half hour before the board of inspectors of election of said district shall convene for

the purpose of canvassing such votes, as herein provided. All statements provided by this article shall be public records.

5. The board of elections shall also cause to be delivered to the board of inspectors of each election district the poll-book used in the election district for entering the names of civilian voters on the regular day of election within the state, and a copy of the register prepared or revised for such election. Where personal registration was required, the copy of such register and of such poll-book shall be the signature copy. At the same time and in like manner, an assembly district map prepared in accordance with section two hundred and ninety-eight of this chapter shall be delivered to the board of inspectors of election of each election district and such map shall be posted conspicuously in the polling place and remain so posted until the canvass of the ballots has been completed.

In cities and in villages having five thousand inhabitants or more, envelopes containing war ballots which shall have been delivered in error to the wrong election district shall immediately be delivered by the board of inspectors of election to the police and by them to the election officials of the appropriate election district, and in such cities and villages the inspectors shall remain at their respective polling places until twelve o'clock noon so that all such ballots, if any, may be received and canvassed as provided by this chapter. If it is not feasible to deliver any such envelopes to the appropriate election district, such envelopes shall not be opened but shall be rejected and an endorsement of the reason for its rejection shall be made on the back of each such envelope.

6. The board of inspectors in any election district wherein any such ballots are to be canvassed, shall convene, for the purpose of canvassing such votes, at the place where the election was held, at ten o'clock in the forenoon on the sixth Tuesday after the election, in the case of a general election, or, in the case of any other election, on a day to be fixed by the board of elections, which shall not be later than the sixth Tuesday after the election. At least one week before such day, the board of elections shall post in its office and in each branch office a notice specifying the day so fixed and also mail notice thereof to any candidate who shall have previously filed a written request for such notice and to the

chairman or any member of the county committees to whom it is required by this section to give notice of the opening of packages containing statements and envelopes. It shall be the duty of each board of inspectors of election immediately upon their convening as herein provided to open said polls; and the chairman thereof shall publicly read aloud the indorsement contained upon each such envelope. After the reading of each such indorsement, both inspectors shall examine the register and poll-book, furnished as provided in subdivision five of this section, for the purpose of rejecting any envelope bearing the name of a voter who voted within the state, in the election district, at the election; and the signatures, if any, on the poll-book and on the envelope, of a person or persons of the same name, shall be compared. Νο envelope shall be rejected for such reason unless the identity of the voter whose name is on the envelope and of a person whose name is on the poll-book be established to the satisfaction of both inspectors. If such voter shall be qualified to vote in such election. district, the chairman shall then carefully open said envelope and without unfolding or inspecting the contents of such ballot or ballots, shall deposit the same in the ballot box or boxes provided therefor. If any such envelope shall contain more than one ballot for the same officers, amendment or question, all ballots therein shall be rejected. Said board of inspectors shall file all such envelopes with their return in the office of the board of elections. If it shall be determined that for any reason such voter is not qualified to vote in said election district, his envelope shall be rejected, without opening, or, if such disqualification be discovered after the withdrawal of the ballot or ballots from the envelope and before deposit in the ballot box, his ballot or ballots shall be rejected without inspection or unfolding and shall be returned to the envelope. In case of such rejection, the envelope shall be filed as above provided, with an indorsement thereon as to the reason for the rejection; provided, however, that envelopes delivered in error to the wrong election district, in cities and villages having five thousand inhabitants or more, shall be disposed of as provided in subdivision five of this section.

7. If it is impossible to determine the address of the voter, or, if there is no address on the envelope by which the appropriate election district may be determined, or, if the envelope is entirely

blank, such envelope shall not be opened but shall be rejected. and an endorsement of the reason for its rejection shall be made on the back of such envelope.

8. All envelopes received by a board of inspectors of election shall be preserved and returned to the board of elections, except such envelopes as may be found to belong in another election district and were forwarded to the proper polling place for such election district and in such event the board of inspectors of election shall make a report to the board of elections indicating thereon the name and address endorsed upon each such envelope and the address of the polling place to which each such envelope was sent and the time it was sent.

Derivation: L. 1898, ch. 674, § 14, as amended by L. 1899, ch. 641, § 1. Amended by L. 1917, ch. 815; L. 1918, ch. 298, in effect Apr. 20, 1918.

Consolidators' note.— The expression "police board” and “board of police are made "board of elections" in four places, the supervision of elections in New York city by the police department having been transferred in 1901 to the board of elections.

The inspectors of election are the sole judges of the qualifications of a voter, and where a challenge is made before an envelope is opened and the inspectors overrule the challenge and open the ballot, their decision that the voter is qualified to vote in that election district is final. People ex rel. Brush v. Schum (1917), 102 Misc. 143, 168 N. Y. Supp. 391.

Time of transmission of ballots to boards of elections.— The statute being silent as to when the secretary shall transmit said ballots to the boards of elections, leaves him with a wide discretion as to when he shall make such transmission, provided he transmit the baHots in time to have them properly canvassed. Where, upon an application for a writ of peremptory mandamus to compel the secretary of state to forthwith transmit to the various counties in the city of New York the official war ballots above mentioned, it appears that all of such ballots have not yet been received by him and that it is his purpose to transmit all such ballots as soon as he can, not later than December 10, 1917, and it also appears that he has voluntarily furnished to the board of elections in New York city an unofficial tabulated statement containing all the information indorsed upon the envelopes containing such ballots, and it is not shown that he has omitted to discharge any duty imposed upon Matter of him by law in respect to them, the application will be denied. Boyle v. Hugo (1917), 101 Misc. 637, 168 N. Y. Supp. 789.

Canvass of votes cast by absent soldiers. Report of Atty.-Gen. (1898), 285.

§ 514. Canvass by inspectors of election.

After all such ballots shall have been cast, said board of inspectors of election shall immediately proceed to canvass the same as provided by law, except that no ballot shall be rejected as void where the intent of the voter is clearly apparent and except that