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4. Inspect and copy any books, records, papers or documents relating to or affecting the election or the registration of voters.

5. Require every lodging-house keeper, landlord or proprietor to exhibit his register of lodgers therein at any time to such deputy. Any person who neglects or refuses to furnish any information required or authorized by this article, or to exhibit records, papers, or documents herein authorized to be inspected, or which are required to be exhibited, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

Derivation: L. 1905, ch. 689, § 1, amending L. 1898, ch. 676, § 6. Amended by L. 1911, ch. 649; L. 1915, ch. 678, in effect May 22, 1915. Consolidators' Note. The second sentence, "The state superintendent shall make such rules for the control and conduct of his deputies as he may deem advisable, not in conflict with law," is taken over from section 487.

Refusal to answer questions.-The power given to deputies appointed under the above act to investigate the questions relating to the registration of voters, and for that purpose to interrogate any inmate or proprietor of any house, as to any person residing or claiming to reside therein, cannot be exercised until after registration; it is therefore, not a misdemeanor for an inmate of a lodging-house to refuse to answer questions before he has registered. People ex rel. Maher v. Carleton (1903), 41 Misc. Rep. 523, 85 N. Y. Supp. 22.

§ 476. Aid by private persons and public officers.

The state superintendent, or any deputy, may call on any person to assist them in the performance of their duty; and they may also call on any public officer who by himself or his assistants, deputies or subordinates shall render such assistance as may be required. Any such person, public officer, deputy or subordinate who shall fail, on demand of the superintendent or any deputy, to render such aid and assistance in the performance of his duty as he shall demand, or who shall willfully hinder or delay, or attempt to hinder or delay such superintendent or deputy, in the performance of his duty, shall be guilty of a felony and shall upon conviction thereof be sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison for a period of not more than three years; and if a public officer, shall, in addition to such imprisonment, forfeit his office. A member of a uniformed police force and every sheriff, deputy sheriff and election officer shall, for the purpose of this article, be deemed a public officer.

Derivation: L. 1905, ch. 689, § 1, amending L. 1898, ch. 676, § 7, pt. Amended by L. 1911, ch. 649; L. 1915, ch. 678, in effect May 22, 1915. Constitutional.-The act amending the statute relative to the powers and duties of the superintendent of elections for the metropolitan elections district is valid. It creates an official who has no power to entertain proceedings or punish a guilty person for illegal registration, but who is empowered to investigate the subject to the end that illegal registration may be discovered and voting thereon prevented. Matter of Cahill (1908), 193 N. Y. 232, aff'g 126 App. Div. 391, 110 N. Y. Supp. 728.

The conviction under an indictment charging the defendant with violating the provisions of this section by assisting in the escape of a registered elector, who, when he attempted to vote on election day, was arrested by a deputy superintendent of elections without a warrant, on a charge of having falsely registered, cannot be sustained, in the absence of proof that the person whom the deputy superintendent of elections had arrested was actually guilty of the crime of false registration. People v. Hochstim (1902), 76 App. Div. 25, 78 N. Y. Supp. 638, rev'g 36 Misc. 562, 73 N. Y. Supp. 626.

Taking false oath before deputy superintendent.-Authorizing the superintendent and certain deputies to administer oaths is constitutional, and a conviction for the making of a false oath before such deputy will not be reversed on the theory that the officer had no authority to administer it. People v. Ellenbogen (1906), 114 App. Div. 182, 99 N. Y. Supp. 897, aff'd 186 N. Y. 603.

§ 477. Subpoenas by state superintendent.

The state superintendent shall have power to issue subpoenas for the purpose of investigating any matter within his jurisdiction and of aiding him in enforcing the provisions of this article, such subpoenas to be issued in the name of the state superintendent. He may in proper cases issue subpoenas duces tecum. A subpoena issued by the state superintendent of elections may be served by the superintendent or by any deputy appointed by him or by any police or peace officer.

Any person who shall omit, neglect or refuse to obey a subpoena attested in the name of the state superintendent and made returnable at one of the offices or branch offices of the superintendent, or who shall refuse to testify under oath before him his chief deputy, or other deputy duly designated by the superintendent pursuant to the provisions of this article, is guilty of a misde

meanor.

Derivation: L. 1905, ch. 689, § 1, amending L. 1898, ch. 676, § 7, pt.
Amended by L. 1911, ch. 649; L. 1915, ch. 678, in effect May 22, 1915.

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§ 478. Administration of oaths by superintendent and deputies. The superintendent, his chief deputy and any of the deputies duly designated by the superintendent for that purpose, under his hand and seal of office, are hereby authorized and empowered to administer oaths and affirmations in the usual appropriate forms, to any person in any matter or proceedings authorized as aforesaid, and in all matters pertaining or relating to the elective franchise and to take and administer oaths and affirmations in the usual appropriate forms, in taking any affidavit or deposition which may be necessary or required by law or by any order, rule or regu lations of the superintendent for or in connection with the official purposes, affairs, powers, duties or proceedings of said superintendent or deputies or any official purpose lawfully authorized by said superintendent.

Any person who shall make any false statement under oath before the state superintendent, his deputy, or other deputy authorized to take oaths, as herein provided, is guilty of a felony.

Derivation: L. 1905, ch. 689, § 1, amending L. 1898, ch. 676, § 7, pt.
Amended by L. 1911, ch. 649; L. 1915, ch. 678, in effect May 22, 1915.

Power of deputy to administer oath.-In a prosecution for taking a false oath before a deputy of the superintendent of elections it is not incumbent upon the people to show that the state superintendent and the deputy who administered the oath had taken their respective oaths of office, but when they are shown to have been officers de facto, the burden is on the defendant to show that they had not qualified. People v. Ellenbogen (1906), 114 App. Div. 182, 99 N. Y. Supp. 197, aff'd 186 N. Y. 603.

When the original designation of a deputy of the superintendent of elections as one authorized to administer oaths had been lost, a letter-press copy thereof can be introduced in evidence by the People in a prosecution for tak ing a false oath. People v. Ellenbogen (1906), 114 App. Div. 182, 99 N. Y. Supp. 197, aff'd 186 N. Y. 603.

§ 479. Attendance and duties at polling places.

The state superintendent may attend at any election, and each deputy shall, on election day, attend the election at the polling place to which he is assigned. The state superintendent and each deputy shall be admitted at any time within any polling place and within the guard-rails thereof. It shall be the duty of the superintendent and of each deputy during the election to preserve order

and arrest any person violating or attempting to violate this chapter or any provision of the penal law relating to the elective franchise.

Derivation: L. 1905, ch. 689, § 1, amending L. 1898, ch. 676, § 8.

Amended by L. 1911, ch. 649; L. 1915, ch. 678, in effect May 22, 1915.

§ 480. Reports by lodging-house and hotel keepers.

It shall be the duty of every landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper of a lodging-house, inn or hotel to keep a register in which shall be entered the name and residence, the date of arrival and departure of his guests and the room, rooms or bed occupied by them. This register shall be so arranged that there shall be a space on the same line in which each male guest or male lodger shall sign his name, and such landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper shall make a sworn report upon a blank to be prepared and furnished by the state superintendent twenty-nine days before the election next ensuing to the said superintendent of elections, which report shall contain a detailed description of the premises so used and occupied as a lodging-house, inn or hotel, including the size and character of building, and in case only part of a building is so used, a statement as to what part of said building is so used, and also if there be more than one building on the premises, which particular building is so used, and the names of the lodgers therein and all employees and all other persons living therein including the landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper and members of his family, who claim a voting residence at or in such lodging-house, inn or hotel, together with the length of time they have been regularly lodging or living therein, the beginning of such residence, the color, age, height, weight color of hair, marks on face or hands, the complexion and any distinguishing marks or features of face or body whereby such persons may be identified, the place of their nativity, the occupation and place of business of such persons and the room occupied by each such person, and whether such person is a guest, landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper, and the signature of each such person. Above the space reserved for the signature

of each such person shall be printed the following words "the foregoing statements are true.". In the form of affidavit, which shall be sworn to by the landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper of such lodging-house, inn or hotel, shall be included the statement that the signatures of the guests or lodgers certified to in said report, were written in the presence of such landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper, and that he personally knows them to be the persons therein described.

To the end that the sworn report herein required shall truly set forth the facts therein stated, it shall be the duty of the said landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper to question each male person lodging or living in such lodging-house, inn or hotel as to his intention of claiming such place as a voting residence, and such per son shall thereupon declare his intention thereof, and if he shall claim such place as his voting residence he shall give to such landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper such facts regarding himself as are required to be incorporated in the sworn report herein provided for.

Any such landlord, proprietor, lessee or keeper or any lodger who shall violate this provision shall be deemed guilty of a misde

meanor.

Derivation: L. 1905, ch. 689, § 1, amending L. 1898, ch. 678, § 9, pt., as amended by L. 1908, ch. 488, § 1.

Amended by L. 1911, ch. 649; L. 1915, ch. 678, in effect May 22, 1915.

§ 481. Affidavits by hotel keepers holding liquor licenses.

If any person, other than the keeper or members of his family, shall claim a voting residence in a building or part of the building used as a hotel, within three months of a general election, in which building or part of the building the business of trafficking in liquors is conducted under a liquor tax certificate issued under subdivision one of section eight of the liquor tax law, the holder of such certificate shall furnish to the state superintendent of elections whenever the superintendent shall require him so to do, an affidavit properly acknowledged and signed before a notary public, in which the holder of such certificate shall state whether

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