ARTICLE 15. SOLDIERS' AND SAILORS' ELECTIONS. Section 500. Special polls in time of war. 501. General register of absent voters. 503. Official war ballots. 504. Official envelopes for war ballots. 505. Delivery of official war ballots, poll books and envelopes. 506. Lists of nominations. 507. Polls of election. 508. Opening of the polls. 509. Organization of the polls. 510. Conduct of elections. 511. Count of votes. 512. Returns not to be rejected because of informality of election. 513. Disposition of envelopes and ballots. 514. Canvass by inspectors of election. 515. Canvass by county board. 516. Canvass by state board. 517. Returns or statements, not inade and filed prior to certain dates in any year not to be canvassed. 518. Provisions of penal law relating to crimes against the elective franchise to apply. 519. Filling vacancies in ne office of inspector of elections. 520. Elections may be contested. 521. General provisions concerning elections to apply. 522. Synopsis of this article to be published and distributed. § 500. Special polls in time of war. Whenever, in time of war, any qualified voter of this state shall be in the actual military service of this state or of the United States, in the army or navy thereof, and by reason thereof absent from his election district, such absent voter shall be entitled to vote as fully as if he were present at his place of residence in the manner hereinafter provided. Derivation: L. 1898, ch. 674, § 1. Right to vote on excise question.-The right to vote not being dependent on legislative action, it cannot be said as matter of law that, because chapter 815 of the Laws of 1917 makes no provision for taking and counting votes on excise questions submitted at an election duly held, qualified electors of a town by reason of absence while in the military service of the United States are deprived of their right to vote on such questions. Upon an application for a resubmission of such questions it is incumbent upon the petitioner to satisfy the court that the soldiers' vote, if cast or permitted, would have changed the result, and, in the absence of satisfactory evidence to that effect, the resubmission asked for will not be ordered. Matter of Zierbel (1918), 102 Misc. 626, 169 N. Y. Supp. 270; Matter of Town of Ghent (1918), 102 Misc. 259. § 501. General register of absent voters. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to prepare and make a general register on cards, by counties, in which shall be entered the names of the voters of this state absent from their respective election districts in time of war in the actual military service of this state or of the United States in the army or navy thereof. The cards in each county group shall be arranged in the alphabetical order of the names of the voters. Such card register shall contain the name and residence of each such absent voter by street and number, if any, and the name of the county and city or town in which he resides, so far as the secretary of state can ascertain the same. The card for each such absent voter shall contain also the name or number or other designation of the regiment, company, troop, vessel or other command to which such voter is attached or assigned. It shall contain also the location of such command at the time of such entry, so far as the secretary of state can ascertain the same, unless there are military reasons for omitting such information. In order to secure the necessary information to make and complete such general register, it shall be the duty of the secretary of state to obtain from the appropriate military and naval authorities or from the most expedient source the required information. The secretary of state shall furnish proper blanks for such purpose. Such general register shall be a public record and shall at all reasonable times be open for inspection by any voter of this state. It is hereby made the duty of every public officer, and of every citizen, to furnish to the secrtary of state such information as he may possess relating to such absent voters; and any person who shall refuse so to do, or shall wilfully furnish false information in reference to such absent voters, shall be deemed guilty of a felony and shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by imprisonment in a state prison for not less than one year nor more than three years. Derivation: L. 1898, ch. 674, § 2. Amended by L. 1917, ch. 815, in effect Aug. 29, 1917. Consolidators' note. The second sentence rearranged, and “he” changed to 'secretary of state." The provision imposing a duty on every citizen "to render such assistance and information as he may possess, to the secretary of state, of all the facts," etc., is made "to furnish to the secretary of state such information as he may possess," etc. § 502. Poll books and oaths. It shall be the duty of the secrtary of state to cause to be prepared and printed in book form a sufficient number of poll books, at least two books for each poll, for the use of the inspectors of elections at the polls of the elections held under the provision of this article. Such poll books shall be in the general form of those prescribed for use at elections in this state, omitting all columns except those for the number, name and residence of each voter, and so arranged that there can be entered therein, in addition to such entries, in separate columns, the name of the county and city or town in which the persons voting at such poll reside or claim to reside, and also the designation of the particular command to which each such person is attached or of which he forms a part. Upon the first page of each such poll book shall be printed the date and character of the election for which it is prepared, and blank spaces in which shall be written by the inspectors the place at which the poll was held, and the names and residences of the persons acting as inspectors of election thereat. Upon the page following the last page of each such poll book used for recording the names of voters at such poll, shall be printed a blank certificate, to be signed by the inspectors of election at the close of the polls. Such certificate shall be substantially in the following form: "We, the inspectors of election for the general (or special) election held at (here follows the name of the place) on the... day of 19... do hereby certify that the names of the persons recorded herein as having voted at such election, such persons numbering in all (here follows the number in figures and words), are all the persons who appeared before us and demanded to vote at such election, and took the oath required, and who voted at such election. Inspectors of Election." Such poll book shall also contain the oaths for the inspectors of election provided in section five hundred and nine of this article. Derivation: L. 1898, ch. 674, § 3. § 503. Official war ballot. It shall be the duty of the secretary of state to cause to be prepared and printed at least twice as many official ballots as there are voters absent from their respective election districts. All such ballots shall be uniform in size and in style of type, and the type and paper shall conform generally to that used for the regular official ballots prescribed by this chapter. At the head of the ballot shall be printed the following: "OFFICIAL WAR BALLOT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK (Year) Read instructions carefully! INSTRUCTIONS 1. To vote for all the candidates of one party for all the offices named in this ballot for which the voter is entitled to vote, make a cross X mark within the circle under the emblem of that party. 2. To vote for a certain person for a particular office, unless he is the candidate of a party under whose emblem you have made your mark in a circle, make a cross X mark in a voting square opposite his printed name, or, if his name is not printed, write it in the blank space. 3. The blank space for writing in a name is under the title of the office, or, where the names of candidates for the office are printed, is just below such printed names. 4. If two or more persons are to be elected to the same office, and you vote for a certain person or persons for that office, by individual voting marks or writing in a name or names, your vote, as to that office, will count only for the persons so indicated." Below such instructions there shall be a horizontal line, and below such line shall appear the emblems of the parties, with a circle under each emblem. Each circle shall be approximately three-quarters of an inch in diameter and surrounded by the words "for a straight ticket mark within this circle." Such emblems, and accompanying circles, shall be arranged horizon tally, in the order of priorty, of the parties according to the preceding vote for governor, from left to right, thus: Below the circles there shall be a horizontal line. Ticker This Circle. Below the horizontal line under the circles, the ballot shall be divided into columns. At an election at which one or more offices are to be voted for by all the electors of the state, there shall be printed, beginning in the first column, the names of all nominated candidates for all such offices, in appropriate sections, in the manner provided by this chapter for the regular official ballots, with titles of offices, section numbers, emblems, voting squares, names of parties and political organizations and blank spaces for writing in names of candidates, as provided for such official ballots. Following such matter, in as many columns as the secretary of state may deem advisable, or beginning in the first column if none of the offices are to be voted for by all the electors of the state, there shall be printed the titles of all other offices, as near as may be, for which any elector may vote in any election district of the state at such election. Such offices shall be classified into judicial, legislative, county, city, ward and town offices, and otherwise if there be offices of other classes. The title of each class shall be pritned above the titles of offices in such class. Below the title of each office shall be a space or spaces for writing in the name or names of the person or persons for whom the voter desires to vote if he chooses to vote in that manner. Onehalf inch shall be allowed for the title of each class of offices and one-half inch space for the title of an office and writing in the name of a person as the voter's choice for such office. Each class of offices shall be separated by a heavy horizontal line across the column. Such offices and titles, except as to the spacing, shall be printed substantially as follows: |