Section 1-104 - DefinitionsThe terms used in this chapter shall have the significance herein defined unless another meaning is clearly apparent in language or context.
1. The term "political unit" means the state or any political subdivision thereof or therein.2. The term "unit of representation" means any political unit from which members of any committee or delegates to a party convention shall be elected as provided in this chapter.3. The term "party" means any political organization which , excluding blank and void ballots, at the last preceding election for governor received, at least two percent of the total votes cast for its candidate for governor, or one hundred thirty thousand votes, whichever is greater, in the year in which a governor is elected and at least two percent of the total votes cast for its candidate for president, or one hundred thirty thousand votes, whichever is greater, in a year when a president is elected.4. The term "party position" means membership on a party committee or the position of delegate or alternate to a party convention.5. The term "party officer" means one who holds any party position or any party office whether by election, appointment or otherwise.6. The term "committee" means any committee chosen, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, to represent the members of a party in any political unit.7. The term "designation" means any method in accordance with the provisions of this chapter by which candidates for party nomination for public office or for election to party position may be named for the purpose of any primary election.8. The term "official ballot" refers to the paper ballot on which the voter casts his vote, or the face of a voting machine as prepared for the voter to cast his vote at any election held in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.9. The terms "primary" or "primary election" mean only the mandated election at which enrolled members of a party may vote for the purpose of nominating party candidates and electing party officers.10. The terms "uncontested office" and "uncontested position", used in connection with a primary election of a party, mean an office or position for which the number of candidates designated does not exceed the number to be nominated or elected thereto by the party, and for which no valid petition of enrolled members of the party requesting an opportunity to write in the name of an undesignated candidate has been filed.11. The term "nomination" means the selection in accordance with the provisions of this chapter of a candidate for an office authorized to be filled at an election.12. The term "independent body" means any organization or group of voters which nominates a candidate or candidates for office to be voted for at an election, and which is not a party as herein provided.13. The term "independent nomination" means nomination by an independent body.14. Words of masculine gender include the feminine except where the provision clearly applies to only one sex.15. The term "veterans' hospital" means any sanitarium, hospital, soldiers' and sailors' home, United States Veterans' Administration Hospital, or other home or institution, which is used, operated and conducted exclusively for the care, maintenance and treatment of persons serving in the military or naval service or coast guard of the United States or the state of New York, or persons who (a) were honorably discharged from such service, or (b) have a qualifying condition, as defined in section one of the veterans' services law, and have received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such service, or (c) are a discharged LGBT veteran, as defined in section one of the veterans' services law, and have received a discharge other than bad conduct or dishonorable from such service.16. The term "county legislative body" shall mean the elected governing body of a county, and in the city of New York, the city council.17. The term "ballot proposal" means any constitutional amendment, proposition, referendum or other question submitted to the voters at any election.18. The word "ballot" when referring to voting machines or systems means that portion of the cardboard or paper or other material or electronic display within the ballot frame containing the name of the candidate and the emblem of the party organization by which he was nominated, of the form of submission of a proposed constitutional amendment, proposition referendum or question as provided in this chapter, with the word "yes" for voting for any question or the word "no" for voting against any question except that where the question or proposition is submitted only to the voters of a territory wholly within a county or city, such form shall be determined by the county board of elections. Such statement and the title shall be printed and/or displayed in the largest type or display which it is practicable to use in the space provided.19. The term "ballot label" means the printed strips of cardboard or paper used on the voting machine containing the names of the candidates nominated, and the questions submitted.20. The term "write-in ballot" means a vote cast for a person whose name does not appear on the ballot labels.21. The term "protective counter" means a separate counter built into the voting machine that cannot be reset, and which records the total number of movements of the operating lever.22. The term "residence" shall be deemed to mean that place where a person maintains a fixed, permanent and principal home and to which he, wherever temporarily located, always intends to return.23. The term "voting machine custodian" shall mean a city, town or board of elections employee charged with the duty of repairing and maintaining voting machines.24. The term "major political parties" means the two parties which polled for their respective candidates for the office of governor the highest and next highest number of votes at the last preceding election for such office.25. The term "election officer" shall mean any person who, pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, performs any official duty or function in the electoral process.26. The term "board of elections" shall mean the board of elections of any county in the state of New York and the board of elections of the city of New York and with respect to villages located in more than one county, shall mean the board of elections of that county containing more than fifty percent of the population of the village as shown by the last federal decennial or special census.27. The term "personal application" means a signed writing which may be delivered by mailing or in person.28. The term "caucus" shall mean an open meeting held in a political subdivision to nominate the candidates of a political party for public office to be elected in such subdivision at which all the enrolled voters of such party residing in such subdivision are eligible to vote.29. The term "ballot label programming" means any computerized instructions which control the placement or the printing of candidates' names and ballot proposals on voting machines of a type approved after September first, nineteen hundred eighty-six.30. The term "ballot label programming data" means the names and ballot positions of candidates and ballot proposals stored on any computerized device through the use of ballot label programming.31. The term "resident vote tabulation programming" means the permanent computerized instructions which are built into any approved voting machine or equipment and which control the recordation, aggregation, tabulation, storage and printing of votes by any such machine or equipment.32. "General village election" means the annual or biennial election for village officers.33. "Special village election" means any election of village officers, other than the general village election.34. "Village primary" means any election held by a political party for the purpose of nominating candidates for elective village offices.35. The term "election" shall include a "general village election" or "special village election" except where a specific provision of this chapter may not be consistently applied to the village election procedure.36. "Name stamp" means any device which, when applied with ink or other permanent dye, can be used to imprint a person's name to a write-in ballot permanently.37. The term "inactive status" means a category of registered voters who have failed to respond to a residence confirmation notice provided for by section 5-712 of this chapter and whose registrations have neither been restored to the active registration rolls nor been cancelled pursuant to the provisions of this chapter.38. "Computer generated registration list" means a printed or electronic list of voters in alphabetical order for a single election district or poll site, generated from a computer registration file for each election and containing for each voter listed, a facsimile of the signature of the voter. Such a list may be in a single volume or in more than one volume. The list may be utilized in place of registration poll records, to establish a person's eligibility to vote in the polling place on election day. (a) The state board of elections shall promulgate minimum security standards for any electronic device, and any network or system to which the electronic device is connected, that is used to store or otherwise access a computer generated registration list, and shall also promulgate a list of devices that are approved for use. No local board of elections shall be permitted to use such a device unless the state board of elections has previously approved the device for use and has certified that the network or system to which the electronic device is connected is compliant with the minimum security standards. (b) The minimum security standards for such devices shall be commensurate with the level of security risk applicable to such devices and shall specifically take into account any security risk associated with voting equipment-related supply chains in addition to any other applicable security risk. (c) The state board of elections shall promulgate minimum redundancy procedures to ensure a list of registration records is available that provides necessary information in a compressed format to ensure voting continues if the electronic computer generated registration system becomes unavailable for any poll site or election district that utilizes such an electronic computer generated registration list. 39. The term "name" for purposes of designating or nominating a candidate for public office or party position shall mean an individual's formal name or an alternate, anglicized, or familiar form of a name or nickname, notwithstanding the candidate's proper name as it appears on his or her voter registration form, provided that such name is demonstrated to be commonly used to identify the candidate in the candidate's community, does not include a descriptive term, and further provided that the use of such name is not intended to mislead or confuse potential signatories, and would not tend to confuse or mislead potential signatories, as to the candidate's identity.Amended by New York Laws 2022 , ch. 56, Sec. PP-49, eff. 4/1/2023.Amended by New York Laws 2021 , ch. 490, Sec. 1, eff. 10/22/2021.Amended by New York Laws 2020 , ch. 58, Sec. ZZZ-10, eff. 4/3/2020.Amended by New York Laws 2019 , ch. 490, Sec. 19, eff. 11/12/2020.Amended by New York Laws 2019 , ch. 55, Sec. XX-1, eff. 4/12/2019.