§ 2018-e. Early mail ballots for school district elections. 1. The
board of education of any union free, central or central high school
district which elects school board members by ballot and provides for
personal registration of voters, shall provide for early mail ballots
for the election of members of the board of education and school
district public library trustees, the adoption of the annual budget and
school district public library budget and referenda, in accordance with
the provisions of this section.

1-a. In counties with a population of one million or more, the board
of education of any union free, central or central high school district
which elects school board members by ballot and provides for personal
registration of voters shall provide for early mail ballots for the
election of members of the board of education and school district public
library trustees, the adoption of the annual budget and school district
public library budget and referenda, in accordance with the provisions
of this section.

2. a. A qualified voter may vote as an early mail voter under this
section.

b. Each person entitled to vote as an early mail voter pursuant to
this section and desirous of obtaining an early mail ballot shall make
written application therefor to the district clerk. Application forms
for use pursuant to this section shall be in a form prescribed by the
state board of elections. The use of any application which is on a form
prescribed by the state board of elections shall be acceptable.

c. The application for an early mail ballot when filed must contain in
each instance the following information:

(1) Applicant's full name, date of birth, and residence address,
including the street and number, if any, rural delivery route, if any,
mailing address if different from the residence address and an address
to which the ballot shall be mailed.

(2) A statement that the applicant is a qualified and registered
voter.

d. Such application shall include the following statement to be signed
by the voter:

I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of
my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material
false statement in the foregoing statement of application for early mail
ballot, I shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Date.....................Signature of Voter............................

e. An application must be received by the district clerk no earlier
than the thirtieth day before the election for which an early mail
ballot is sought. If the application requests that the early mail ballot
be mailed, such application must be received not later than seven days
before the election. If the applicant or their agent delivers the
application to the district clerk in person, such application must be
received not later than the day before the election. The district clerk
shall examine each application and shall determine from the information
contained therein whether the applicant is qualified under this section
to receive an early mail ballot.

f. No later than six days before the election for which an application
has been received and for which the district clerk has determined the
applicant to be qualified to vote by early mail ballot the district
clerk shall mail, by regular mail, an early mail ballot to each
qualified applicant who has applied before such day and who has
requested that such early mail ballot be mailed to him or her at the
address set forth in their application. If the applicant or their agent
delivers the application to the district clerk in person after the
seventh day before the election and not later than the day before the
election, the district clerk shall forthwith deliver such early mail
ballots for those applicants whom he or she determines are qualified to
make such applications and to receive such ballots to such applicants or
the agents named in the applications when such applicants or agents
appear in the district clerk's office.

3. If, upon examining the application required under the provisions of
subdivision two of this section, and upon such inquiry as it deems
proper, the board of registration shall be satisfied that the applicant
is a qualified voter of the district entitled to vote by early mail
ballot, such board shall place their name upon the register, thereupon
the applicant shall be issued or mailed an early mail voter's ballot and
the board of registration shall make an appropriate entry on the
register indicating that an early mail ballot has been applied for by,
and issued to, the applicant.

4. Ballots for early mail voters shall be, as nearly as practicable,
in the same form as those to be voted at the district election; if the
vote at such election shall be by ballot, the early mail ballot shall
conform to the regular ballot; if the vote of such election shall be by
voting machine, the early mail ballot shall conform as closely as
possible to the manner in which the names of the candidates, the
questions and the propositions appear on the voting machines, except
that the early mail ballot shall also contain a space for a write-in or
write-ins. Such early mail ballots shall also contain instructions as to
the proper marking thereof, in accordance with the provisions of
sections two thousand thirty-two and two thousand thirty-four of this
part. On the back of such early mail ballots shall be printed the words
"Official Ballot, Early Mail Voter".

5. a. The board of registration shall enclose each early mail voter's
ballot in an envelope which shall be labelled:

ELECTION MATERIAL

PLEASE EXPEDITE

On one side of such envelope shall be printed:

OFFICIAL BALLOT, EARLY MAIL VOTER

for

School District Election
Name of Voter ..............
Residence (street and number, if any) ......
City (or Town) of .............
County of .................
School District ..............
School Election District (if applicable) ......

The date of the election and name of the school district shall be
printed, and the name of the voter, residence, school district and
school election district (if applicable) shall be written in by the
board of registration.

b. On the reverse side of such envelope shall be printed the following
statement:

STATEMENT OF EARLY MAIL VOTER

I do declare that I am a citizen of the United States, and will be at
least eighteen years of age, on the date of the school district
election; that I will have been a resident of this state and of the
school district and school election district, if any, shown on the
reverse side of this envelope for thirty days next preceding the said
election and duly registered in the school district and school election
district, if any, shown on the reverse side of this envelope and that I
am or on such date will be, a qualified voter of said school district;
that I have not qualified, or do I intend to vote, elsewhere than as set
forth on the reverse side of this envelope; that I have not received or
offered, do not expect to receive, have not 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, as a compensation or
reward for the giving or withholding of a vote at this school district
election, and have not made any promise to influence the giving or
withholding of any such votes; that I have not made or become directly
or indirectly interested in any bet or wager depending upon the result
of this school district election; and that I have not been convicted of
bribery or any infamous crime, or, if so convicted, that I have been
pardoned or restored to all the rights of a citizen, without restriction
as to the right of suffrage, or received a certificate of relief from
disabilities or a certificate of good conduct pursuant to article
twenty-three of the correction law removing my disability to register
and vote.

I hereby declare that the foregoing is a true statement to the best of
my knowledge and belief, and I understand that if I make any material
false statement in the foregoing statement of early mail voter, I shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor.
Date................... Signature of Voter............................

c. The envelope shall be gummed, ready for sealing, and shall have
printed thereon, on the side opposite the statement, instructions as to
the duties of the voter after the marking of the ballot, which
instructions shall include a specific direction stating that the
envelope must reach the office of the clerk of the school district not
later than five P.M. on the day of the election in order that their vote
may be canvassed.

d. A person who shall make any material false statement in the
statement of early mail voter appearing on the reverse side of the
envelope as provided in this subdivision, shall be guilty of a
misdemeanor.

6. The board of registration shall make a list of all persons to whom
early mail voter's ballots shall have been issued and file such list in
the office of the clerk where it shall be available for public
inspection during regular office hours until the day of the election.
Any qualified voter may, upon examination of such list, file a written
challenge of the qualifications as a voter of any person whose name
appears on such list, stating the reasons for such challenge. A
challenge to an early mail voter may not be made on the basis that the
voter should have applied for an absentee ballot. Such written challenge
shall be transmitted by the clerk to the inspectors of election on
election day.

7. a. The board of registration shall be authorized to call upon the
commissioner of police and the officers and members of the police force
for such assistance in the enforcement of the provisions of this section
as such board shall require, and such commissioner and officers and
members of the police force shall be authorized to render such
assistance.

b. The board of registration may require any person to attend before
it at the office of the clerk of the school district and be examined by
the board as to any matter in relation to which such board is charged
with a duty under this section, and may issue a subpoena therefor. Each
member of such board shall be authorized to administer any oath that may
be required or authorized by law in this connection.

8. No early mail voter's ballot shall be canvassed, unless it shall
have been received in the office of the clerk of the school district not
later than five P.M. on the day of the election.

9. The clerk of the district shall, on the day of the election,
transmit all early mail voters' envelopes, received by them in
accordance with subdivision eight of this section, to the inspectors of
election.

10. If, at the school district election, any early mail voters'
envelopes shall have been received at the polling place, the inspectors
of election immediately after the closing of the polls shall examine
them, and shall compare the signature, if any, on each envelope with the
signature, if any, on the register, of the person of the same name who
registered from the same address. If the signatures are found to
correspond, the inspectors shall certify thereto by signing their
initials opposite the name of the voter at the appropriate place in the
register. If a person whose name is on an envelope as a voter, shall
have already voted in person at such school district election, or if
their name, residence and signature, as stated on the envelope, are not
on the register, or if there is no signature on the envelope, this
envelope shall be laid aside unopened and be returned unopened to the
clerk of the district. If such person is found to be registered and has
not so voted in person, and if no objection is made, or if an objection
made be not sustained, the envelope shall be opened and the ballot
withdrawn without unfolding and deposited in the proper box or boxes. At
the time of the deposit of such ballot, the inspectors shall enter the
words "early mail vote" at an appropriate place in the register.

11. During such examination any qualified voter present in the polling
place may object to the voting of the ballot contained in any envelope
upon the ground or grounds that the person named thereon is not a
qualified voter of the school district, or school election district
(where applicable). An inspector shall make such an objection if he
shall know or suspect that the person named on such envelope is not such
a qualified voter. The inspectors of election shall forthwith proceed to
determine each objection including any written challenge transmitted to
them by the district clerk as provided in subdivision six of this
section. Unless the inspectors, by majority vote, shall sustain the
objection, the chairman, or if he refuses, another inspector shall
endorse upon the envelope the objection and the words "not sustained,"
shall sign such endorsement, and shall open the envelope and deposit the
ballot as provided in this section. Should the inspectors, by majority
vote, sustain such objection, the objection and word "sustained" shall
be similarly endorsed upon the envelope, the envelope shall not be
opened nor the ballots therein canvassed, and such envelope shall be
returned unopened to the clerk of the district. If the inspectors of
election shall have received an envelope endorsed with the name of a
person who to the knowledge of the inspectors is deceased on the day of
the election, the inspectors shall return such envelope unopened to the
clerk of the district with the words "deceased--objection sustained"
endorsed on the envelope.

12. If the inspectors of election shall have received an envelope, and
upon opening the same no ballot shall be found therein, the inspectors
shall make a memorandum showing that the ballot is missing. When the
casting of early mail voters' ballots shall have been completed, the
inspectors shall ascertain the number of such ballots which have been
deposited in the ballot box by deducting from the number of envelopes
opened the number of missing ballots, and shall make a separate return
thereof in duplicate. The number of early mail voters' ballots deposited
in the ballot box shall be added to the number of other ballots
deposited in the ballot box in order to determine the number of all
ballots to be accounted for in the ballot box. Such ballots shall then
be counted or canvassed by the inspectors of election along with the
other ballots cast at such school district election, or, where voting
machines are used, shall be added to the votes recorded on such
machines.

13. Where the district shall have been divided into school election
districts pursuant to the provisions of this chapter, the provisions of
this section shall be applicable, provided that any reference in this
section to the term "board of registration" shall in such case refer to
the board of registration appointed by the board of education for each
school election district, except that paragraph b of subdivision seven
of this section shall apply according to its terms.