§ 3-220. Records and photostats; preservation and sale. 1. All
registration records, certificates, lists, and inventories referred to
in, or required by, this chapter shall be public records and open to
public inspection under the immediate supervision of the board of
elections or its employees and subject to such reasonable regulations as
such board may impose, provided, however, that a voter's driver's
license number, department of motor vehicle non-driver photo ID number,
social security number and facsimile number shall not be released for
public inspection. No such records shall be handled at any time by any
person other than a member of a registration board or board of
inspectors of elections or board of elections except as provided by
rules imposed by the board of elections.

2. The central file registration records shall be kept in locked
filing cabinets in the office of the board of elections or, in the
appropriate branch offices of the board of elections. Such records shall
be taken from such file and handled only where necessary to make entries
thereon or take other action in connection therewith as required by this
article. The board of elections may cause to be made, photostatic copy
or copies of the registration poll records of registered voters in any
election district and shall cause such photostatic copies to be placed
in one or more ledgers in the same manner and in the same order as the
original registration poll records appear in the ledger or ledgers
containing the registration poll records for such election district.
Such photostatic records shall be open to public inspection, in lieu of
the original registration records.

3. Registration records which have been mutilated or voided or which,
following the refusal of a board taking registrations to permit an
applicant to register, have been marked "Refused" shall be retained by
the board of elections for at least two years. Upon destruction of any
such records the board shall keep a file of the serial numbers of the
records so destroyed. Reports of deaths shall be retained by the board
of elections for two years. In January of each year, the board of
elections may remove from its files and may destroy the check cards of
persons whose registrations were cancelled more than two years
previously.

4. Subsequent to the expiration of ten years after the receipt thereof
or, in the case of registration records, subsequent to the expiration of
two years after cancellation of the registration to which they relate,
the board of elections, in lieu of preserving any of the records as
hereinbefore provided, may preserve photostatic, microphotographic or
photographic film copies thereof, and may destroy the original records
and is authorized to do so in accordance with the provisions of article
thirteen of the state finance law. If the board of elections maintains a
computer readable registration record for each registered voter, which
includes a copy of the entire registration poll record or application
for registration of each such voter, the original poll record or
application for registration may, with the permission of the state board
of elections, be so destroyed subsequent to the expiration of two years
after such copy is entered in the computer readable record. If such
copies in the computer readable record do not include the backs of those
registration poll records which have been used at one or more elections,
then all such poll records which have been used at one or more elections
may, with the permission of the state board of elections, be so
destroyed subsequent to the expiration of two years after such copy is
entered in the computer readable record, or subsequent to the expiration
of four years after the last election at which such poll record was
used, whichever is later.

5. Any such photostatic, microphotographic or photographic film copy
made pursuant to this section or any such computer readable record shall
be deemed to be an original record for all purposes and, when
satisfactorily identified, may be introduced in evidence in any judicial
or administrative proceeding. An enlargement, facsimile or certified
copy thereof shall, for all purposes, be deemed to be an enlargement,
facsimile or certified copy of the original record and may likewise be
introduced in evidence if the film copy or the computer readable record
is in existence and available for inspection under direction of the
court or administrative agency. The introduction in evidence of a film
copy or a copy of a computer readable record, or an enlargement,
facsimile or certified copy thereof, shall not preclude introduction of
the original record.

6. All petitions, certificates, objections or papers filed or
deposited with a board or officer before an election or primary and
relating to designations or nominations, and all registers, books,
statements, returns or papers so filed or deposited after registration,
enrollment, election or primary at which they were used or to which they
relate, not including, however, the voted, unused, protested, void or
wholly blank ballots, shall be preserved by such board or officer for at
least two years after the receipt thereof and until the determination of
any action or proceeding touching the same or in which they are ordered
to be preserved pending the action or proceeding and at the expiration
of such time they may be either destroyed or sold. Lists of registered
voters with computer generated facsimile signatures used in lieu of
registration poll records at any election shall be preserved until the
end of the second calendar year after the year of such election. In all
jurisdictions, the original statements of results made by the state
board of canvassers or a county or city board of canvassers and any
original record specifying the name of a person declared to have been
elected to a public office shall not be destroyed or sold but shall be
preserved, as part of the records of such board or officer, until
otherwise provided by law.

6-a. During the period prescribed by subdivision six of this section,
no petition shall be removed from the office of the board of elections
for copying or any other purpose except while in the custody, or under
the supervision of a member or employee of such board or pursuant to
court order.

7. Upon the sale of any property authorized by this section to be
destroyed or sold, the proceeds shall be paid over as follows: If sold
by the board of elections, the proceeds shall be paid into the county
treasury, or, in the city of New York, into the city treasury. If sold
by the clerk of a city, town or village, the proceeds shall be paid to
its fiscal officer for its benefit. Proceeds of the sale of any such
property in the office of the state board of elections shall be paid
over as provided by law with respect to other state moneys in the hands
of a state officer.