to vote in such election district at the election for which such meeting is held. § 184. Penalties. Any applicant for registration, inspector or other person who shall incorporate or cause to be incorporated any false statement in any challenge affidavit shall be deemed guilty of perjury. Except as provided in this article any person who shall wilfully suppress, alter, destroy or mutilate any signed challenge affidavit or official copy thereof shall be deemed guilty of a felony. Any person knowingly taking a false cath before the board of inspectors shall upon conviction thereof be punished as for wilful and corrupt perjury. Any person who shall alter, mutilate, destroy or remove from the place of registration the public copy of registration shall be guilty of a felony, and shall be punished upon conviction thereof by imprisonment in a state prison for not less than two nor more than five years, unless otherwise provided by law. Any person who signs and mails or delivers to the custodian of primary records an enrollment blank as provided in this chapter, which shall be false in any respect or with intent to mislead, or any person who induces or attempts to induce any person so to do, is guilty of a misdemeanor. The fact that such statement is untrue shall be prima facie proof that it is false and intended to mislead. Any person who shall make, sign, file or cause to be filed, certify or attest any false application for registration as required by sections one hundred and fifty-eight and one hundred and fifty-nine of this chapter, or any person who shall alter, mutilate, destroy or remove any such application from the place of registration, shall be guilty of a felony and shall be punished upon conviction thereof by imprisonment in a state prison for not less than two years nor more than five years, unless otherwise provided by law. [As amended by chaps. 587 and 820, Laws of 1913.] ARTICLE 7 11 Board of Elections Section 190. Boards of elections established. 191. Appointment, term and qualification of commissioners of elections. 192. Organization of board; rules and reports. 11 Title of article amended by chap. 649, Laws of 1911. Section 193. Salaries of commissioners of elections. 194. Recommendations for appointment of commissioners of elections. 195. Filling vacancies in board. 196. Bi-partisan character of board. 198. General office and branches. 199. Duty of police to aid board of elections. 200. Expenses of board of elections. 201. Disposition of registers and unused ballots. 202, 12 Custodian of primary records. 203. 12 Official seal. 204. 12 Filing statement of canvass, tally sheets and pollbooks. 205. 12 Notices. 206. 12 Transfer of records; devolution of powers. 207. 12 Office hours, rules and regulations of boards of elections. 208. 12All records to be public; records of transactions of the boards of elections. 209-a. Article not applicable to Oneida and Broome counties; powers and duties of county clerks in such counties defined. § 190. 13Boards of elections established. There shall be a board of elections in every city of the first class in this state which does, or shall, contain within its boundaries more than one county, to consist of four persons. There shall be a board of elections in each of the other counties of the state, but in counties having a population of less than one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants such board shall consist of two persons. In other counties of the state such board shall consist of two or four members as the board of supervisors of the county may by resolution determine. In every such other county where four commis "In any 12 Sections 202 to 208, inclusive, added by chap. 649, Laws of 1911. 13 Section 4, chap. 406, Laws of 1912, also provides as follows: county in which the number of the commissioners constituting the board of elections is reduced by the provisions of this act, the board of supervisors shall, within thirty days after this act takes effect, designate the two members of such board of opposite political faith who shall retire therefrom. Upon the adoption of a resolution to that effect, the terms of office of such retiring members shall cease and determine and the remaining members shall thereafter constitute, until the expiration of their terms, the board of elections of such county." sioners of election have been appointed and the number of said commissioners is reduced to two, the board of supervisors shall within sixty days after this amendment takes effect reduce the number of commissioners to two by designating the two who are to continue; and from the time of such designation the offices of the others shall be deemed abolished. Except in the city of New York the salaries of such commissioners and their expenditures for clerk hire shall be fixed by the board of supervisors of each county, but shall not exceed the following amounts: In each county having a population of less than ninety thousand and which does not contain within its boundaries at least three cities of the third class the salary of a commissioner shall not exceed one thousand dollars, and the expenditure for clerk hire, including stenographer, each year, shall not exceed fifteen hundred dollars. In each county having a population of less than ninety thousand and containing within its boundaries at least three cities of the third class and in each county having a population of ninety thousand and less than one hundred and twenty thousand the salary of a commissioner shall not exceed fifteen hundred dollars, and the expenditure for clerk hire, including stenographer, each year, shall not exceed three thousand dollars each year. In each county having a population of one hundred and twenty thousand and less than five hundred thousand the salary of a commissioner shall not exceed three thousand dollars, and the expenditure for clerk hire, including stenographer each year, shall not exceed five thousand dollars. In each county having a population of five hundred thousand and less than a million the salary of a commissioner shall not exceed three thousand dollars. The population of the various counties of the state referred to in this section shall be fixed and determined according to the latest preceding federal census, or state enumeration. Not more than two of such commissioners, if the board of elections consist of four members, and not more than one of such commissioners if said board consists of two members, shall belong to the same political party or be of the same political opinion on state or national politics. The persons composing such boards of elections shall be designated commissioners of elections." Each of the said boards of elections shall be and is hereby charged with the duty of executing the laws relating to all elections held within their respective cities or counties, except as otherwise provided by law. [As amended by chaps. 649 and 740, Laws of 1911, chap. 406, Laws of 1912, chaps. 800 and 820, Laws of 1913.] § 191. Appointment, term and qualifications of commissioners of elections. All commissioners of elections shall be appointed by the board of supervisors of the county in which such board of elections is located and in the city of New York by the board of aldermen of such city. The supervisors of each county and the members of the board of aldermen of the city of New York shall appoint the commissioners of elections for their respective counties and the city of New York. Such appointment shall be evidenced by the supervisors of each county or the board of aldermen of the city of New York making such appointments, executing a certificate substantially as follows: "We, the undersigned, comprising the supervisors of .... county (the members of the board of aldermen of the city of New York) do hereby, pursuant to the election law, appoint residing at ........, a commissioner of elections for said county. "In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names and the towns or wards (aldermanic districts) we represent, this ... day of .... 19. ..." and shall acknowledge said certificate. Said certificate shall thereupon be filed in the office of the county clerk of said county and said county clerk shall immediately upon such filing notify the secretary of state of such appointments. All such appointments shall be for the full term of two years, beginning at twelve o'clock noon of January first in each odd numbered year. Each of the said commissioners of elections shall be at the time of his appointment a resident and an elector of the political subdivision for which he is appointed. A commissioner of elections may, while holding such office, hold one of the following offices: Notary public, commissioner of deeds, police justice of a village, trustee or officer of a common or union school district outside of a city, justice of the peace of a town, and any other office filled by election or appointment within or for a town or village, or district or subdivision of either, except supervisor, town clerk, inspector of election, poll clerk or ballot clerk. Such commissioner shall not hold, while he is commissioner, any other office, except as above provided; nor shall he be a candidate, while he is commissioner, for any elective office which he would not be entitled to hold under the provisions of this section, nor after he has ceased, by resignation or otherwise, to be commissioner, if the election shall occur within fifty days therefrom, and any votes cast for any person for any such office who shall have been a commissioner of elections within fifty days of the election at which such votes were cast shall be void and shall not be counted, except that such commissioner may be a candidate for the office of supervisor or town clerk while he is commissioner, and at any time thereafter, subject to the ensuing provisions of this section. Any votes cast for a person for either of such offices who shall have been a commissioner of elections, and who shall have resigned from or otherwise ceased to hold the office of commissioner at least fifteen days before the election at which such votes were cast shall be valid and shall be counted. A commissioner of elections may be removed from office by the governor for cause in the same manner as a sheriff. Any vacancy in the office of commissioner of elections shall be filled by the supervisors of such county or in the city of New York by the members of the board of aldermen within five days after the filing of the certificate provided for in section one hundred and ninetyfive of this act, and the person appointed to fill such vacancy shall hold office during the remainder of the term of the commissioner in whose place he was appointed. [As amended by chap. 649, Laws of 1911, and chap. 820, Laws of 1913.] § 192. Organization of board; rules and reports. At their first meeting the commissioners of elections shall organize as a board by electing one of their number as president and one as secretary, and in case no election can be had the members shall draw lots for such places. The board shall have power to adopt such rules and regulations for the control and conduct of the affairs of such board and of its employees as are not inconsistent with or in violation of law. The board shall keep a record of its proceedings and shall make an annual report in the month of December of the affairs and proceedings of said board to the mayor of the city of New York or to the board of supervisors of a county. The president and secretary shall not belong to the same political party. [As amended by chap. 649, Laws of 1911.] § 193. 14 Salaries of commissioners of elections. The salary of each commissioner of elections in the city of New York shall be five thousand dollars a year, payable in equal monthly instalments. The salaries of all other commissioners of elections shall be fixed by the board of supervisors appointing said commissioners and may be changed from time to time by resolution of the said board of supervisors, but shall not exceed the amounts 14 See note at foot of page 109, relative to § 4, chap. 406, Laws of 1912. |