$$ 303a803h diled ch. 21 ch. 140). edged, or by reason of change of residence made after appointment, or by reason of misnomer or misspelling of name or other errors made in the appointment or commission of said notary public or commissioner of deeds, or by reason of omission or failure to take the prescribed oath of office within the time required by law, or by reason of such person being under the age of twentyone years, or by reason of the expiration of the term of office of such notaries public or commissioners of deeds, or by reason of such notary holding some other civil office within the state or by reason of failure of a notary public to file his certificate of appointment and official oath as such notary in a county other than the county in which such appointment was made and the certificate of such appointment was duly filed, where such notary public or commissioner of deeds has acted in good faith, upon payment being made by such notary public or commissioner of deeds of the legal fees for holding such office or filing such certificate, are hereby legalized and confirmed and made effectual and valid, as the official acts of a notary public or commissioner of deeds legally qualified to perform the same, as fully as if neither of the various errors, omissions, matters and conditions hereinabove enumerated had occurred or existed. § 2. This act shall take effect immediately. CHAPTER 449 AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to school elections in union free school districts. Became a law April 25, 1924, with the approval of the Governor. Passed, three-fifths being present. The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: Section 1. Chapter twenty-one of the laws of nineteen hundred to L. 1909, and nine, entitled "An act relating to education, constituting chapter sixteen of the consolidated laws," as amended by chapter of L. 1910, one hundred and forty of the laws of nineteen hundred and ten. is hereby amended by inserting therein after section three hundred and three, new sections, to be sections three hundred and three-a, three hundred and three-b, three hundred and three-c, three hundred and three-d, three hundred and three-e, three hundred and three-f, three hundred and three-g and three hundred and three-b, to read as follows: § 303-a. Registration of voters. In any city school district whose boundaries are not coterminous with those of a city, or in a union free school district having a population of more than four thousand five hundred, the board of education may upon its own motion and shall upon the petition of twenty-five qualified electors of the district, cause to be submitted at any annual meeting, or at any special meeting a proposition for the registration of voters at school meetings in such district as provided in this section. If such petition be presented after the annual meet ing, within such district, and before the expiration of eight months thereafter, a special meeting shall be called by the board of education in the manner provided by law, within ten days after the presentation of such petition, to be held not more than thirty days. after such meeting is called by the board. If a petition be presented at any other time, and more than thirty days prior to the annual meeting, the proposition shall be submitted at such annual meeting for such district, and notice of the submission of such proposition shall be included in the notice of the annual meeting. Notice of special meeting for the submission of such a proposition shall be given in the same manner as for an annual meeting. Such special meeting shall be held by the same officers and conducted in the same manner as an annual meeting. If such proposition be adopted, the board of education in such district shall immediately designate four qualified electors of such district to constitute a board of registration and canvass for such district. Not more than two of the persons so designated shall belong to the same political party. Each member of the board of registration and canvass shall be entitled to compensation at the rate of seven dollars for each day actually and necessarily spent upon the duties of his office. Such board of registration and canvass of such district shall meet on the tenth day preceding each school meeting or election in such district at such place in the school district, and at such hours, as the board of education shall by resolution designate at least twenty days before each registration day designated, which hours shall include at least four consecutive hours between seven o'clock in the morning and eight o'clock in the evening, for the purpose of preparing a register for such meeting or election. Such register shall, so far as practicable, be in the same form as the register of voters in an election district for general elections outside of a city or village having five thousand inhabitants or more, under the election law. Such register shall be arranged alphabetically by the surnames, and the place of residence by street and number or otherwise of each person named on the list shall be given, or if none, some description accurately locating such place of residence shall be given on such register. The district clerk of such district shall attend with the board of registration and canvass at such meeting. The town clerk of the town, or board of elections, as the case may be, shall upon application deliver to such board of registration and canvass, the register of the last preceding general election in any election district in which such school district is wholly or partly situated. Thereupon, the board of registration and canvass and the district clerk, shall, for the annual meeting of the school district, prepare a register of the qualified electors of such school district by copying from the town register, the names of all persons qualified to vote at school district meetings within such school district which appear upon the registers of voters of the election districts wholly or partly in such school district for the last preceding general election, except the names of such voters as are proven to the satisfaction of such board of registration and canvass, to have ceased to be voters in such district since their names were placed upon such registers, and shall add to the register of qualified electors of such school district, the names of all persons known or proven to the satisfaction of such board of registration and canvass, to be then or thereafter entitled and qualified to vote at the school district meeting for which such register is made. Such board of registration and canvass shall in like manner prepare a register for each special school meeting within such school district, except that the register for the annual meeting in such school district shall be used by them as the basis therefor. All of the provisions of the election law in relation to the registration of voters outside of a city or village having five thousand inhabitants or more, shall so far as practicable apply to the registration provided for in this section, except that the names of only the voters qualified by the provisions of this chapter to vote at school district meetings, shall be placed upon such register for annual or special meetings. The district clerk shall furnish the necessary blank books and blanks at the expense of such school district. School meetings and elections in such school district, shall be thereafter conducted in the manner provided by this chapter, except that no person shall be entitled to vote thereat, whose name does not appear upon the register of the school district in which he claims to be entitled to vote. In all cases, the board of registration and canvass shall cause the district clerk at least twenty days before the date of the annual or special school meeting or election, for which a register is to be prepared as above, to post in twenty of the most public places within such district, a notice stating that at a place and hour or hours at which such board of registration and canvass shall meet to prepare such register, any person shall be entitled to have his name placed upon such register, provided that at such meeting of the board of registration and canvass, he is known or proven to the satisfaction of such board of registration and canvass, to be then or thereafter entitled to vote at the school meeting or election for which such register is made. § 303-b. Official ballots. 1. Where a proposition for the registration of voters in any union free school district shall have been adopted as above provided in section three hundred and three-a of this chapter, candidates for members of the board of education shall be nominated by petition. Such petition shall be directed to the clerk of the school district, and shall be signed by at least twenty-five qualified electors of the school district entitled to elect the candidates so nominated, and shall state the names and residences of the candidates, and whether such candidates are nominated for full terms or for the unexpired portions of such term. Each petition shall be filed with the clerk of such school district on or before the second Monday preceding the date of the annual school meeting or of the election at which the candidates so nominated are to be chosen. 2. The board of education shall cause to be printed official ballots containing the names of all candidates nominated as above provided. Such ballots shall separately state whether the persons named thereupon are candidates for full terms or for portions of terms. The names of the candidates shall be arranged alphabetically according to their surnames in columns under titles or designations showing whether they are to be elected for full terms or portions of terms and voting spaces provided in which the voter may vote for such candidate by making a cross X mark. Sufficient blanks shall be provided in each such column so that electors may vote for candidates who have not been nominated for the offices to be filled at such election. Such ballots shall have printed thereon, instructions as to the marking of the ballots, and as to voting for persons who are not named thereon, and the number of the candidates for which an elector is permitted to vote. 3. Whenever a question or proposition is required to be submitted at an annual or special school meeting, the ballots therefor shall conform as nearly as may be to the ballots required to be used under the election law for the submission of questions or propositions at a general election. 4. The number of ballots to be printed and available for use at an annual or special school meeting or election shall at least equal the number of qualified electors in the school district as appears from the list of qualified electors thereof. The clerk of the board. of education shall cause to be delivered to the inspectors of election, on the day of the meeting and not before, a sufficient supply of the ballots for the use of the qualified electors thereof. Such ballots shall be printed at the expense of the school district and the cost shall be paid out of the school funds in the same manner as other school expenses. § 303-c. Register to be filed; addition to and correction of register; challenges. 1. The register prepared as provided in section three hundred and three-a of this chapter shall, immediately upon its completion and not less than seven days prior to the time set for the school meeting or election at which it is to be used, be filed in the office of the clerk of such board of education, and thereafter shall at all reasonable times be open to inspection by any qualified elector of such election district. Immediately after the filing such register the clerk of such board of education shall post in twenty of the most conspicuous places within such school district, a notice stating that such register has been filed and showing the place at which it is on file and the hours during which it will be open for inspection on each day up to and including the day set for the meeting or election. 2. Any person whose name is not upon such register, who is or will be a qualified elector of the district at such meeting or election, may before the day set for the meeting or election, file a written sworn statement with the secretary or clerk of the board of education giving his name, place of residence, occupation and the school district in which he resides, and specifying the qualifications which entitle him to vote at such meeting or election. The *So in original. [Evidently word "of" omitted.] name of such person shall thereupon be placed upon such register. 3. If a qualified elector is a resident of a school district and his name appears on a register as a resident of another district, a written sworn statement may be filed by such voter with the secretary or clerk of the board of education showing his correct residence and the name of such voter shall thereupon be stricken from such register and placed upon the proper register. 4. Statements and challenges shall be received and preserved by the clerk of the board or other person designated by the board, and immediately upon receiving any such sworn statement of an elector, applying to have his name placed upon the register or any challenge as to a name already thereon, the clerk shall file such statement or challenge or copy thereof, with the register and hold the same open for inspection by any qualified elector of the district. Upon the face of such statement or challenge, the clerk shall write clearly what action was taken with reference thereto, immediately upon such action being taken. 5. The clerk of the board of education shall cause a copy of the register of such school district to be delivered on the day of the election before the opening of the polls to the inspectors of election at each voting place within the district at the place or places where the election is to be held. If there be not more than one voting place the clerk shall produce the register at the place of the meeting or election, at the opening thereof. 6. A qualified elector may, upon the examination of such list, file a written challenge of the qualifications as an elector of any person whose name appears on such list. § 303-d. Penalty for false declaration or unauthorized vote. A person who shall wilfully make a false declaration or false statement to such board of registration and canvass, or to any member or members or the secretary or clerk of the district, for the purpose of having his name placed upon the register, provided for in the last section, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. § 303-e. Review by supreme court or county judge. 1. The supreme court or a justice thereof, or the county judge within the county in which such school district is situated, in a proceeding instituted by any voter who at the meeting of the board of regis tration and canvass provided for in section three hundred and three-a, made to the board of registration and canvass, satisfactory proof that he was or would be entitled to vote at the election for which the board of registration and canvass was at such meeting convened to prepare a register, and to whom such registration had been refused by such board of registration and canvass shall, by order, compel the registration of such elector; and in a proceeding instituted by any elector shall by order direct to be stricken from the register any names unlawfully thereon, and shall order such board of registration and canvass, if necessary, to reconvene for such purposes not less than two nor more than four days before election day. Written notice of an application under this section must be given to the board of registration and canvass, by service thereof on two of the members thereof. |