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.
Last modified: February 3, 2019