5-712. Confirmation notices. 1. The board of elections shall send a confirmation notice by forwardable first class or return postage guaranteed mail to every registered voter or applicant for registration, at the address at which the voter is registered or the address on the application for registration, when any mail sent to such voter or applicant is returned as undeliverable by the postal service without any indication of a forwarding address and to any voter for whom notice that the voter has moved without leaving a forwarding address, is received from the United States Postal Service through the National Change of Address System.
2. (a) The board of elections shall also send a confirmation notice to every registered voter for whom it receives a notice of change of address to an address not in such city or county which is not signed by the voter. Such change of address notices shall include, but not be limited to, notices of change of address received pursuant to subdivision eleven of section 5-211 and subdivision six of section 5-212 of this article, notice of change of address from the United States Postal Service through the National Change of Address System or from any other agency of the federal government or any agency of any state or local government and notice of a forwarding address on mail sent to a voter by the board of elections and returned by the postal service. Such confirmation notices shall be sent to such new address.
(b) If a notice sent pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision to the voter at the new address is returned as undeliverable, the board of elections shall send another such notice to the address at which the voter was originally registered.
3. Such notices shall be in a form prescribed by the state board of elections and shall include a postage-paid return card on which the voter may confirm the fact that he still resides at the address to which the notice was sent, or notify the board of any change of address. Such notices shall request all voters who receive the notice to reply with their current addresses. Such notices shall request all voters who receive the notice to reply with their current addresses and shall state that voters who have not moved or who have moved within the county or city and who do not respond may be required to vote by affidavit ballot and that if they do not vote in any election up to and including the second federal election after such notice, their registrations may be cancelled. Such notices sent to addresses in New York state shall also include a mail registration form and information on how voters who have moved to a different city or county may reregister.
4. No such confirmation notices shall be sent between June first in any year and the date of the general election in such year or in the ninety days before a spring primary election except that such notices shall be sent forthwith to persons for whom an acknowledgment of acceptance of registration sent pursuant to subdivision nine of section 5-210 of this article is returned to the board of elections as undeliverable and to every registered voter for whom the board of elections receives a notice of change of address described in paragraph a of subdivision two of this section to an address not in such city or county.
5. All voters or applicants to whom a confirmation notice is sent, pursuant to the provisions of this section, shall forthwith be placed in inactive status.
Last modified: February 3, 2019