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Current as of January 01, 2026 | Updated by Findlaw Staff
1. If any voting machine or voting system for use in any election shall become out of order during an election it shall, if possible, be repaired or another machine or voting system substituted as promptly as possible. In case such repair or substitution cannot be made, emergency ballots, printed or written, and of any suitable form, shall be provided by the board of elections and may be used for the casting of votes.
2. If the official ballots for an election district shall not be delivered within the time necessary to open the polls, or shall be lost, destroyed or stolen, or if the supply of official ballots shall be exhausted before the polls are closed, the board of elections, or at its direction, the town or city clerk, or the election inspectors of such district, shall cause emergency ballots to be prepared, printed or written, as nearly in the form of the official ballots as practicable. The inspectors shall use the ballots so substituted in the same manner, as near as may be, as the official ballots.
3. It shall be the duty of each board of elections to cause a sufficient number of emergency ballots to be placed at each polling place in which voting machines or voting systems are used, to be employed in the event the voting machines or voting systems break down. At any time during the hour succeeding a breakdown, the inspectors of election may use such emergency ballots, and if such breakdown lasts more than one hour, such emergency ballots must be used. The sample ballots may be used for this purpose in full or reduced size.
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - New York Consolidated Laws, Election Law - ELN § 7-120. Ballots; emergency use, to be furnished - last updated January 01, 2026 | https://codes.findlaw.com/ny/election-law/eln-sect-7-120/
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