Empowers the commissioner of education to declare a disaster has substantially impacted a school board or school budget election and to allow school boards to set an additional day for voting

Extra voting day for disaster-hit school voters

Beginning July 1, 2026, New York's education commissioner can authorize an extra voting day for disaster-hit school elections. A disaster must directly cause fewer than 8% of qualified voters to vote. The commissioner can act on a district's request or independently. Disasters include fires, earthquakes, tornadoes, explosions, power failures, sabotage, enemy attacks, or other events causing substantial property damage or threatening lives. The extra day must be 7 to 14 days after the original annual meeting and election. If that is not feasible, the commissioner can allow the district to schedule voting as soon as feasible. For a school budget revote disrupted by a disaster, extra voting must occur at least 5 days later, by June 30. Only people qualified on the original date who did not vote then can vote on the extra day. They must vote in person. The school board sets polling hours, with polls open at least 11 hours. Absentee, military, and special ballot deadlines do not change; valid ballots received on the original date remain valid. The commissioner must notify the school board and county election board of the extra date. The district clerk must mail notice to all qualified voters and post the date on the district website, if available. Newspaper notice must run at least twice weekly in two district newspapers, or once if only one exists. Notices must explain polling-place changes and the disaster determination, plus any other information the board requires. Official ballots are provided at public expense. Voting machines used originally must be reused, kept sealed and locked until polls reopen, and resealed after voting ends. Counties that supplied those machines must keep providing them until voting is complete. Original election procedures apply where practical, and the extra day does not count as submitting an item to voters again.