New York City Board of Elections Structure and History

The New York City Board of Elections (NYCBOE) is the administrative body responsible for conducting all elections within the five boroughs of New York City. From primary and special elections to general elections, the NYCBOE manages the critical infrastructure of local democracy, including voter registration, candidate petitions, and campaign finance disclosures.

Organization and Structure

The structure of the NYCBOE is enshrined in the New York state constitution and is designed to be strictly bipartisan. The Board consists of ten Commissioners—two from each of the five boroughs. These commissioners are appointed by the New York City Council for four-year terms based on recommendations from the two political parties that received the most votes in the last gubernatorial election.

To ensure that no single party controls the election process, the organization employs a unique bipartisan staffing model. Every professional position held by a Democrat must be mirrored by a duplicated position for a Republican. While intended to ensure fairness, critics argue that this reliance on political appointees rather than professional staff has led to systemic dysfunction and the persistence of patronage jobs.

Role and Responsibilities

Under Election Law § 3-200, the NYCBOE is tasked with several core responsibilities:

• Conducting Elections: Managing the logistics of primary, special, and general elections.
• Voter Records: Handling voter registration and the ongoing maintenance of voter rolls.
• Candidate Management: Processing candidate petitions and official documents.
• Financial Oversight: Managing campaign finance disclosures.
• Public Education: Conducting voter outreach and education initiatives.

History of Criticism and Mismanagement

The NYCBOE has faced significant public and legal scrutiny due to a history of errors and mismanagement. Notable incidents include:

Vote Counting and Reporting Errors

In 2012, the Board was criticized for a "byzantine" vote-counting process following a state Senate special election. Similar delays and inaccuracies occurred during the 13th congressional district Democratic primary, leading Mayor Michael Bloomberg to describe the Board as "worse than The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight."

Unlawful Voter Purges

Between 2013 and 2014, the Board improperly purged approximately 125,000 Democratic voters from the rolls. A subsequent lawsuit filed by Common Cause New York, joined by the U.S. Department of Justice, alleged that the Board violated federal law by failing to verify if removed voters had died or moved. The Board eventually settled the lawsuit in 2017, admitting the purges were unlawful.

Administrative Failures

Recent errors include the distribution of absentee ballots with incorrect names and addresses to nearly 100,000 Brooklyn voters in 2020, and the erroneous inclusion of 135,000 test ballots in the preliminary results of the 2021 Democratic mayoral primary ranked-choice voting process.