New York State Board of Elections

Compliance with the State's Election Law

The New York State Board of Elections administers and enforces the laws relating to elections in New York State. We evaluated the Board's progress in implementing an automated campaign finance reporting system, as required by law, and found that the Board is making good progress in its implementation of this system. We also evaluated the Board's effectiveness in overseeing the operations of county boards of elections, and conclude that the Board is providing appropriate oversight. We also evaluated the Board's effectiveness in monitoring compliance with legal limitations on campaign contributions. We conclude that the Board cannot effectively monitor compliance with these limitations unless certain changes are made in State laws relating to the disclosure of campaign contributions. In particular, since some disclosures need to be filed only with a county board of elections, and need not be filed with the Board, many contributions cannot be monitored by the Board. When we reviewed the disclosure reports filed at selected county boards, we identified a number of corporate contributions that may have exceeded the legal limits. We referred these potential violations to the Board for further review.

For a complete copy of Report 98-S-8 click here.
For a copy of the 90-day response click here.