New York election authorities have a new regulation to contend with in the state’s effort to provide the public with transparent access to election data.
The Dr. John L. Flateau Voting and Elections Database and Academic Center of New York Act, also known as NYS Election Law § 3-112, took effect April 1, 2026. The Flateau Act requires election authorities to transmit voting records to the New York State Board of Elections by Jan. 1 after the certification of election results, or within 10 business days after election results are certified, whichever is later.
Election authorities are defined as local governments responsible for administering their own elections and maintaining voting and election records.
The Board of Elections is expected to issue regulations on, or before, September 28, 2026, on data standards for the method of processing and transmitting records required to be provided by local election authorities, We will supplement this legal alert with additional information when it becomes available.
The Voting and Elections Database (VEDA) provides the public with transparent access to New York State election data, as mandated by NYS Election Law § 3-112, and can be used for public review and research. The database does not contain personally identifiable election data or individual voting records.
Specifically, election authorities are required to submit the following (if such records are maintained):
- election results at the election district level for every statewide election and every election in every political subdivision;
- contemporaneous voter registration lists;
- voter history files;
- maps or other documentation of the configuration of districts in any format or formats as specified by the New York State Board of Elections;
- tabulations of the number of valid and invalid affidavit ballots, the reasons for which affidavit ballots were invalid, and the quantity and disposition of affidavit ballots subject to the cure procedure prescribed by Election Law § 9-209(3);
- tabulations of the number of valid and invalid absentee ballots, the reasons for which absentee ballots were invalid and the quantity of absentee ballots invalid for each such reason, and the quantity and disposition of absentee ballots subject to the cure procedure prescribed by Election Law § 9-209(3);
- lists of election day poll sites and early voting sites and maps or other documentation of the configuration of districts in any format or formats as specified by the New York State Board of Elections of the election districts assigned to each election day poll site or early voting site;
- adopted districting or redistricting plans for every election in every political subdivision; and
- any other publicly available data as requested by the New York State Board of Elections.
Nothing in the act requires an election authority to create and provide a record it is not capable of collecting.
Those authorities that fail to transmit existing records will be provided 10 days to comply or provide an adequate reason for not submitting the records. Those that do not meet compliance obligations are subject to enforcement actions, including those by the state’s Attorney General and private parties that use the data.
Flateau was a professor and administrator at CUNY Medgar Evers College, as well as a districting commissioner for the city and state. He died in 2023.
If your government entity needs assistance with interpreting this regulation or submitting election data, Harris Beach Murtha’s Political Law Practice Group can help. Please reach out to attorney Jared Kasschau at (516) 880-8106 and jkasschau@harrisbeachmurtha.com; or to the Harris Beach Murtha attorney with whom you most frequently work.
This alert is not a substitute for advice of counsel on specific legal issues.
Harris Beach Murtha’s lawyers and consultants practice from offices throughout Connecticut in Bantam, Hartford, New Haven and Stamford; New York State in Albany, Binghamton, Buffalo, Ithaca, New York City, Niagara Falls, Rochester, Saratoga Springs, Syracuse, Long Island and White Plains; as well as in Boston, Massachusetts, and Newark, New Jersey.