§ 175. Election of fire district officers. 1. An annual election shall
be held in each fire district on the second Tuesday in December, except
that in the Ocean Bay Park fire district, the Lonelyville fire district,
the Davis Park fire district, the Cherry Grove fire district, the Fair
Harbor fire district and the Fire Island Pines fire district, Suffolk
county, such annual election shall be held on the second Tuesday in
July, except that in the town of Salisbury, Herkimer county, such annual
election shall be held on the Tuesday next succeeding the first Monday
in November from six o'clock in the morning until nine o'clock in the
evening and except that in the Belfast fire district, Allegany county,
such annual election shall be held on the first Tuesday in December. The
board of fire commissioners shall give notice thereof by the publication
of a notice once in one or more newspapers having a general circulation
in the district. The first publication of such notice shall be not less
than twenty-seven days and not more than thirty-four days prior to the
date of such election. Such notice shall specify the time when and the
place where such election will be held, the officers to be elected
thereat and their terms of office, and the hours during which the polls
will be open for the receipt of ballots. The secretary of such fire
district shall prepare the ballots for all elections of fire district
officers and the polls shall remain open for the receipt thereof at all
elections of fire district officers from six o'clock in the evening
until nine o'clock in the evening and such additional consecutive hours
prior thereto as the board of fire commissioners of such district may
have determined and specified in the notice thereof. The board of fire
commissioners shall designate a resident fire district elector, who
shall be a registered voter of the town, to act as chairman of any
election of said district and shall designate not less than two nor more
than four resident fire district electors, who shall be registered
voters of the town to act as election inspectors and ballot clerks at
such elections. No elective officer of the fire district shall serve as
such chairman or as an election inspector or ballot clerk. The board of
fire commissioners may adopt a resolution providing that such chairman,
election inspectors and ballot clerks shall be paid for their respective
services at any such annual election or at any special election of the
fire district. Such resolution, if adopted, shall fix the amount of such
compensation, as follows: if the hours during which the polls will be
open for the receipt of ballots are from six o'clock in the evening
until nine o'clock in the evening, a sum not to exceed seventy dollars
for each such official; if additional consecutive hours prior to six
o'clock in the evening are determined and specified in the notice of
election, a sum not to exceed one hundred dollars for each such
official.

2. Every elector of the town who shall be a registered voter and who
shall have resided in the district for the period of thirty days next
preceding any election of fire district officers shall be qualified to
vote for such officers. Every elector of the town who shall be a
registered voter and who shall have resided in the fire district for the
period of thirty days next preceding any election at which a proposition
shall be submitted, shall be qualified to vote upon such proposition.

3. Every fire district commissioner, treasurer and secretary must at
the time of his election or appointment and throughout his term of
office be a resident of such fire district. Membership in a volunteer
fire company shall not disqualify any such fire district commissioner,
treasurer or secretary. A person who has been convicted of arson in any
degree shall not be eligible for election or appointment to the office
of fire district commissioner, treasurer or secretary. Any fire district
commissioner, treasurer or secretary who is convicted of arson in any
degree during his term of office shall be disqualified from completing
such term of office.

4. There shall be conspicuously placed, by the resident fire elector,
distance markers at a distance of one hundred feet from the polling
place. Such distance markers shall be so placed at least one-half hour
before the opening of the polls and shall remain until such polls are
closed. The one hundred foot distance shall be deemed to include a one
hundred foot radial measured from the entrances, designated by the
resident fire elector, to a building where such election is being held.
While the polls are open no person shall do any electioneering within
the polling place, or in any public street within the one hundred foot
radial, or within such distance in any place in a public manner. No
electioneering banner, button, poster or placard on behalf of or in
opposition to any candidate or issue to be voted upon shall be allowed
in or upon the polling place or within such one hundred feet therefrom
during the election. Any person who willfully violates the provisions of
this subdivision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

5. All official ballots shall remain in the custody of election
inspectors within the polling place from the opening of the polls until
the announcement of the result of the canvass and the signing of the
inspectors' returns thereof. After the polls shall have been closed at
any election held for the election of fire district officers or to vote
upon a proposition, the election inspectors and ballot clerks shall
immediately canvass publicly the ballots cast and the chairman of the
election shall publicly announce the result. Within seventy-two hours
thereafter, the chairman, election inspectors and ballot clerks shall
execute and file a certificate of the result of the canvass with the
board of fire commissioners and with the town clerk of each town in
which said district or any part thereof may be located.

6. If in any fire district the number of voters is so great as to
render it inexpedient or impossible to conduct the election at one
polling place, the board of fire commissioners may divide the fire
district into election districts and provide a polling place for each
such election district, provided, however, that the number of election
districts in any fire district shall not exceed one for each six hundred
electors plus one for a remaining fraction of six hundred. In such
event, the notice specified in subdivision one of this section shall
describe the election districts and state where the polling places will
be located, and the board of fire commissioners shall designate not less
than two nor more than four resident fire district electors, who shall
be registered voters of the town, to act as election inspectors and
ballot clerks at each such polling place. The board of fire district
commissioners may adopt a resolution providing that such election
inspectors and ballot clerks shall be paid for their respective services
at any such annual election or at any special election of the fire
district. Such resolution, if adopted, shall fix the amount of such
compensation as follows: if the hours during which the polls will be
open for the receipt of ballots are from six o'clock in the evening
until nine o'clock in the evening, a sum not to exceed seventy dollars
for each such official; if additional consecutive hours prior to six
o'clock in the evening are determined and specified in the notice of
election, a sum not to exceed one hundred dollars for each such
official. No elective officer of the fire district shall serve as an
election inspector or ballot clerk.