Section 4-100. Election districts; creation and alteration

1. The State of
  New York shall be divided into election districts  which  shall  be  the
  basic  political  subdivision for purposes of registration and voting as
  provided in this chapter.
    2. The creation, consolidation, division  or  alteration  of  election
  districts  shall  be  done  by  the legislative body of the city or town
  within which the election district is contained except in the cities  of
  Buffalo and New York and the counties of Monroe, Nassau, and Suffolk. In
  the  cities  of Buffalo and New York, and the counties of Monroe, Nassau
  and Suffolk, and for any other town or city, upon  the  request  of  its
  legislative body, the creation, consolidation, division or alteration of
  election districts shall be done by the board of elections.
    3.  a.  Each election district shall be in compact form and may not be
  partly within and partly without a ward, town, city, a village which has
  five thousand or more inhabitants and is wholly within one  town,  or  a
  county  legislative,  assembly,  senatorial  or  congressional district.
  Except as provided in paragraph b of this subdivision, election district
  boundaries, other than those boundaries which are coterminous  with  the
  boundaries  of those political subdivisions mentioned in this paragraph,
  must  be  streets,   rivers,   railroad   lines   or   other   permanent
  characteristics of the landscape which are clearly visible to any person
  without  the need to use any technical or mechanical device. An election
  district shall contain not more  than  nine  hundred  fifty  registrants
  (excluding  registrants in inactive status) or, with the approval of the
  county  board  of  elections,  not  more  than  eleven   hundred   fifty
  registrants (excluding registrants in inactive status), but any election
  district may be divided for the convenience of the voters.
    b. An election district in a city or town may divide a block, provided
  that  the  board  of  elections prepares an alphabetical list of all the
  streets in such city or town with the election district  for  each  such
  street.  If  any  such  street  is  divided between two or more election
  districts, then such list must contain the  lowest  and  highest  street
  numbers  in  each  such  district  and  if the odd and even numbers on a
  street are in different  districts,  such  list  must  contain  separate
  listings  for  such  odd  and even numbers and if there are both odd and
  even numbers in  such  different  election  districts,  such  list  must
  contain  separate  listings for such numbers. Copies of such lists shall
  be filed and kept open to public  inspection  in  the  offices  of  such
  board.  One  copy of each such list shall be delivered, upon request, to
  the state board of elections and  to  a  person  or  officer  designated
  jointly  by  the  speaker of the assembly and the temporary president of
  the senate. Surplus copies shall be sold at cost.
    4. Any election district must be realigned when the  total  number  of
  registrants,  excluding  registrants  in inactive status, at the time of
  the preceding general election, exceeds the maximum number permitted  by
  this section by at least fifty registered voters.
    5.  Any  creation,  consolidation,  division or alteration of election
  districts in any calendar year shall  be  made  on  or  before  February
  fifteenth,  and  shall  take  effect  on  April  first, except that when
  required by the creation or alteration of a political subdivision, other
  than an election district, in which candidates are to be  voted  for  at
  the  next election, such creation, consolidation, division or alteration
  shall be made  and  shall  take  effect  immediately  upon  creation  or
  alteration   of   such   political   subdivision.   No   such  creation,
  consolidation, division or alteration shall  be  made  between  February
  twentieth  of  a  calendar  year ending in seven and December first of a
  calendar year  ending  in  zero  unless  required  by  the  creation  or
  alteration of a political subdivision.

    6.  In  the  event  that a legislative body of a city or town fails to
  create, consolidate, divide or  alter  election  districts  by  February
  sixteenth,  when  it is required to do so, pursuant to the provisions of
  this section, the board of elections of the county wherein such city  or
  town is located, shall do so.