New York State Department of State Journal of New York State Electoral College

The electoral college was created under provisions outlined in the United States Constitution and first organized in New York in 1792 (L. 1792, Ch. 72). This law provided for the appointment of electors by the Legislature. In 1825 this system was discarded in favor of one that would select electors on a district system (L.1825, Ch. 33) but this system was used only for the 1828 presidential election. In 1929, the general ticket system was adopted (L.1929, Ch. 139).

The volumes contain proceedings, voting results, receipts for packages containing electoral ballots, list of electors, printed instructions, number of votes cast for electors, and photographs. The records in this series document not only how many electoral ballots were cast for the offices of president and vice president of the United States but also how many votes each elector received after they were chosen by the general public. The proceedings record when, where and at what time the college met as well as decisions reached. The receipts and instructions are ordinary in nature and record the same information each time (i.e., ballots were picked up and sent to the Senate in Washington). The journals are arranged in chronological order by presidential election. They are not indexed. Volume one covers 1856-1893 and Volume two the years 1896 - 1972.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of the material.