NY S09677

Changes the terminology from "manual recount" to "hand recount" throughout the election law procedures for recounting ballots in close contests.

Triggers a mandatory full hand recount of all ballots in a contest when the margin of victory is 20 votes or less, 0.5% or less, or less than 5,000 votes in contests with one million or more ballots cast.

Redefines "margin of victory" as the difference between the winning candidate with the fewest votes and the losing candidate with the most votes, rather than the margin between all votes cast in the entire contest.

Clarifies that for multi-county or multi-jurisdictional contests, the state board of elections determines the margin of victory based on recanvass results submitted by the relevant boards of elections.

Requires that full hand recount results supersede the original returns filed by election inspectors in all election districts where the canvass was conducted.