§ 7-205. Voting machines; use of at primaries. 1. The board of elections of any county outside the city of New York may adopt, and shall adopt when required by local law in any city or by action of the county legislative body in any county, the use of voting machines for contested primary elections in any or all parts of such city or county for any office or position for which such board is not required to use such machines. Wherever voting machines are used for primary elections, the board of elections having jurisdiction over elections in the city, county or town concerned shall issue directions for such use for each primary election which shall be in conformity with the provisions of this section and of all other applicable provisions of this chapter and which shall be binding on all election officials in the area involved.

2. Additional voting machines may be acquired for this purpose. If the voting machines used are equipped with a mechanism by which a voter of one party may be permitted to vote for any candidate of his own party but prevented from voting for any candidates of other parties, the same machines may be used for the primaries of all parties or of more than one party. In the use of such a machine an inspector assigned for the purpose by the board of inspectors shall set the machine before each voter enters the voting booth so that it can be operated only for candidates of the party in which the voter is enrolled. If the face of a single machine will not hold the candidates of all parties, two or more machines may be used in a single election district, but all the candidates of any one party for whose primary contests voting machines are used must appear on the same machine except as provided in subdivision five of this section.

3. If the voting machines are not thus adapted to use for the primary contests of more than one party on the same machine, a separate voting machine shall be provided for the primary contests of each party for which such voting machines are used. Voting machines of both types may be used in the same primary election in different election districts or in the same election district for different parties.

4. Wherever voting machines are used for primary elections, they shall be used in accordance with the following provisions of this section for all primary contests so far as the available supply of voting machines will permit, except that the use of voting machines in all contested primary elections in the city of New York shall be mandatory except as provided in subdivision five. Outside the city of New York, if the available supply of voting machines is insufficient to contain all primary contests, paper ballots shall be used insofar as necessary. If there are not enough voting machines to cover all election districts for all parties therein, preference shall be given in the use of machines, first to contests for nomination for public office over contests for election to party position and, second to the contests which are held in the greatest numbers of election districts. If a voting machine used for a party in a particular election district will not accommodate all the candidates of the party therein, as many as possible of the contests of such party shall be carried on the voting machine subject to the following priorities: first to contests for nomination for public office, and second to offices voted for in such party in the most election districts. Subject to these requirements, the board of elections of any county outside the city of New York shall designate which election districts and which parties therein shall use voting machines for primary contests, and which contests shall appear on a voting machine when the machine will not accommodate all the contests of a party.

5. To provide an opportunity for voting for offices or party positions for which more candidates have been designated than can be accommodated on the voting machines, the board of elections may provide for the use of a separate paper ballot for such offices and positions when other offices and positions are voted for on voting machines by voters of the same party.

6. When voting machines are used for primary elections the provisions of the other sections of this article shall be observed so far as applicable, except that the provisions for party rows or columns and the use of party names and emblems for each individual candidate shall be disregarded. When primary candidates of more than one party appear on the same voting machine, the candidates of each party shall appear together on one part of the machine distinctly and prominently separated from the part or parts used for candidates of other parties and prominently labeled with the name of the party. When a voting machine is used for the primary candidates of one party only, the machine shall be prominently labeled with the name of that party.

7. The state board of elections shall have power to issue supplementary instructions for the use of voting machines in primary elections in accordance with the provisions of this section. Subject to such instructions and to the provisions of this section the board of elections shall have power to make all necessary or desirable provisions for such use.