(a) Scope of coverage.

1. (1) The preclearance requirement applies to any covered policy, even if it appears to be minor or indirect, returns to a prior practice or procedure, purports to expand voting rights, or is designed to remove the elements that caused the CRB to deny preclearance to a prior submitted change.
2. (2) The preclearance requirement applies to changes enacted by or implemented through the Executive, Legislative, or Judicial branches.

3. (3) State or federal law:

   1. (i) State and federal laws and regulations are not subject to preclearance.
   2. (ii) Covered policies enacted or implemented in order to comply with State or federal law are exempt from preclearance review only where such enactment or implementation does not require the use of discretion by the covered entity.

4. (4) A grant of preclearance by the CRB with respect to local legislation that requires, permits, or enables a political subdivision to implement a covered policy (hereinafter the “parent legislation”) does not exempt the implementation of the particular covered policy that is enabled, permitted, or required from the preclearance requirement, unless such implementation was explicitly included and described in the submission of the precleared parent legislation. Such parent legislation may include:

   1. (i) Local legislation authorizing a political subdivision to institute a covered policy described in section 17-210(2) of the Election Law or designated by this title;
   2. (ii) Local legislation requiring a political subdivision that chooses a certain form of government to follow specified election procedures;
   3. (iii) Local legislation requiring or authorizing political subdivisions of a certain size or a certain location to institute specified changes; and
   4. (iv) Local legislation requiring a political subdivision to follow certain practices or procedures, unless the political subdivision’s charter or local laws specify to the contrary.

5. (5) Court-ordered changes.

   1. (i) Covered policies for which approval by a state or federal court is required, or that are ordered by a state or federal court, are exempt from preclearance review only where the court prepared the change and the change was not proposed by, and has not been subsequently adopted or modified by, the relevant covered entity.
   2. (ii) Where a court-ordered change at its inception is not subject to preclearance review, a subsequent adoption or ratification of the change, implementation in a manner not explicitly required or authorized by the court, or other action by the covered entity involving the use of discretion by such covered entity renders the change subject to preclearance review with regard to any future implementation.
   3. (iii) Where a court-ordered change is not itself subject to preclearance review, subsequent changes necessitated by the court order but which reflect the use of discretion by the covered entity are subject to preclearance. For example, election district and polling site changes made necessary by a court-ordered redistricting plan, but which are determined through discretion exercised by the covered entity, are subject to preclearance review.
6. (6) A change is considered to be made when the determination to make the change, and the discretion involved in the decision, is finalized, even if the change is not made operative until the next applicable election. After a previously enacted covered policy has been precleared, implementation of that policy may be required to be precleared separately if it requires discretion to implement.
7. (7) A grant of preclearance by the CRB with respect to a procedure for instituting a covered policy does not exempt the substantive change from the preclearance requirement. For example, if the procedure for the approval of an annexation is changed from City Council approval to approval in a voter referendum, preclearance of the new annexation procedure does not exempt an annexation accomplished under the new procedure from the preclearance requirement.
8. (8) A “poll site” shall be construed to include any location at which a vote may be cast in accordance with State law, including but not limited to ballot drop boxes.

(b) Recurring practices.

1. (1) Where a political subdivision implements a policy periodically or upon certain established contingencies, a change is deemed to have occurred upon any of the following circumstances:

   1. (i) The first time the policy is implemented by the political subdivision;
   2. (ii) When the manner in which the policy is implemented by the political subdivision is changed; and
   3. (iii) When the rules for determining when the policy will be implemented are changed.
2. (2) A grant of preclearance by the CRB with respect to a recurrent policy constitutes preclearance of the future use of the policy if its recurrent nature is clearly stated or described in the submission or is expressly recognized in the report and determination of the CRB on the merits of the submission.