Thank you for the tips! I just followed your instruction which led me to the Itemized Deduction section. I tried putting in an override in two places:

1. Under "Gifts to Charity" in the "State & Local" tab: in this case the amount only flows to Line 16 in NY IT-196 but not Line 16a.

2. Under "Qualified contribution for disaster relief (cash) [Override]": in this case the amount did flow to Line 16a, however, it's still not included in Line 2 of the "NEW YORK TOTAL ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS WORKSHEET" (where Line 2 says FORM IT-196, LINES 4, 14, 20, 29, 30, AND 37 PLUS QUAL. CONT. and should contain Line 16a amount).