Bill Text: AZ HB2534 | 2015 | Fifty-second Legislature 1st Regular | Introduced
Bill Title: Ballots; defects; notice; cure
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-02-26 - House Committee of the Whole action: Do Pass Amended [HB2534 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2015-HB2534-Introduced.html
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REFERENCE TITLE: ballots; defects; notice; cure |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-second Legislature First Regular Session 2015
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HB 2534 |
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Introduced by Representatives Clark, Andrade, Steele, Wheeler: Bolding, Espinoza, Fernandez, Friese, Mach, Otondo, Saldate
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AN ACT
amending sections 16-542 and 16-584, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to conduct of elections.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 16-542, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-542. Request for ballot; civil penalties; violation; classification
A. Within ninety-three days before any election called pursuant to the laws of this state, an elector may make a verbal or signed request to the county recorder, or other officer in charge of elections for the applicable political subdivision of this state in whose jurisdiction the elector is registered to vote, for an official early ballot. In addition to name and address, the requesting elector shall provide the date of birth and state or country of birth or other information that if compared to the voter registration information on file would confirm the identity of the elector. If the request indicates that the elector needs a primary election ballot and a general election ballot, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall honor the request. For any partisan primary election, if the elector is not registered as a member of a political party that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot pursuant to section 16‑804, the elector shall designate the ballot of only one of the political parties that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot and the elector may receive and vote the ballot of only that one political party. The county recorder may establish on‑site early voting locations at the recorder's office, which shall be open and available for use beginning the same day that a county begins to send out the early ballots. The county recorder may also establish any other early voting locations in the county the recorder deems necessary.
B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, a request for an official early ballot from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter as defined in the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act of 1986 (P.L. 99‑410; 42 52 United States Code section 1973ff-6 20310) or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to section 16‑153 that is received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections more than ninety‑three days before the election is valid. If requested by the absent uniformed services or overseas voter, or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to section 16‑153, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide to the requesting voter early ballot materials through the next regularly scheduled general election for federal office immediately following receipt of the request unless a different period of time, which does not exceed the next two regularly scheduled general elections for federal office, is designated by the voter.
C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall mail the early ballot and the envelope for its return postage prepaid to the address provided by the requesting elector within five days after receipt of the official early ballots from the officer charged by law with the duty of preparing ballots pursuant to section 16‑545, except that early ballot distribution shall not begin more than twenty-six days before the election. If an early ballot request is received on or before the thirtieth day before the election, the early ballot shall be distributed on the twenty-sixth day before the election.
D. Only the elector may be in possession of that elector's unvoted early ballot. If a complete and correct request is made by the elector within twenty‑six days before the election, the mailing must be made within forty‑eight hours after receipt of the request. Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays are excluded from the computation of the forty‑eight hour period prescribed by this subsection. If a complete and correct request is made by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter before the election, the regular early ballot shall be transmitted by mail, by fax or by other electronic format approved by the secretary of state within twenty‑four hours after the early ballots are delivered pursuant to section 16‑545, subsection B, excluding Sundays.
E. In order to be complete and correct and to receive an early ballot by mail, an elector's request that an early ballot be mailed to the elector's residence or temporary address must include all of the information prescribed by subsection A of this section and must be received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections no later than 5:00 p.m. on the eleventh day preceding the election. An elector who appears personally no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election at an on‑site early voting location that is established by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall be given a ballot and permitted to vote at the on‑site location. If an elector's request to receive an early ballot is not complete and correct but complies with all other requirements of this section, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall attempt to notify the elector of the deficiency of the request.
F. Unless an elector specifies that the address to which an early ballot is to be sent is a temporary address, the recorder may use the information from an early ballot request form to update voter registration records.
G. The county recorder or other officer in charge of early balloting shall provide an alphabetized list of all voters in the precinct who have requested and have been sent an early ballot to the election board of the precinct in which the voter is registered not later than the day prior to before the election.
H. As a result of an emergency occurring between 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday preceding the election and 5:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding the election, qualified electors may request to vote early in the manner prescribed by the county recorder of their respective county. For the purposes of this subsection, "emergency" means any unforeseen circumstances that would prevent the elector from voting at the polls.
I. A candidate, political committee or other organization may distribute early ballot request forms to voters. If the early ballot request forms include a printed address for return, the addressee shall be the political subdivision that will conduct the election. Failure to use the political subdivision as the return addressee is punishable by a civil penalty of up to three times the cost of the production and distribution of the request.
J. All original and completed early ballot request forms that are received by a candidate, or political committee or other organization shall be submitted within six business days after receipt by a candidate, or political committee or other organization or eleven days before the election day, whichever is earlier, to the political subdivision that will conduct the election. Any person, political committee or other organization that fails to submit a completed early ballot request form within the prescribed time is subject to a civil penalty of up to twenty‑five dollars per day for each completed form withheld from submittal. Any person who knowingly fails to submit a completed early ballot request form before the submission deadline for the election immediately following the completion of the form is guilty of a class 6 felony.
K. For any person who votes an early ballot, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide for a method of notifying the early ballot voter at no cost to the voter if there is a defect in the voter's ballot materials that will result in the rejection of the voter's ballot from being counted, and that the voter may attempt to cure the defect in the voting materials within the ten days immediately following the election. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall permit the voter to cure those defects that result from incomplete or incorrect information, shall tabulate the ballot as otherwise provided by law and shall further notify the voter whether the voter's ballot was verified and counted and, if not counted, the reason for not counting the ballot. The method of notification shall provide reasonable restrictions that are designed to limit transmittal of the information only to the voter.
Sec. 2. Section 16-584, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-584. Qualified elector not on precinct register; recorder's certificate; verified ballot; procedure
A. A qualified elector whose name is not on the precinct register and who presents a certificate from the county recorder showing that the elector is entitled by law to vote in the precinct shall be entered on the signature roster on the blank following the last printed name and shall be given the next consecutive register number, and the qualified elector shall sign in the space provided.
B. A qualified elector whose name is not on the precinct register, upon on presentation of identification verifying the identity of the elector that includes the voter's given name and surname and the complete residence address that is verified by the election board to be in the precinct or on signing an affirmation that states that the elector is a registered voter in that jurisdiction and is eligible to vote in that jurisdiction, shall be allowed to vote a provisional ballot.
C. If a voter has moved to a new address within the county and has not notified the county recorder of the change of address before the date of an election, the voter shall be permitted to correct the voting records for purposes of voting in future elections at the appropriate polling place for the voter's new address. The voter shall be permitted to vote a provisional ballot. The voter shall present a form of identification that includes the voter's given name and surname and the voter's complete residence address. The residence address must be within the precinct in which the voter is attempting to vote, and the voter shall affirm in writing that the voter is registered in that jurisdiction and is eligible to vote in that jurisdiction.
D. On completion of the ballot, the election official shall remove the ballot stub, shall place the ballot in a provisional ballot envelope and shall deposit the envelope in the ballot box. Within ten calendar days after a general election that includes an election for a federal office and within five business days after any other election or no later than the time at which challenged early voting ballots are resolved, the signature shall be compared to the precinct signature roster of the former precinct where the voter was registered. If the voter's name is not signed on the roster and if there is no indication that the voter voted an early ballot, the provisional ballot envelope shall be opened and the ballot shall be counted. If there is information showing the person did vote, the provisional ballot shall remain unopened and shall not be counted. When provisional ballots are confirmed for counting, the county recorder shall use the information supplied on the provisional ballot envelope to correct the address record of the voter.
E. When a voter is allowed to vote a provisional ballot, the elector's name shall be entered on a separate signature roster page at the end of the signature roster. Voters' names shall be numbered consecutively beginning with the number V‑1. The elector shall sign in the space provided. The ballot stub shall be removed and the ballot shall be placed in a separate envelope, the outside of which shall contain the precinct name or number, a sworn or attested statement of the elector that the elector resides in the precinct, is eligible to vote in the election and has not previously voted in the election, the signature of the elector and the voter registration number of the elector, if available. The ballot shall be verified for proper registration of the elector by the county recorder before being counted. The verification shall be made by the county recorder within ten calendar days after a general election that includes an election for a federal office and within five business days following any other election, and the voter receipt card, notification or identification card, if any, from the county recorder used therefor, if valid, shall be returned to the elector within a reasonable time thereafter. Verified ballots shall be counted by depositing the ballot in the ballot box and showing on the records of the election that the elector has voted. If registration is not verified the ballot shall remain unopened and shall be retained in the same manner as voted ballots.
F. For any person who votes a provisional ballot, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide for a method of notifying the provisional ballot voter at no cost to the voter if there is a defect in the voter's provisional ballot materials that will result in the rejection of the provisional ballot from being counted, and that the voter may attempt to cure the defect in the provisional ballot materials within the ten days immediately following the election. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall permit the voter to cure those defects that result from incomplete or incorrect information, shall tabulate the ballot as otherwise provided by law and shall further notify the voter whether the voter's ballot was verified and counted and, if not counted, the reason for not counting the ballot. The notification may be in the form of notice by mail to the voter, establishment of a toll free telephone number, internet access or other similar method to allow the voter to have access to this information. The method of notification shall provide reasonable restrictions that are designed to limit transmittal of the information only to the voter.
