Bill Text: MI SB0812 | 2017-2018 | 99th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Elections; voting equipment; certain obsolete provisions; remove, and modify voting machine references to electronic voting system. Amends sec. 794b of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.794b); adds secs. 37a, 37b & 765a & repeals secs. 769a - 793 of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.769a - 168.793).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2018-05-08 - Assigned Pa 0123'18 With Immediate Effect [SB0812 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2017-SB0812-Engrossed.html
SB-0812, As Passed House, April 12, 2018
HOUSE SUBSTITUTE FOR
SENATE BILL NO. 812
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 794b (MCL 168.794b), as amended by 1990 PA 109,
and by adding sections 37a, 37b, and 765a; and to repeal acts and
parts of acts.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 37a. The secretary of state shall allow a county clerk,
in consultation with the clerk of each city and township located in
that county, to determine which electronic voting system will be
used in the county as long as the electronic voting system selected
meets both of the following criteria:
(a) The electronic voting system is the same type of
electronic voting system as the uniform voting system.
(b) The electronic voting system is approved and certified as
provided in section 795a.
Sec. 37b. The governing body of a governmental unit in this
state may contract with the governing body of another governmental
unit in this state with regard to the use of the electronic voting
system owned by either of the contracting units.
Sec. 765a. (1) If a city or township decides to use absent
voter counting boards, the board of election commissioners of that
city or township shall establish an absent voter counting board for
each election day precinct in that city or township. The ballot
form of an absent voter counting board must correspond to the
ballot form of the election day precinct for which it is
established. After the polls close on election day, the county,
city, or township clerk responsible for producing the accumulation
report of the election results submitted by the boards of precinct
election inspectors shall format the accumulation report to clearly
indicate all of the following:
(a) The election day precinct returns.
(b) The corresponding absent voter counting board returns.
(c) A total of each election day precinct return and each
corresponding absent voter counting board return.
(2) The board of election commissioners shall establish the
absent voter counting boards. The board of election commissioners
shall appoint the election inspectors to those absent voter
counting boards not less than 21 days or more than 40 days before
the election at which they are to be used. Sections 673a and 674
apply to the appointment of election inspectors to absent voter
counting boards under this section. The board of election
commissioners shall determine the number of ballots that may be
expeditiously counted by an absent voter counting board in a
reasonable period of time, taking into consideration the size and
complexity of the ballot to be counted pursuant to the guidelines
of the secretary of state. Combined ballots must be regarded as the
number of ballots as there are sections to the ballot.
(3) If more than 1 absent voter counting board is to be used,
the city or township clerk shall determine the number of electronic
voting systems or the number of ballot boxes and the number of
election inspectors to be used in each of the absent voter counting
boards and to which absent voter counting board the absent voter
ballots for each precinct are assigned for counting.
(4) In a city or township that uses absent voter counting
boards under this section, absent voter ballots must be counted in
the manner provided in this section and absent voter ballots must
not be delivered to the polling places. The board of election
commissioners shall provide a place for each absent voter counting
board to count the absent voter ballots. Section 662 applies to the
designation and prescribing of the absent voter counting place or
places in which the absent voter counting board performs its duties
under this section, except the location may be in a different
jurisdiction if the county provides a tabulator for use at a
central absent voter counting board location in that county. The
places must be designated as absent voter counting places. Except
as otherwise provided in this section, laws relating to paper
ballot precincts, including laws relating to the appointment of
election inspectors, apply to absent voter counting places. The
provisions of this section relating to placing of absent voter
ballots on electronic voting systems apply. More than 1 absent
voter counting board may be located in 1 building.
(5) The clerk of a city or township that uses absent voter
counting boards shall supply each absent voter counting board with
supplies necessary to carry out its duties under this act. The
supplies must be furnished to the city or township clerk in the
same manner and by the same persons or agencies as for other
precincts.
(6) Absent voter ballots received by the clerk before election
day must be delivered to the absent voter counting board by the
clerk or the clerk's authorized assistant at the time the election
inspectors of the absent voter counting boards report for duty,
which time must be established by the board of election
commissioners. Absent voter ballots received by the clerk before
the time set for the closing of the polls on election day must be
delivered to the absent voter counting boards. Absent voter ballots
must be delivered to the absent voter counting boards in the sealed
absent voter ballot return envelopes in which they were returned to
the clerk. Written or stamped on each of the return envelopes must
be the time and the date that the envelope was received by the
clerk and a statement by the clerk that the signatures of the
absent voters on the envelopes have been checked and found to agree
with the signatures of the voters on the registration cards or the
digitized signatures of voters contained in the qualified voter
file as provided under section 766. If a signature on the
registration card or a digitized signature contained in the
qualified voter file and on the absent voter ballot return envelope
does not agree as provided under section 766, if the absent voter
failed to sign the envelope, or if the statement of the absent
voter is not properly executed, the clerk shall mark the envelope
"rejected" and the reason for the rejection and shall place his or
her name under the notation. An envelope marked "rejected" must not
be delivered to the absent voter counting board but must be
preserved by the clerk until other ballots are destroyed in the
manner provided in this act. The clerk shall also comply with
section 765(5).
(7) This chapter does not prohibit an absent voter from voting
in person within the voter's precinct at an election,
notwithstanding that the voter may have applied for an absent voter
ballot and the ballot may have been mailed or otherwise delivered
to the voter. The voter, the election inspectors, and other
election officials shall proceed in the manner prescribed in
section 769. The clerk shall preserve the canceled ballots for 2
years.
(8) The absent voter counting boards shall process the ballots
and returns in as nearly as possible the same manner as ballots are
processed in paper ballot precincts. The poll book may be combined
with the absent voter list or record required by section 760, and
the applications for absent voter ballots may be used as the poll
list. The processing and tallying of absent voter ballots may
commence at 7 a.m. on the day of the election.
(9) An election inspector, challenger, or any other person in
attendance at an absent voter counting place at any time after the
processing of ballots has begun shall take and sign the following
oath that may be administered by the chairperson or a member of the
absent voter counting board:
"I (name of person taking oath) do solemnly swear (or affirm)
that I shall not communicate in any way any information relative to
the processing or tallying of votes that may come to me while in
this counting place until after the polls are closed.".
(10) The oaths administered under subsection (9) must be
placed in an envelope provided for the purpose and sealed with the
red state seal. Following the election, the oaths must be delivered
to the city or township clerk. Except as otherwise provided in
subsection (12), a person in attendance at the absent voter
counting place shall not leave the counting place after the
tallying has begun until the polls close. A person who causes the
polls to be closed or who discloses an election result or in any
manner characterizes how any ballot being counted has been voted in
a voting precinct before the time the polls can be legally closed
on election day is guilty of a felony.
(11) Voted absent voter ballots must be placed in an approved
ballot container, and the ballot container must be sealed in the
manner provided by this act for paper ballot precincts. The seal
numbers must be recorded on the statement sheet and in the poll
book.
(12) Subject to this subsection, a local election official who
has established an absent voter counting board, the deputy or
employee of that local election official, an employee of the state
bureau of elections, a county clerk, an employee of a county clerk,
or a representative of a voting equipment company may enter and
leave an absent voter counting board after the tally has begun but
before the polls close. A person described in this subsection may
enter an absent voter counting board only for the purpose of
responding to an inquiry from an election inspector or a challenger
or providing instructions on the operation of the counting board.
Before entering an absent voter counting board, a person described
in this subsection must take and sign the oath prescribed in
subsection (9). The chairperson of the absent voter counting board
shall record in the poll book the name of a person described in
this subsection who enters the absent voter counting board. A
person described in this subsection who enters an absent voter
counting board and who discloses an election result or in any
manner characterizes how any ballot being counted has been voted in
a precinct before the time the polls can be legally closed on
election day is guilty of a felony. As used in this subsection,
"local election official" means a county, city, or township clerk.
(13) The secretary of state shall develop instructions
consistent with this act for the conduct of absent voter counting
boards. The secretary of state shall distribute the instructions
developed under this subsection to city and township clerks 40 days
or more before a general election in which absent voter counting
boards will be used. A city or township clerk shall make the
instructions developed under this subsection available to the
public and shall distribute the instructions to each challenger in
attendance at an absent voter counting board. The instructions
developed under this subsection are binding upon the operation of
Senate Bill No. 812 as amended April 10, 2018
an absent voter counting board used in an election conducted by a
county, city, or township.
Sec.
794b. The If federal
funding or state funding is not
available, the board of commissioners of a county, the legislative
body
of a city, or village, or the township board of a
township, or
the
school board of a school district, on
the adoption and
acquisition of an electronic voting system, shall provide for all
or
the balance of the payment for the
system. in the same manner as
is
provided for the payment for voting machines in section 774.
Enacting section 1. Sections 769a to 793 of the Michigan
election law, 1954 PA 116, MCL 168.769a to 168.793, are repealed.
[Enacting section 2. This amendatory act takes effect December 31,
2018. ]
