REFERENCE TITLE: election law revisions

 

 

 

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-fourth Legislature

First Regular Session

2019

 

 

HB 2629

 

Introduced by

Representatives Tsosie: Bolding, Bowers, Cano, Fernandez, Friese, Hernandez A, Jermaine, Longdon, Meza, Pawlik, Salman, Teller, Terán, Senators Mendez, Peshlakai, Steele

 

 

AN ACT

 

amending title 16, chapter 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding article 1.2; amending sections 16-542, 16-545, 16-548 and 16-550, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 16, chapter 4, article 9, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 16-590.01; relating to elections and electors.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 


Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1.  Title 16, chapter 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding article 1.2, to read:

ARTICLE 1.2.  SAME DAY VOTER REGISTRATION

START_STATUTE16-115.  Registration on election day, early voting days; affidavit

Notwithstanding any other law:

1.  A person who is otherwise qualified to register to vote may register on election day by appearing at an early voting location during the period of early voting or by appearing at the polling place for the precinct in which that person maintains the person's residence, completing a registration form as provided in section 16-152 and providing proof of residence.  The person shall swear or affirm that:

(a)  The person is qualified to register and vote.

(b)  The person has not previously voted in that election, including by early ballot, and will not vote in that election at any other polling place.

(c)  The person understands that proving false information may result in a felony conviction that is punishable by a fine or imprisonment or both.

2.  A person who registers to vote pursuant to this section may vote at the early voting location after registering or may vote on election day after registering at the polling place.

3.  The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall designate a registration clerk who may be an election board worker for each polling location and at each early voting location.  The registration clerk shall register the person and shall provide for the person to be added to the general registration rolls and for the person to receive a voter registration card that constitutes prima facie evidence that the person is registered to vote on the date of registration. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2.  Section 16-542, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-542.  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, which also shall include any nonpartisan offices and ballot questions, or the elector shall designate the ballot for nonpartisan offices and ballot questions only and the elector may receive and vote the ballot that contains only nonpartisan offices and ballot questions.  The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall process any request for an early ballot for a municipal election pursuant to this subsection.  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; 52 United States Code section 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-seven forty-five days before the election.  If an early ballot request is received on or before the thirty‑first fifty-eighth day before the election, the early ballot shall be distributed not earlier than the twenty-seventh forty-fifth day before the election and not later than the twenty-fourth forty-second 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‑seven forty-five 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 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, political committee or other organization shall be submitted within six business days after receipt by a candidate, 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 $25 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. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3.  Section 16-545, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-545.  Early ballot

A.  The early ballot shall be one prepared for use in the precinct in which the applicant resides and, if a partisan primary election, of the political party with which the applicant is affiliated as shown by the affidavit of registration.  The ballot shall be identical with the regular official ballots, except that it shall have printed or stamped on it "early".

B.  The officer charged by law with the duty of preparing ballots at any election shall:

1.  Prepare the official early ballot and deliver a sufficient number to the recorder or other officer in charge of elections not later than the thirty-third sixtieth day before the election.  Except as provided in section 16‑542, subsection D, regular early ballots shall not be distributed to the general public before the beginning of early voting.

2.  Ensure that the ballot return envelopes are of a type that does not reveal the voter's selections and that is tamper evident when properly sealed. END_STATUTE

Sec. 4.  Section 16-548, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-548.  Preparation and transmission of ballot

A.  The early voter shall make and sign the affidavit and shall then mark his the ballot in such a manner that his the voter's vote cannot be seen.  The early voter shall fold the ballot, if a paper ballot, so as to conceal the vote and deposit the voted ballot in the envelope provided for that purpose, which shall be securely sealed and, together with the affidavit, delivered or mailed to the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections of the political subdivision in which the elector is registered or deposited by the voter or the voter's agent at any polling place in the county.  In order to be counted and valid, the ballot must be received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections or deposited at any polling place in the county no not later than 7:00 p.m. on election day without regard to whether the early ballot affidavit is signed.  If an early ballot without a signature or an early ballot with a signature that requires additional verification is timely received at a polling place or by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall allow the voter to verify or add the voter's signature to the voter's ballot affidavit until 5:00 p.m. On the fifth business day after a general election that includes an election for a federal office or until 5:00 p.m. On the third business day after any other election.  This subsection does not prohibit a voter from correcting a deficiency in the voter's early ballot or affidavit.

B.  If the early voter is an overseas citizen, a qualified elector absent from the United States or in the United States service, a spouse or dependent residing with the early voter or a qualified elector of a special district mail ballot election as provided in article 8.1 of this chapter, the early voter may subscribe to the affidavit before and obtain the signature and military identification number or passport number, if available, of any person who is a United States citizen eighteen years of age or older. END_STATUTE

Sec. 5.  Section 16-550, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-550.  Receipt of voter's ballot

A.  Upon On receipt of the envelope containing the early ballot and the completed affidavit, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall compare the signatures thereon with the signature of the elector on his the elector's registration form.  If satisfied that the signatures correspond, the recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall hold them unopened in accordance with the rules of the secretary of state.

b.  if the signatures do not match, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall immediately contact the voter to determine whether the voter actually voted and any reasons why the signatures do not match.  The affidavit and ballot are presumed to be valid and should be processed and tabulated unless the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections determines otherwise. 

C.  IF the AFFIDAVIT on the ballot envelope does not have a signature, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall immediately notify the voter that the signature is missing and shall mail the voter a replacement early ballot if time allows or shall provide the voter an opportunity to correct the deficiency.

B.  D.  The recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall thereafter safely keep the affidavits and early ballots in his office until delivered pursuant to section 16‑551 and tallying of ballots shall not begin any earlier than seven days before election day.

C.  E.  The county recorder shall send a list of all voters who were issued early ballots to the election board of the precinct in which the voter is registered.END_STATUTE

Sec. 6.  Title 16, chapter 4, article 9, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 16-590.01, to read:

START_STATUTE16-590.01.  Tribal designees; polling places; monitors

A.  For any polling place located on a reservation of a federally recognized Indian tribe, the tribe may designate a tribal agent or representative and alternates who may act as monitors in the polling place for the tribe that appointed them.  The tribe shall issue a written appointment for these monitors addressed to the election board.

B.  a tribal polling place monitor may be present and observe the election but may not enter a voting booth except to mark the monitor's own ballot. END_STATUTE