Bill Text: AZ SB1471 | 2011 | Fiftieth Legislature 1st Regular | Engrossed
Bill Title: County election law amendments
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2011-04-18 - Governor Signed [SB1471 Detail]
Download: Arizona-2011-SB1471-Engrossed.html
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House Engrossed Senate Bill |
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State of Arizona Senate Fiftieth Legislature First Regular Session 2011
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SENATE BILL 1471 |
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AN ACT
amending section 16-248, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending section 16-531, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by Laws 2010, chapter 318, section 22; amending sections 16-547, 16-580, 16-801 and 16-803, Arizona Revised Statutes; 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. Section 16-248, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-248. Designation of polling places
A. Not less than twenty days before a presidential preference election, the board of supervisors shall designate a reasonable and adequate number of polling places where the election shall be held.
B. The number of polling places for the presidential preference election is to be determined according to the number of active registered voters as of January 1 of the year of the presidential preference election.
C. Each county with more than two hundred thousand or more active registered voters shall determine the number of polling places for the presidential preference election by using no more than one‑half of the number of precincts as of January 1 of the year of the presidential preference election.
D. Each county with less than two hundred thousand active registered voters but more than ten thousand or more active registered voters shall determine the number of polling places for the presidential preference election by using no more than one polling place for every two thousand active registered voters as of January 1 of the year of the presidential preference primary.
E. Each county with less than ten thousand active registered voters shall determine the number of polling places for the presidential preference election by using no more than one polling place for every one thousand active registered voters as of January 1 of the year of the presidential preference election.
F. If it is determined by the secretary of state that compliance with state and federal regulations would be jeopardized, the secretary of state has the authority to release a county from the number of polling places prescribed by this section.
G. The provisions of This section do does not apply to land located on an Indian reservation.
H. In precincts that contain fewer than two three hundred active registered voters, the officer in charge of elections may conduct a presidential preference election by mail.
Sec. 2. Section 16-531, Arizona Revised Statutes, as amended by Laws 2010, chapter 318, section 22, is amended to read:
16-531. Appointment of election boards and tally boards; qualifications
A. When an election is ordered, and not less than twenty days prior to before a general or primary election, the board of supervisors shall appoint for each election precinct one inspector, one marshal, two judges and not less than two as many clerks of election as deemed necessary. The inspector, marshal, judges and clerks shall be qualified voters of the precinct for which appointed, unless there is not a sufficient number of persons available to provide the number of appointments required. The inspector, marshal and judges shall not have changed their political party affiliation or their no party preference affiliation since the last preceding general election, and if they are members of the two political parties which that cast the highest number of votes in the state at the last preceding general election, they shall be divided equally between these two parties. There shall be an equal number of inspectors in the various precincts in the county who are members of the two largest political parties. In each precinct where the inspector is a member of one of the two largest political parties, the marshal in that precinct shall be a member of the other of the two largest political parties. Whenever possible, any person appointed as an inspector shall have had previous experience as an inspector, judge, marshal or clerk of elections. If there is no qualified person in a given precinct, the appointment of an inspector may be made from names provided by the county party chairman. If not less than ninety days prior to before the election the chairman of the county committee of either of the parties designates qualified voters of the precinct, or of another precinct if there are not sufficient members of his party available in the precinct to provide the necessary representation on the election board as judge, such designated qualified voters shall be appointed. The judges, together with the inspector, shall constitute the board of elections. Any registered voter in the election precinct, or in another election precinct if there are not sufficient persons available in the election precinct for which the clerks are being appointed, may be appointed as clerk.
B. If the election precinct consists of fewer than two three hundred qualified electors, the board of supervisors may appoint not fewer than one inspector and two judges. The board of supervisors shall give notice of election precincts consisting of fewer than two three hundred qualified electors to the county chairmen of the two largest political parties not later than thirty days before the election. The inspector and judges shall be appointed in the same manner by party as provided in subsection A of this section.
C. If a nonpartisan election is ordered, not less than twenty days before the election the governing board holding the election shall appoint, without consideration for political party, a minimum of three election workers for each polling place. The election workers shall consist of at least one inspector and two judges. Whenever possible, they shall be qualified electors of the precinct located within the district, without consideration for political party.
D. Where the election precinct consists of three hundred fifty or more qualified electors, the board of supervisors may in addition to the board of elections appoint a similar board to be known as the tally board. The tally board shall take custody of the ballots from the closing of the polls until the tally of the ballots is completed. The tally board shall consist of the inspector of the board of elections, two judges and not less than two clerks. The inspector and two judges shall be appointed to provide as equal as practicable representation of members of the two largest political parties on the board in the same manner as provided for the election boards. Any registered voter in the election precinct, or in another election precinct if there are not sufficient persons available in the election precinct for which the clerks are being appointed, may be appointed as clerk. A member appointed to serve on the tally board, with the exception of the inspector of the board of elections, shall not be appointed to serve on the board of elections. The inspector of the board of elections shall be a member of the tally board and during such time shall act as the supervisor of the tally board. No United States, state, county or precinct officer, nor a candidate for office at the election, other than a precinct committeeman or a candidate for the office of precinct committeeman, is qualified to act as judge, inspector, marshal or clerk.
E. If an electronic voting system is in use the write‑in ballots shall be tallied by a board of elections consisting of one inspector and two judges who are appointed in the same manner by party as provided in subsection A of this section.
F. At least ten days before a special election, the governing body conducting the election may in like manner appoint a special tally board or boards for the specific purpose of tallying the ballots on the closing of the polls. The tally boards shall consist of at least one inspector and two judges. The inspector of the board of elections shall act as the supervisor of the tally board.
G. Notwithstanding any other law, the board of supervisors may appoint to an election board to serve as a clerk of election a person who is not eligible to vote if all of the following conditions are met:
1. The person is a minor who will be at least sixteen years of age at the time of the election for which the person is named to the election board.
2. The person is a citizen of the United States at the time of the election for which the person is named to the election board.
3. The person is supervised by an adult who has been trained as an elections officer.
4. The person has received training provided by the officer in charge of elections.
5. The parent or guardian of the person has provided written permission for the person to serve.
H. A school district or charter school shall not be required to reduce its average daily membership, as defined in section 15-901, for any pupil who is absent from one or more instructional programs as a result of the pupil's service on an election board pursuant to subsection G of this section.
I. A school district or charter school shall not count any pupil's absence from one or more instructional programs as a result of the pupil's service on an election board pursuant to subsection G of this section against any mandatory attendance requirements for the pupil.
J. Nothing in this section shall prevent the board of supervisors or governing body from refusing for cause to reappoint, or from removing for cause, an election or tally board member. END_STATUTE
Sec. 3. Section 16-547, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-547. Ballot affidavit; form
A. The early ballot shall be accompanied by an envelope bearing upon on the front the name, official title and post office address of the recorder or other officer in charge of elections and upon on the other side a printed affidavit in substantially the following form:
State of Arizona
County of _________
I, _________________, do solemnly swear that I am the identical person whose name is signed to this affidavit and that this name and signature are my true name and signature, or if I did not personally sign, it was because of physical disability and that I requested __________________ (name of person signing affidavit) to sign for me, that I have not voted and will not vote in this election in any other state during the calendar year of this affidavit and that I personally voted the enclosed ballot or that it was marked according to my instructions because I was unable to do so. I understand that knowingly voting more than once in any election is a class 5 felony. I declare that I am more than eighteen years of age, that I am a qualified elector of the state of Arizona and the county of ____________ and that I reside at _____________. If a challenge is filed against my early ballot, I understand that a copy of the challenge will be sent to me by first class mail and that I may have as little as forty‑eight hours' notice of an opportunity to appear. For purposes of notifying me of a ballot challenge between the time I return my ballot and seven days after election day, please use the following address: ________________. (If no address is provided, notice will be mailed to the mailing address listed on the registration rolls.)
________________________
Elector
I declare the following under penalty of perjury: I am a registered voter in ___________ county arizona, i have not voted and will not vote in this election in any other county or state, i understand that knowingly voting more than once in any election is a class 5 felony and I voted the enclosed ballot and signed this affidavit personally unless noted below.
if the voter was assisted by another person in marking the ballot, complete the following:
i declare the following under penalty of perjury: at the registered voter's request i assisted the voter identified in this affidavit with marking the voter's ballot, i marked the ballot as directly instructed by the voter, i provided the assistance because the voter was physically unable to mark the ballot solely due to illness, injury or physical limitation and i understand that there is no power of attorney for voting and that the voter must be able to make their selection even if they cannot physically mark the ballot.
Name of voter assistant: _____________________________
Address of voter assistant: __________________________
B. The face of each envelope in which a ballot is sent to a federal postcard applicant or in which a ballot is returned by such applicant to the recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall be in the form prescribed in accordance with the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act of 1986 (P.L. 99‑410; 42 United States Code section 1973ff). Otherwise, the envelopes shall be the same as those used to send ballots to, or receive ballots from, other early voters.
C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall supply printed instructions to early voters that direct them to sign the affidavit, mark the ballot and return both in the enclosed self‑addressed envelope. The instructions shall include the following statement:
In order to be valid and counted, the ballot and affidavit must be delivered to the office of the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections or may be deposited at any polling place in the county no later than 7:00 p.m. on election day.
Sec. 4. Section 16-580, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-580. Manner of voting; assistance for certain electors
A. Except as prescribed by subsection G of this section, only one person per voting booth shall be permitted at any one time to sign for the receipt of a ballot and to wait for an opportunity to vote.
B. On receiving a ballot the voter shall promptly and without leaving the voting area retire alone, except as provided in subsection G of this section, to one of the voting booths that is not occupied, prepare the ballot in secret and vote in the manner and substantial form as required by the instruction to voters.
C. In order that the rights of other voters shall not be interfered with, a voter shall not be allowed to occupy a voting booth for more than five minutes when other voters are waiting to occupy the booth. If the voter refuses to leave after the lapse of five minutes, the voter may be removed by the judges. If a voter has not completed a ballot after the allotted five minutes, the voter may request the marshal to hold the ballot and when another booth is empty and all voters present have had an opportunity to vote the removed person may be allowed an additional five minutes in the booth.
D. Before leaving the voting booth the voter shall fold the ballot lengthwise and crosswise, or place the voter's card in the ballot envelope, but in such a way that the contents of the ballot shall be concealed and the stub, if any, can be removed without exposing the contents of the ballot and shall keep the ballot folded until the voter has delivered it to the inspector, or judge acting as such.
E. The election board official shall receive the ballot from the voter and in the presence of the election board and if the ballot includes a stub, remove the stub without opening the ballot, deposit the ballot in the ballot box, or if the voter so requests, hand the ballot to the voter and permit the voter to deposit the ballot in the ballot box, and string the stub, if any, upon on a string provided. If the ballot is of the type that includes a stub and the stub has been removed from the ballot prior to before receipt by the election official, it shall not be deposited in the ballot box, but it shall be marked "spoiled" and placed with the spoiled ballots.
F. After delivery of the ballot to the election board official, or if the voter has asked to deposit the ballot in the ballot box, after the ballot is deposited, the voter shall then proceed outside the voting area and shall not again enter the voting area unless the voter is an authorized election official.
G. Any registered voter may, at the voter's option, may be accompanied by a minor who is permitted in the voting booth pursuant to section 16‑515, subsection E, be accompanied and assisted by a person of the voter's own choice or be assisted by two election officials, one from each major political party, during any process relating to voting or during the actual process of voting on a paper ballot, machine or electronic voting system. A person who is a candidate for an office in that election other than the office of precinct committeeman or who has been employed by or volunteered for a candidate, campaign, political organization or political party in that election is not eligible to assist any voter.
Sec. 5. Section 16-801, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-801. Representation of new party on ballot at primary and general elections
A. A new political party may become eligible for recognition and shall be represented by an official party ballot at the next ensuing regular primary election and accorded a column on the official ballot at the succeeding general election upon on filing with the secretary of state a petition signed by a number of qualified electors equal to not less than one and one‑third per cent of the total votes cast for governor at the last preceding general election at which a governor was elected. from this number, at least five different counties shall be included as the county of registration among the required total of qualified electors and at least ten per cent of the required total of qualified electors shall be registered in counties with populations of less than five hundred thousand persons. The petition shall:
1. Bear the certification of the county recorder of each county that the signatures on the petition have been examined and that these are signatures of qualified electors of the county.
2. 1. Be verified by the affidavit of ten qualified electors of the state, asking that the signers thereof be recognized as a new political party. The status as qualified electors of the signers of the affidavit shall be certified by the county recorder of the county in which they reside.
3. 2. Be in substantially the form prescribed by section 16‑315.
4. 3. Be captioned "petition for political party recognition".
B. Notwithstanding any other law, on recognition as a political party that is represented by an official party ballot at the primary election and accorded a ballot column at the succeeding general election, a new political party is entitled to representation as a political party on the official ballot through the next two regularly scheduled general elections for federal office immediately following recognition of the political party. After these two regularly scheduled general elections for federal office the political party is ineligible for further representation on the ballot unless it qualifies for continued representation on the ballot as prescribed in section 16-804 or it files a new petition for recognition as a new political party pursuant to this section and section 16-803.
Sec. 6. Section 16-803, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-803. Filing petition for recognition; submission of petitions to county recorder for signature verification
A. A petition for recognition of a new political party shall be filed with the secretary of state, the officer in charge of elections of the county or the city or town clerk, as the case may be, not less than one hundred forty days before the primary election for which the party seeks recognition. A new party that seeks both state and county recognition may file the original petition with the officer in charge of elections for the county and a certified copy of the petition with the secretary of state.
B. A petition for recognition shall not be submitted for signature verification to a county recorder or a city or town clerk, as the case may be, later than one hundred eighty days before the primary election.
C. The county recorder shall verify and count all signatures of qualified electors within thirty days after submission.
C. On receipt of a petition for statewide recognition, the county officer in charge of elections from each of the counties in which the petition was filed shall submit the petitions and signatures to the secretary of state. Within five business days after receipt, the secretary of state shall remove the following signatures that are not eligible for verification by marking an "SS" in red ink in the margin to the right of the signature line:
1. If the signature of the qualified elector is missing.
2. If the residence address or the description of residence location is missing.
3. If the date on which the petitioner signed is missing.
D. the secretary of state, during the same five business day period provided in subsection C, shall select, at random, twenty per cent of the total signatures eligible for verification by the county recorders of the counties in which the persons signing the petition claim to be qualified electors. The random sample of signatures to be verified shall be drawn in such a manner that every signature eligible for verification has an equal chance of being included in the sample. The random sample produced shall identify each signature selected by petition page and line number. The signatures selected shall be marked according to the following procedure:
1. Using red ink, mark the selected signature by circling the line number and drawing a line from the base of the circle extending into the left margin.
2. If a signature line selected for the random sample is found to be blank or was removed from the verification process pursuant to subsection C, then the next line down, even if that requires going to the next petition sheet in sequence, on which an eligible signature appears shall be selected as a substitute if that line has not already been selected for the random sample. If the next eligible line is already being used in the random sample, the secretary of state shall proceed back up the page from the signature line originally selected for the random sample to the next previous signature line eligible for verification. If that line is already being used in the random sample, the secretary of state shall continue moving down the page or to the next page from the line originally selected for the random sample and shall select the next eligible signature as its substitute for the random sample. The secretary of state shall use this process of alternately moving forward and backward until a signature eligible for verification and not already included in the random sample can be selected and substituted.
E. After the selection of the random sample, the secretary of state shall reproduce a facsimile of the front of each signature sheet on which a signature included in the random sample appears. The secretary of state shall clearly identify those signatures marked for verification by color highlighting or other similar method and shall transmit by personal delivery or certified mail to each county recorder a facsimile sheet of each signature sheet on which a signature appears of any individual who claims to be a qualified elector of that county and whose signature was selected for verification as part of the random sample.
F. Within ten business days after receiving the facsimile signature sheets from the secretary of state, the county recorder shall determine which signatures of individuals whose names were transmitted shall be disqualified for any of the following reasons:
1. No residence address or description of residence location is provided.
2. No date of signing is provided.
3. The signature is illegible and the signer is otherwise unidentifiable.
4. The address provided is illegible or nonexistent.
5. The individual was not a qualified elector on the date of signing the petition.
6. The individual was a registered voter but was not at least eighteen years of age on the date of signing the petition or affidavit.
7. The signature was disqualified after comparison with the signature on the affidavit of registration.
8. If a petitioner signed more than once, all but one otherwise valid signature shall be disqualified.
9. For the same reasons any signatures could have been removed by the secretary of state pursuant to this section.
G. Within the same time period provided in subsection F, the county recorder shall certify to the secretary of state the following:
1. The name of any individual whose signature was included in the random sample and disqualified by the county recorder together with the petition page and line number of the disqualified signature.
2. The total number of signatures selected for the random sample and transmitted to the county recorder for verification and the total number of random sample signatures disqualified.
H. At the time of the certification, the county recorder shall:
1. Return the facsimile signature sheets to the secretary of state.
2. Send notice of the results of the certification by mail to the person or organization that submitted the petitions and to the secretary of state.
I. Within ten business days, after receipt of the facsimile signature sheets and the certification of each county recorder, the secretary of state shall determine the total number of valid signatures by subtracting from the total number of eligible signatures in the following order:
1. All signatures that were found ineligible by the county recorders.
2. After determining the percentage of all signatures found to be invalid in the random sample, a like percentage from those signatures remaining after the subtractions performed pursuant to paragraph 1 of this subsection.
J. If the number of valid signatures as projected from the random sample pursuant to subsection I is at least one hundred per cent of the minimum number required by this section, the party shall be recognized. If the number of valid signatures as projected from the random sample is less than one hundred per cent of the MINIMUM number, the party shall not be recognized.
