Bill Text: CT SB00287 | 2010 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: An Act Concerning Accessible Voting For Voters With Disabilities Or Needing Assistance.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-04-14 - Favorable Report, Tabled for the Calendar, Senate [SB00287 Detail]
Download: Connecticut-2010-SB00287-Introduced.html
General Assembly |
Raised Bill No. 287 | ||
February Session, 2010 |
LCO No. 1558 | ||
*01558_______GAE* | |||
Referred to Committee on Government Administration and Elections |
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Introduced by: |
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(GAE) |
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AN ACT CONCERNING ACCESSIBLE VOTING FOR VOTERS WITH DISABILITIES OR NEEDING ASSISTANCE.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened:
Section 1. Section 9-247 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective July 1, 2010):
The registrars of voters shall, before the day of the election, cause [the mechanic or mechanics to insert on each machine the ballot labels corresponding with the sample diagrams provided and to put each such machine] each voting system approved by the Secretary of the State for use in the election, including, but not limited to, voting systems equipped for individuals with disabilities that comply with the provisions of the Help America Vote Act, P.L. 107-252, as amended from time to time, to be put in order in every way and set and adjust the same so that it shall be ready for use in voting when delivered at the polling place. Such registrars shall cause [the machine so labeled,] each such voting system to be in order and set and adjusted, to be delivered at the polling place, together with all necessary furniture and appliances that go with the same, at the room where the election is to be held, not later than six o'clock in the afternoon of the day preceding the election. [Each voting machine shall be furnished with light sufficient to enable electors while voting to read the ballot labels and suitable for use by the election officials in examining the counters. A pencil shall also be provided, within each voting machine, for use in casting a write-in ballot.]
Sec. 2. Section 9-264 of the general statutes is repealed and the following is substituted in lieu thereof (Effective from passage):
[(a)] An elector who requires assistance to vote, by reason of blindness, disability or inability to write or to read the ballot, may be given assistance by a person of the elector's choice, other than (1) the elector's employer, (2) an agent of such employer, [or] (3) an officer or agent of the elector's union, or (4) a candidate for any office on the ballot. The person assisting the elector may accompany the elector into the voting [machine] booth. Such person shall register such elector's vote upon the [machine] ballot as such elector directs. Any person accompanying an elector into the voting [machine] booth who deceives any elector in registering [his] the elector's vote under this section or seeks to influence any elector while in the act of voting, or who registers any vote for any elector or on any question other than as requested by such elector, or who gives information to any person as to what person or persons such elector voted for, or how [he] such elector voted on any question, shall be fined not more than one thousand dollars or imprisoned not more than five years or both.
[(b) Paper ballots provided by the municipal clerk to the moderator pursuant to section 9-259 shall be made available for electors with disabilities in polling places in which a voting machine cannot be adjusted to allow all necessary parts to be reached from a chair. Such paper ballots shall be used at the option of the elector with disabilities. The elector shall announce the elector's name to the checkers who shall cross the elector's name off the registry list and add it with the elector's address to the end of the official checklist where it shall be designated "paper ballot for persons with disabilities" or "PBD" and serially numbered. After the elector has so announced the elector's name, the moderator shall deliver to the elector an absentee ballot and a serially-numbered envelope. The elector shall forthwith mark the ballot in the presence of the moderator in such manner that the moderator shall not know how the ballot is marked. The elector shall fold the ballot in the presence of the moderator so as to conceal the markings and deposit and seal it in the serially-numbered envelope. The elector shall deliver the envelope to the moderator who shall place it in a specially-designated depository envelope. The paper ballots thus received shall be counted at the next scheduled absentee ballot count in the same manner as other absentee ballots. Such ballots so counted shall be preserved by placing them in the depository envelopes with the regular absentee ballots, and such serially-numbered envelopes shall be placed in the depository envelopes with the regular absentee ballot envelopes.]
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following sections: | ||
Section 1 |
July 1, 2010 |
9-247 |
Sec. 2 |
from passage |
9-264 |
Statement of Purpose:
To provide that each polling place comply with requirements for assisting electors with disabilities to vote and to prohibit a candidate who is on the ballot from accompanying an elector needing assistance into a voting booth and assisting the elector in voting.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not underlined.]