Bill Text: MI HB5297 | 2011-2012 | 96th Legislature | Engrossed
Bill Title: Elections; absent voters; federal write-in absentee ballot; expand to include state and local candidates and ballot questions, and include certain reporting requirements for local clerks. Amends sec. 759a of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.759a).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 25-1)
Status: (Passed) 2012-07-18 - Assigned Pa 279'12 With Immediate Effect [HB5297 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2011-HB5297-Engrossed.html
HB-5297, As Passed Senate, June 13, 2012
SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 5297
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 759a (MCL 168.759a), as amended by 2011 PA 163.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 759a. (1) An absent uniformed services voter or an
overseas voter who is not registered, but possessed the
qualifications of an elector under section 492, may apply for
registration by using the federal postcard application. The
department of state, bureau of elections, is responsible for
disseminating information on the procedures for registering and
voting to an absent uniformed services voter and an overseas voter.
(2) Upon the request of an absent uniformed services voter or
an overseas voter, the clerk of a county, city, township, or
village shall electronically transmit a blank voter registration
application or blank absent voter ballot application to the voter.
The clerk of a county, city, township, or village shall accept a
completed voter registration application or completed absent voter
ballot application electronically transmitted by an absent
uniformed services voter or overseas voter. A voter registration
application or absent voter ballot application submitted by an
absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall contain the
signature of the voter.
(3) A spouse or dependent of an overseas voter who is a
citizen of the United States, is accompanying that overseas voter,
and is not a qualified and registered elector anywhere else in the
United States, may apply for an absent voter ballot even though the
spouse or dependent is not a qualified elector of a city or
township of this state.
(4) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter,
whether or not registered to vote, may apply for an absent voter
ballot. Upon receipt of an application for an absent voter ballot
under this section that complies with this act, a county, city,
village, or township clerk shall forward to the applicant the
absent voter ballots requested, the forms necessary for
registration, and instructions for completing the forms. If the
ballots are not yet available at the time of receipt of the
application, the clerk shall immediately forward to the applicant
the registration forms and instructions, and forward the ballots as
soon as they are available. If a federal postcard application or an
application from the official United States department of defense
website is filed, the clerk shall accept the federal postcard
application or the application from the official United States
department of defense website as the registration application and
shall not send any additional registration forms to the applicant.
If the ballots and registration forms are received before the close
of the polls on election day and if the registration complies with
the requirements of this act, the absent voter ballots shall be
delivered to the proper election board to be tabulated. If the
registration does not comply with the requirements of this act, the
clerk shall retain the absent voter ballots until the expiration of
the time that the voted ballots must be kept and shall then destroy
the ballots without opening the envelope. The clerk may retain
registration forms completed under this section in a separate file.
The address in this state shown on a registration form is the
residence of the registrant.
(5) Not later than 45 days before an election, a county, city,
township, or village clerk shall electronically transmit or mail as
appropriate an absent voter ballot to each absent uniformed
services voter or overseas voter who applied for an absent voter
ballot 45 days or more before the election.
(6) Upon the request of an absent uniformed services voter or
overseas voter, the clerk of a county, city, township, or village
shall electronically transmit an absent voter ballot to the voter.
The voter shall print the absent voter ballot and return the voted
ballot by mail to the appropriate clerk.
(7) The secretary of state shall prescribe electronic absent
voter ballot formats and electronic absent voter ballot
transmission methods. Each county, city, township, or village clerk
shall employ the prescribed electronic ballot formats to fulfill an
absent voter ballot request received from an absent uniformed
services voter or overseas voter who wishes to receive his or her
absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission. The
secretary of state shall establish procedures to implement the
requirements in this section and for the processing of a marked
absent voter ballot returned by an absent uniformed services voter
or overseas voter who obtained his or her absent voter ballot
through an electronic transmission.
(8) The secretary of state shall modify the printed statement
provided under section 761(4) and the absent voter ballot
instructions provided under section 764a as appropriate to
accommodate the procedures developed for electronically
transmitting an absent voter ballot to an absent uniformed services
voter or overseas voter. A statement shall be included in the
certificate signed by the absent voter who obtained his or her
absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission that the
secrecy of the absent voter ballot may be compromised during the
duplication process. The absent voter ballot instructions provided
to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall
include the proper procedures for returning the absent voter ballot
to the appropriate clerk.
(9) The size of a precinct shall not be determined by
registration forms completed under this section.
(10) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter
who submits an absent voter ballot application is eligible to vote
as
an absent voter in any local, or state, or federal election
occurring in the calendar year in which the election is held for
that ballot requested if the absent voter ballot application is
received
by the county, city, village, or township clerk , but not
in
an election for which the application is received by the clerk
after
not later than 2 p.m. of the Saturday before the election. A
county, city, or township clerk receiving an absent voter ballot
application from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas
voter shall transmit to a village clerk and the school district
election coordinators, where applicable, the necessary information
to enable the village clerk and school district election
coordinators to forward an absent voter ballot for each applicable
election in that calendar year to the absent voter. A village clerk
receiving an absent voter ballot application from an absent
uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall transmit to the
township clerk and the school district election coordinators, where
applicable, the necessary information to enable the city or
township clerk and school district election coordinators to forward
an absent voter ballot for each applicable election in that
calendar year to the absent voter. If the local elections official
rejects a voter registration application or absent voter ballot
application submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or
overseas voter, the election official shall notify the voter of the
rejection.
(11) An electronic mail address provided by an absent
uniformed services voter or overseas voter for the purposes of this
section is confidential and exempt from disclosure under the
freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
(12) Under the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting
act,
42 USC 1973ff to 1973ff-7, the state director of elections
shall approve a ballot form and registration procedures for absent
uniformed services voters and overseas voters.
(13) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter
may use the federal write-in absentee ballot, in accordance with
the provisions of the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee
voting act, at a regular election or special election to vote for a
local, state, or federal office or on a ballot question. An absent
uniformed services voter or an overseas voter who uses the federal
write-in absentee ballot shall return his or her voted federal
write-in absentee ballot by mail to the appropriate clerk. The
state bureau of elections shall do both of the following:
(a) Make the ballot format for each election available to
absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters by electronic
mail or on an internet website maintained by the department of
state.
(b) Make the ballot information, including the offices, names
of candidates, and ballot proposals, for each election available to
absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters on an internet
website maintained by the department of state.
(14) The clerk of a city, village, or township shall submit to
the county clerk of the county in which that city, village, or
township is located a written statement no later than 45 days
before each election indicating whether absent voter ballots were
issued to absent uniformed services voters or overseas voters in
compliance with this section and the uniformed and overseas
citizens absentee voting act. The city, village, or township clerk
shall provide to the county clerk a written explanation describing
remedial actions taken by the city, village, or township clerk if
the city, village, or township clerk fails to comply with this
section and the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting
act. Not later than 42 days before each election, each county clerk
shall submit to the state bureau of elections a written report
compiled from the written statements submitted by the city,
village, and township clerks. The written report shall identify the
cities, villages, and townships that complied with the 45-day
deadline under this subsection, the cities, villages, and townships
that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this subsection,
but provided a written explanation, and those cities, villages, and
townships that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this
subsection and that did not provide a written explanation. The
state bureau of elections may require the clerk of a city, village,
or township that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this
subsection, but provided a written explanation, to provide
additional information. The state bureau of elections shall require
the clerk of a city, village, or township that did not comply with
the 45-day deadline and that did not provide a written explanation
to file a written explanation, describing the remedial actions
taken by the city, village, or township clerk, within 1 business
day after the state bureau of elections notifies the clerk of that
city, village, or township.
(15) (13)
For a presidential primary
election, the secretary
of state shall prescribe procedures for contacting an elector who
is an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, as
described in this section, and who is eligible to receive an absent
voter ballot or who applies for an absent voter ballot for the
presidential primary election, offering the elector the opportunity
to select a political party ballot for the presidential primary
election.
(16) (14)
As used in this section:
(a) "Absent uniformed services voter" means any of the
following:
(i) A member of a uniformed service on active duty who, by
reason of being on active duty, is absent from the place of
residence where the member is otherwise qualified to vote.
(ii) A member of the merchant marine who, by reason of service
in the merchant marine, is absent from the place of residence where
the member is otherwise qualified to vote.
(iii) A spouse or dependent of a member referred to in
subparagraph (i) or (ii) who, by reason of the active duty or service
of the member, is absent from the place of residence where the
spouse or dependent is otherwise qualified to vote.
(b) "Member of the merchant marine" means an individual, other
than a member of a uniformed service or an individual employed,
enrolled, or maintained on the Great Lakes or the inland waterways,
who is either of the following:
(i) Employed as an officer or crew member of a vessel
documented under the laws of the United States, a vessel owned by
the United States, or a vessel of foreign-flag registry under
charter to or control of the United States.
House Bill No. 5297 as amended June 13, 2012
(ii) Enrolled with the United States for employment or training
for employment, or maintained by the United States for emergency
relief service, as an officer or crew member of a vessel documented
under the laws of the United States, a vessel owned by the United
States, or a vessel of foreign-flag registry under charter to or
control of the United States.
(c) "Overseas voter" means any of the following:
(i) An absent uniformed services voter who, by reason of active
duty or service, is absent from the United States on the date of an
election.
(ii) A person who resides outside of the United States and is
qualified to vote in the last place in which the person was
domiciled before leaving the United States.
(iii) A person who resides outside of the United States and who,
but for such residence outside of the United States, would be
qualified to vote in the last place in which he or she was
domiciled before leaving the United States.
(d) "Uniformed services" means the army, navy, air force,
marine corps, coast guard, the commissioned corps of the public
health service, the commissioned corps of the national oceanic and
atmospheric administration, a reserve component of a uniformed
service, or the Michigan national guard as defined in section 105
of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.505.
<<(15)
This section applies to the August 3, 2010 election
and to each succeeding election conducted in this state.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect August 15, 2012.>>