Bill Text: MI HB5449 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Elections; election officials; elections inspectors working in shifts on an absent voter counting board; allow. Amends sec. 765a of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.765a).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 17-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-05 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 02/05/2020 [HB5449 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-HB5449-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL NO. 5449
February 04, 2020, Introduced by Reps. Hope,
Love, Tyrone Carter, Brenda Carter, Guerra, Kennedy, Wittenberg, Manoogian,
Hood, Sowerby, Sabo, Tate, Byrd, Cynthia Johnson, Garrett, Gay-Dagnogo and
Yancey and referred to the Committee on Elections and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 765a (MCL 168.765a), as added by 2018 PA 123.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
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 this subsection and 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 city or township may adopt a resolution 40 days or
more before election day to allow the election inspectors appointed to an
absent voter counting board in that city or township to work in shifts as
determined by the city or township clerk. If a city or township adopts a
resolution under this subsection, the election inspectors who are working in
shifts may leave the counting place after the tallying has begun and before 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 an absent voter counting board used in an election conducted by a county, city, or township.