Bill Text: MI HB6199 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Elections: election officials; requirement to provide absent voter ballot drop box; provide for. Amends sec. 764a of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.764a) & adds sec. 761c.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-09-15 - Bill Electronically Reproduced 09/10/2020 [HB6199 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-HB6199-Introduced.html
HOUSE BILL NO. 6199
September 10, 2020, Introduced by Reps. Elder,
Kuppa, Love, Liberati, Cherry, Sabo, Garrett, Haadsma, Chirkun, Garza,
Wittenberg, Pagan and Sowerby and referred to the Committee on Elections
and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 764a (MCL 168.764a), as amended by 2012 PA 128, and by adding section 761c.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
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Sec. 761c. Each city, village, or township clerk must provide, in an accessible outdoor location in the city, village, or township, at least 1 secure drop box for an elector to return his or her absent voter ballot return envelope to the clerk. Only the city, village, or township clerk, or his or her authorized
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assistant, shall have access to a drop box. Each drop box must be checked and emptied on a daily basis by the clerk, or his or her authorized assistant.
Sec. 764a. The following instructions for an absent
voter shall must be included with each ballot or set
of ballots furnished an absent voter:
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INSTRUCTIONS FOR ABSENT VOTERS |
Step 1. Enclosed you will
find voting instructions as to the method of voting. Read these carefully and
then vote the ballot.
Step 2. After voting a
ballot, place the ballot in the secrecy sleeve, if any. If a secrecy sleeve is
not provided, refold the ballot to conceal your votes.
Step 3. Place the ballot
or ballots in the return envelope and securely seal the envelope.
Step 4. Sign and date the
return envelope in the place designated. Your signature must appear on the
return envelope or the ballot will not be counted. If you are disabled or
otherwise unable to mark the ballot and required assistance in voting your
absent voter ballot, have the person individual who assisted you complete the
section on the return envelope entitled "TO BE COMPLETED ONLY IF VOTER IS
ASSISTED IN VOTING BY ANOTHER PERSON".
Step 5. Deliver the
return envelope by 1 of the following methods:
(a) Place the necessary
postage upon the return envelope and deposit it in the United States mail or
with another public postal service, express mail service, parcel post service,
or common carrier.
(b) Deliver the envelope
personally to the office of the clerk, to the clerk, or to an authorized
assistant of the clerk, or
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to a secure drop box located in the city,
village, or township.
(c) In either (a) or (b),
a member of the immediate family of the voter including a father-in-law,
mother-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law,
grandparent, or grandchild or a person residing in the voter's household may
mail or deliver a ballot to the clerk for the voter.
(d) You may request by
telephone that the clerk who issued the ballot provide assistance in returning
the ballot. The clerk is required to provide assistance if you are unable to
return your absent voter ballot as specified in (a), (b), or (c) above, if it
is before 5 p.m. on the Friday immediately preceding the election, and if you
are asking the clerk to pickup pick up the absent voter ballot within
the jurisdictional limits of the city, township, or village in which you are
registered. Your absent voter ballot will then be picked up by the clerk or an
election assistant sent by the clerk. All persons individuals authorized to pick up absent voter
ballots are required to carry credentials issued by the clerk. If using this
absent voter ballot return method, do not give your ballot to anyone until you
have checked their credentials.
Step 6. The ballot must
reach the clerk or an authorized assistant of the clerk before the close of the
polls on election day. An absent voter ballot received by the clerk or
assistant of the clerk after the close of the polls on election day will not be
counted.
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WARNING |
All of the following
actions are violations of the Michigan election law and are illegal in this
state:
(1) To vote an absent
voter ballot at a meeting or gathering at which other people individuals are
voting absent voter ballots.
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(2) For a person an individual who is assisting an absent
voter in marking the ballot to suggest or in any manner attempt to influence
the absent voter on how he or she should vote.
(3) For a person an individual who is present and knows
that a person an individual is voting an absent voter
ballot to suggest or in any manner attempt to influence the absent voter on how
he or she should vote.
(4) For a person an individual other than those listed in
these instructions to return, offer to return, agree to return, or solicit to
return an absent voter ballot to the clerk.
(5) For a person an individual other than the absent voter; a person an individual listed in these instructions; or a person an individual whose job it is to handle mail before, during, or after being transported by a public postal service, express mail service, parcel post service, or common carrier, but only during the normal course of his or her employment to be in possession of a voted or unvoted absent voter ballot.
