Bill Text: MI SB0867 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Elections: absent voters; authorize clerks to open and prepare absent voter ballots before an election; allow secretary of state to adopt rules. Amends secs. 765, 765a & 765b of 1954 PA 116 (MCL 168.765 et seq).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-04-24 - Referred To Committee On Elections [SB0867 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-SB0867-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL NO. 867
April 24, 2020, Introduced by Senator HOLLIER
and referred to the Committee on Elections.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending sections 765, 765a, and 765b (MCL 168.765, 168.765a, and 168.765b), section 765 as amended by 2018 PA 603, section 765a as added by 2018 PA 123, and section 765b as added by 2018 PA 127.
the people of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 765. (1) A Except as
otherwise provided in subsection (6), a clerk who receives an
absent voter ballot return envelope containing the marked ballots of an absent
voter shall not open that envelope before delivering the envelope to the board
of election inspectors as provided in this section. The Except as
otherwise provided in subsection (6), the city or township clerk
shall safely keep in his or her office until election day any absent voter
ballot return envelopes received by the clerk before election day containing
the marked ballots of an absent voter.
(2) Before the opening of
the polls on election day or as soon after the opening of the polls as
possible, the clerk shall deliver the absent voter ballot return envelopes and absent voter ballots to the chairperson
or other member of the board of election inspectors in the absent voter's
precinct, together with the signed absent voter ballot applications received by
the clerk from any voters of that precinct and the clerk's list or record kept
relative to those absent voters. However, if higher numbered ballots are used
under section 717, the clerk shall retain the applications and lists in his or
her office and shall keep the applications and lists open to public inspection
at all reasonable hours. Absent Except as otherwise provided in subsection (6), absent voter
ballots must not be tabulated before the opening of the polls on election day.
(3) The city or township
clerk, or authorized designee of the clerk, shall call for and receive absent
voter ballots from the post office at which the city or township clerk
regularly receives mail addressed to the city or township clerk on election
day. Any envelopes containing absent voter ballots that are received from the
post office or from voters who voted by absentee ballot in person in the
clerk's office on election day must be delivered to the board of election
inspectors or the absent voter counting boards to be tabulated.
(4) If a marked absent
voter ballot is received by the clerk after the close of the polls, the clerk
shall plainly mark the envelope with the time and date of receipt and shall
file the envelope in his or her office.
(5) On or before 8 a.m.
on election day, the clerk shall post in the clerk's office or otherwise make
public the number of absent voter ballots the clerk distributed to absent
voters and the number of absent voter ballot return envelopes containing the
marked ballots of absent voters received by the clerk before election day and
to be delivered to the board of election inspectors or the absent voter
counting boards under this act. On or before 9 p.m. on election day, the clerk
shall post in the clerk's office or otherwise make public the number of absent
voter ballot return envelopes containing the marked ballots of absent voters received
by the clerk on election day and delivered to the board of election inspectors,
under subsection (3), along with the total number of absent voter ballot return
envelopes containing the marked ballots of absent voters received by the clerk
both before and on election day and delivered to the board of election
inspectors or the absent voter counting boards under this act. As soon as
possible after all precincts in the city or township are processed, the clerk
shall post in the clerk's office or otherwise make public the number of absent
voter ballot return envelopes containing the marked ballots of absent voters
received by the election inspectors at the precincts on election day, along
with the total number of absent voter ballot return envelopes containing the
marked ballots of absent voters received in the city or township for that
election. This subsection applies only to elections in which a federal or state
office appears on the ballot.
(6)
The secretary of state may promulgate rules pursuant to the administrative
procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to allow city or
township clerks to open and prepare absent voter ballots for tabulation before
election day and to adjust the spoiled absent voter ballot deadlines provided
in section 765b.
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 Except as otherwise provided in section 765(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 Except as otherwise provided in section 765(6), 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 Except as otherwise provided in section 765(6), 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 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 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.
Sec. 765b. (1) Not Except as
otherwise provided in section 765(6), not later than 2 p.m. on
the Saturday immediately before an election, an elector may submit a signed,
written statement to his or her city or township clerk requesting that the
clerk do both of the following:
(a) Spoil the elector's
absent voter ballot.
(b) Provide or mail a new
absent voter ballot to the elector.
(2) Upon receipt of a
signed, written statement from an elector as described in subsection (1), the
city or township clerk shall mark the absent voter ballot return envelope of
that elector as "spoiled" and retain the envelope. In addition, the
city or township clerk shall provide or mail a new absent voter ballot to that
elector.
(3) An Except as otherwise provided in section 765(6), an elector
who has returned an absent voter ballot may, before 4 p.m. on the day before an
election except Sunday or a legal holiday, appear in person at his or her city
or township clerk's office to do both of the following:
(a) Spoil his or her
absent voter ballot by submitting a signed, written statement to the city or
township clerk indicating that the elector wishes to have his or her absent
voter ballot spoiled.
(b) Vote a new absent
voter ballot in the clerk's office.
(4) Upon receipt of the
signed, written statement from an elector as described in subsection (3)(a),
the city or township clerk shall mark the absent voter ballot return envelope
of that elector as "spoiled" and retain the envelope. In addition,
the city or township clerk shall issue the elector a new absent voter ballot
that must be voted by the elector in the clerk's office.
(5) Not later than 2 p.m.
on the Saturday immediately before an election, an elector who has lost his or
her absent voter ballot or not yet received his or her absent voter ballot in
the mail may submit a signed, written statement to his or her city or township
clerk requesting that the clerk do both of the following:
(a) Spoil the elector's
absent voter ballot.
(b) Provide or mail a new
absent voter ballot to the elector.
(6) Upon receipt of a
signed, written statement from an elector as described in subsection (5), the
city or township clerk shall indicate in the qualified voter file that the
original ballot is spoiled. In addition, the city or township clerk shall
provide or mail a new absent voter ballot to that elector.
(7) An elector who has
lost his or her absent voter ballot or not yet received his or her absent voter
ballot in the mail may, before 4 p.m. on the day before an election except
Sunday or a legal holiday, appear in person at his or her city or township
clerk's office to do both of the following:
(a) Spoil his or her
absent voter ballot by submitting a signed, written statement to the city or
township clerk indicating that the elector wishes to have his or her absent
voter ballot spoiled.
(b) Vote a new absent
voter ballot in the clerk's office.
(8) Upon receipt of the signed, written statement from an elector described in subsection (7)(a), the city or township clerk shall indicate in the qualified voter file that the original ballot is spoiled. In addition, the city or township clerk shall issue the elector a new absent voter ballot that must be voted by the elector in the clerk's office.
