June 17, 2004, Introduced by Reps. Ruth Johnson, Vander Veen, LaJoy, Caswell, Taub, Stahl, Rocca, Wenke, Caul and Pappageorge and referred to the Committee on Local Government and Urban Policy.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 761 (MCL 168.761), as amended by 1996 PA
207.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
1 Sec. 761. (1) If the clerk of a city, township, or village
2 receives an application for an absent voter ballot from a person
3 registered to vote in that city, township, or village and if the
4 signature on the application agrees with the signature on the
5 registration card, the clerk shall proceed under this
6 subsection. The clerk immediately upon receipt of the
7 application or, if the application is received before the
8 printing of the absent voter ballots, as soon as the ballots are
9 received by the clerk, shall forward by mail, postage prepaid, or
10 shall deliver personally 1 of the ballots or set of ballots if
1 there is more than 1 kind of ballot to be voted to the
2 applicant. Absent voter ballots may be delivered to an applicant
3 in person at the office of the clerk.
4 (2) Notwithstanding the
provision in section 759 ,
5 providing that no absent voter applications shall be received
by
6 the clerk after 2 p.m. on the Saturday before the election, a
7 person qualified to vote as an absent voter may apply in person
8 at the clerk's office
before 4 p.m. on a day preceding before
9 the election except Sunday or a legal holiday to vote as an
10 absent voter. The applicant shall receive his or her absent
11 voter ballot and vote the ballot in the clerk's office. All
12 other absent voter
ballots, except ballots delivered pursuant
13 according to an emergency absent voter ballot application under
14 section 759b, shall be mailed or delivered to the registration
15 address of the applicant
unless the application applicant
16 requests delivery to an address outside the city, village, or
17 township or to a hospital
or similar institution. , in which
18 case If the applicant requests delivery to other than
the
19 applicant's registration address, the absent voter ballots shall
20 be mailed or delivered to the address given in the application.
21 However, a A clerk may mail or deliver an absent voter
ballot,
22 upon request of the absent voter, to a post office box if the
23 post office box is where the absent voter normally receives
24 personal mail and the absent voter does not receive mail at his
25 or her registration address.
26 (3) Absent voter ballots shall be issued in the same order in
27 which applications are received by the clerk of a city, township,
1 or village, as nearly
as may be close as possible, and each
2 ballot issued shall bear the lowest number of each kind available
3 for this purpose. However,
this This provision does not
4 prohibit a clerk from immediately issuing an absent voter ballot
5 to an absent voter who applies in person in the clerk's office
6 for absent voter ballots. The clerk shall enclose with the
7 ballot or ballots a return envelope properly addressed to the
8 clerk and bearing upon the back of the envelope a printed
9 statement in substantially the following form:
10 TO BE COMPLETED
11 BY THE CLERK
12 ______________________________ _________________________________
13 Name of Voter Street Address or R.R.
14 ______________________________ _________________________________
15 City, Township or Village County
16 Ward _______ Precinct _______ Date of Election_________________
17 =================================================================
18 TO BE COMPLETED BY THE ABSENT VOTER
19 I assert that I am a qualified and registered elector of the
20 city, township, or village named above. I am voting as an absent
21 voter in conformity with state election law. Unless otherwise
22 indicated below, I personally marked the ballot enclosed in this
23 envelope without exhibiting it to any other person.
24 I further assert that this absent voter ballot is being
25 returned to the clerk or an assistant of the clerk by me
26 personally; by public postal service, express mail service,
27 parcel post service, or other common carrier; by a member of my
28 immediate family; or by a person residing in my household.
29 DATE:_____ SIGN HERE: X______________________________
1 Signature of Absent Voter
2 The above form must be signed or your vote will not be counted.
3 AN ABSENT VOTER WHO KNOWINGLY MAKES A FALSE STATEMENT IS GUILTY
4 OF A MISDEMEANOR.
5 =================================================================
6 TO BE COMPLETED ONLY IF VOTER IS ASSISTED IN VOTING
7 BY ANOTHER PERSON
8 I assisted the above named absent voter who is disabled or
9 otherwise unable to mark the ballot in marking his or her absent
10 voter ballot pursuant
according to his or her directions and in
11 his or her physical presence. The absent voter ballot was
12 inserted in the return envelope without being exhibited to any
13 other person.
14 ____________________ ______________________ ______________________
15 Signature of Person Street Address or R.R. City, Twp., or Village
16 Assisting Voter
17 A PERSON WHO ASSISTS AN ABSENT VOTER AND WHO KNOWINGLY MAKES A
18 FALSE STATEMENT IS GUILTY OF A FELONY.
19 I hereby acknowledge that I was assisted in marking this
20 ballot by the above named person who was in my physical presence
21 when I marked the ballot.
22 _________________________________________________________________
23 Signature of person being assisted by the above named person.
24 =================================================================
25 WARNING
26 PERSONS WHO CAN LEGALLY BE IN POSSESSION OF AN ABSENT VOTER
27 BALLOT ISSUED TO AN ABSENT VOTER ARE LIMITED TO THE ABSENT VOTER;
28 A PERSON WHO IS A MEMBER OF THE ABSENT VOTER'S IMMEDIATE FAMILY
29 OR RESIDES IN THE ABSENT VOTER'S HOUSEHOLD AND WHO HAS BEEN ASKED
30 BY THE ABSENT VOTER TO RETURN THE BALLOT; A PERSON WHOSE JOB IT
1 IS TO HANDLE MAIL BEFORE, DURING, OR AFTER BEING TRANSPORTED BY A
2 PUBLIC POSTAL SERVICE, EXPRESS MAIL SERVICE, PARCEL POST SERVICE,
3 OR COMMON CARRIER, BUT ONLY DURING THE NORMAL COURSE OF HIS OR
4 HER EMPLOYMENT; AND THE CLERK, ASSISTANTS OF THE CLERK, AND OTHER
5 AUTHORIZED ELECTION OFFICIALS OF THE CITY, TOWNSHIP, VILLAGE, OR
6 SCHOOL DISTRICT. ANY OTHER PERSON IN POSSESSION OF AN ABSENT
7 VOTER BALLOT IS GUILTY OF A FELONY.
8 (4) A clerk may
use absent voter ballot envelop stock
9 purchased before March
28, 1996 for the remainder of the 1996
10 calendar year if both
of the following requirements are
11 satisfied:
12 (a) The warning in
subsection (3) that describes persons who
13 can legally be in
possession of an absent voter ballot is affixed
14 to the outside of the
envelope.
15 (b) All other
instructions required under subsection (3)
16 regarding persons
assisting the absent voter are inserted into
17 the absent voter
ballot envelope.
18 (4) (5) An
absent voter who knowingly makes a false
19 statement on the absent voter ballot return envelope is guilty of
20 a misdemeanor. A person who assists an absent voter and who
21 knowingly makes a false statement on the absent voter ballot
22 return envelope is guilty of a felony.