AB 525

Currently, if a qualified elector casts an absentee ballot, whether by mail or in

person, the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners of the municipality

where the elector resides delivers the ballot in an absentee ballot envelope to the

polling place serving the elector's residence. There is no authorization for a

municipality to return an absentee ballot to an elector once the ballot has been cast.

The election inspectors (poll workers), upon receiving the absentee ballot of a

qualified elector, mark the poll list to indicate that the elector has voted when they

count the ballot. No elector is permitted to vote more than once in the same election.

If a municipality elects to canvass its absentee ballots centrally using a board of

absentee ballot canvassers, the board of absentee ballot canvassers marks a separate

poll list containing the names of the qualified electors of the municipality to indicate

the electors who have cast absentee ballots. The municipal board of canvassers is

then required to reconcile the poll list marked at each polling place with the poll list

marked by the board of absentee ballot canvassers to ensure that no person is

permitted to vote more than once. If the municipal board of canvassers finds that an

elector who has voted in person has also cast an absentee ballot, the absentee ballot

is void.

This bill provides that if an elector mails or personally delivers an absentee

ballot to the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners, the clerk or board

shall not return the ballot to the elector. The bill also provides that an elector who

mails or personally delivers an absentee ballot to the municipal clerk or board of

election commissioners at an election is not permitted to vote in person at the same

election on election day.

Currently, if a municipal clerk or board of election commissioners receives an

absentee ballot with an improperly completed certificate or with no certificate, the

clerk or board may return the ballot to the elector, inside the sealed envelope when

an envelope is received, together with a new envelope if necessary, whenever time

permits the elector to correct the defect and mail the ballot back to the clerk or board

by election day. This bill deletes this provision.

Currently, with certain exceptions, an individual who votes in an election must

present proof of identification in order to vote. The proof may consist of a number

of documents specified by law and must contain certain information specified by law.

An individual who votes by absentee ballot to whom the requirement applies must

generally enclose a copy of his or her proof of identification with his or her absentee

ballot application. However, if the individual requests an absentee ballot by

electronic mail or facsimile transmission, the individual instead provides a copy of

his or her proof of identification with his or her absentee ballot. This bill deletes the

procedure under which a copy of an individual's proof of identification is provided

with the individual's absentee ballot rather than with the individual's absentee

ballot application, thus requiring every individual to whom the identification