SB 298

Currently, when an elector votes by absentee ballot, whether by mail or in

person at the office of a municipal clerk or board of election commissioners or

alternate absentee ballot site, the elector's ballot is enclosed inside a certificate

envelope the face of which contains a certificate in a form specified by law that

affirms the elector's eligibility. The certificate is signed by the elector. When the

certificate envelope is mailed, transmitted, or delivered to the election officials, the

absentee ballot is retained inside the certificate envelope until it is delivered to the

elector's polling place or to a board of absentee ballot canvassers on election day.

This bill directs election officials to provide a privacy envelope for each absentee

ballot. Under the bill, the privacy envelope containing the ballot is then placed inside

the certificate envelope. If a municipal clerk or board of election commissioners

receives an absentee ballot by electronic mail or by facsimile transmission, the clerk

or board encloses the ballot in a privacy envelope before enclosing it in a certificate

envelope.