SB 193

This bill authorizes a municipality to allow its electors to vote before election

day by using an electronic voting machine to cast an in-person absentee ballot (the

efficiency option). If a municipality adopts a resolution to implement this option, and

the Elections Commission certifies that the municipality is capable of

implementation, an elector may vote before election day at the municipal clerk's

office by completing his or her ballot and casting the ballot using an electronic voting

system. Using the efficiency option may occur simultaneously or in conjunction with

making an application in person using absentee ballot envelopes, but the periods for

voting using the efficiency option and for making an application in person by using

absentee ballot envelopes need not be the same. The votes are not tabulated before

election day, but the municipal clerk publishes the daily tally of the total number of

ballots cast before election day on the municipality's Internet site. The bill requires

the municipality to publish a notice specifying the locations, dates, and hours for

voting using the efficiency option and the location where results will be tallied on

election night. Under the bill, a person who acts in any manner that would give him

or her the ability to know or to provide information on the accumulating or final

results from the ballots cast using the efficiency option is guilty of a Class I felony.

The current law that applies to voting on election day with regard to election

observers, assisting electors, the availability of accessible systems, and the privilege

of absentee voting also applies to voting as provided under the bill.

Under current law, an election inspector may challenge for cause any person

offering to vote whom the inspector knows or suspects is not a qualified elector.

Another elector may also make such a challenge for cause. When a voter's

qualifications are challenged, the inspector must administer an oath to the

challenged elector to affirm that he or she will fully and truly answer the inspector's

questions regarding the person's residence and qualifications. The bill allows the

chief clerk, the deputy clerk, or an inspector to challenge for cause any person

offering to vote and to administer the oath and ask the relevant questions regarding

the person's residence and qualifications.

The bill also repeals the current law provision regarding the treatment of

absentee ballots cast by a person who dies before election day.

Because this bill creates a new crime or revises a penalty for an existing crime,

the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties may be requested to prepare a

report.