SB 917

Under current law, absentee ballots may not be canvassed until election day.

This bill authorizes a municipality to adopt an ordinance providing for the

canvassing of absentee ballots during a state of emergency on the Sunday before an

election, subject to the following requirements:

1. The municipality must use automatic tabulating equipment to process

absentee ballots.

2. Prior to enacting an ordinance under the bill, the municipal clerk or

municipal board of election commissioners must notify the Elections Commission in

writing of the proposed enactment and must consult with the Elections Commission

concerning administration of early canvassing of absentee ballots.

3. Early canvassing of absentee ballots under the bill must satisfy the

procedures required under current law for canvassing absentee ballots on election

day.

4. Members of the public must have the same right of access to a place where

absentee ballots are being canvassed early as is provided under current law for

canvassing absentee ballots on election day.

5. When not in use, automatic tabulating equipment used for canvassing

absentee ballots and the areas where the programmed media and the absentee

ballots are housed must be secured with tamper-evident security seals in a

double-lock location such as a locked cabinet inside a locked office.

6. Ballots canvassed early under the bill may not actually be tabulated until

the closing of the polls on election day.

7. Subject to criminal penalty, no person may act 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 canvassed early under the bill before the close of the polls on

election day.

8. Certain notices must be provided before each election at which the

municipality intends to canvass absentee ballots on the Sunday before election day.