SB 203

This bill makes a number of changes related to obtaining and returning

absentee ballots.

Current law provides that a voter may make a written application to the

municipal clerk to obtain an absentee ballot by mail, in person at the clerk's office

or at an alternate absentee ballot site, by an agent for a hospitalized voter, by

delivering an application to a special voting deputy, or electronically. This bill also

allows a voter to use a for-profit commercial delivery service that moves parcels

nationally and internationally to return an absentee ballot application.

Current law requires that an absentee ballot be returned by mail or in person

to the municipal clerk. Under the bill, an absentee ballot must be returned by mail

or by the voter, a member of the voter's immediate family, or the voter's legal

guardian to the office of the municipal clerk; to the municipal clerk at an alternate

absentee ballot site; to the site of a collection event; or to the voter's polling place on

election day. If the voter is unable to deliver the absentee ballot and has no legal

guardian or immediate family residing in this state, the voter may designate, in

writing, one person who is a registered voter in this state to deliver the ballot, except

that the voter may not designate a candidate on the ballot nor compensate the person

to deliver the ballot. No person designated to deliver a ballot may deliver more than

one ballot for any election for a person who is not a member of the person's immediate

family.

The bill allows a municipality to designate a site other than the municipal

clerk's office as a location for a voter to return his or her completed absentee ballot.

Unlike an alternate absentee ballot site under current law, a site designated for the

collection of completed absentee ballots may not be used by a voter to make a request

for and vote by absentee ballot. However, similar to an alternate absentee ballot site,

a designated collection site must be located as near as practicable to the office of the

municipal clerk. In addition, like an alternate absentee ballot site, a collection site

must be staffed by the municipal clerk or employees of the clerk and be accessible to

all individuals with disabilities. Under the bill, a voter may return his or her

completed absentee ballot to a collection site only during the period that coincides

with the period for making applications for in person absentee ballots. That period

begins no earlier than 14 days preceding an election and ends no later than the

Sunday preceding that election.

Finally, the bill prohibits a person from obtaining a marked absentee ballot

from another person in order to deliver it to the municipal clerk or polling place,

unless the person obtaining the ballot is a member of the voter's immediate family

or the voter's legal guardian. A person who violates this prohibition is guilty of a

Class I felony.

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