Status as an indefinitely confined voter for purposes of receiving absentee ballots automatically and providing a penalty

1. Provides that indefinitely confined status may be claimed by a voter who is indefinitely confined and cannot travel independently without significant burden because of frailty, physical illness, or a disability that will last longer than one year.

2. Provides that a voter seeking indefinitely confined status must apply for that status on an application prescribed by the Elections Commission. Under the bill, the application form prescribed by the commission must be separate and distinct from any other absentee ballot application prescribed by the commission.

3. Subject to certain exceptions provided in the bill, requires that an applicant for indefinitely confined status submit proof of identification with his or her application.

4. Specifies that the existence of an outbreak or epidemic of a communicable disease in a voter's community does not qualify the voter as indefinitely confined.

5. Specifies that the penalty for making a false statement for the purpose of qualifying as indefinitely confined is a fine of not more than $1,000 or imprisonment of not more than six months, or both.

6. Provides that a voter who fails to vote a ballot the voter receives as a result of his or her indefinitely confined status may be removed from the indefinitely confined status list only if he or she fails to vote the ballot at the spring or general election.

7. Requires that the municipal clerk remove a voter from the indefinitely confined status list if the voter votes at the polls in any election.

8. Requires the Elections Commission to facilitate the removal of the indefinitely confined status of each voter who received that status between March 12, 2020, and November 3, 2020. A voter whose indefinitely confined status is so removed must submit a new application for indefinitely confined status in order to continue receiving absentee ballots automatically.

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.