January 12, 2005, Introduced by Senator BRATER and referred to the Committee on Government Operations.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 726 (MCL 168.726) and by adding sections 750a
and 750b.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec.
726. No ballots A ballot shall
not be delivered to an
elector
by any a person other than 1 of the inspectors of
election and only within the polling place, except as provided in
this
act for absent voters' voter ballots
and election by mail
ballots.
Sec. 750a. (1) Subject to this section and section 750b, a
city, township, or village clerk or the secretary of a school
district may conduct a local election by mail in the city,
township, village, or school district, under the supervision of the
secretary of state. In deciding to conduct a local election by
mail, a city, township, or village clerk or the secretary of a
school district shall consider requests from the governing body of
the city, township, village, or school district and whether
conducting the election by mail is economically and
administratively feasible.
(2) The August primary held under section 534, the general
November election, and any other election in which a candidate for
statewide office, judicial office, legislative office, or
countywide office is nominated or elected shall be conducted as an
election by mail.
(3) Not later than January 1, 2006, a city, township, or
village clerk or the secretary of a school district shall advise
the governing body of the city, township, village, or school
district for which the clerk or secretary is the election official
as to each local election held in that city, township, village, or
school district that will be conducted as an election by mail.
Periodically, the clerk or secretary may review its decision of
whether a local election will be conducted as an election by mail.
If an earlier decision to conduct or not conduct a local election
as an election by mail is changed, the clerk or secretary shall
notify the governing body of the city, township, village, or school
district not later than the third Tuesday in January of the year in
which the election is to be held of that change. This subsection
does not apply to an election required to be held as an election by
mail under subsection (2).
(4) The secretary of state shall promulgate rules in the
manner prescribed in this act to provide procedures for conducting
an election by mail.
Sec. 750b. (1) A city, township, or village clerk or a
secretary of a school district that conducts an election by mail
under section 750a shall conduct the election by mail as provided
in this section.
(2) The clerk or secretary shall designate 1 or more places of
deposit in the city, township, village, or school district for
voters to return voted ballots for the election by mail. The clerk
or secretary shall provide that the places designated for the
deposit of voted ballots in the city, township, village, or school
district be open on the date of the election for a period of 13
hours or more, beginning no later than 7 a.m. and ending no earlier
than 8 p.m., as determined by the clerk or secretary.
(3) The city, township, or village clerk or the secretary of a
school district shall send by nonforwardable mail an official
ballot with a pre-addressed, postage paid return identification
envelope and a secrecy envelope to each voter who is registered in
the city, township, village, or school district as of the thirtieth
day before the date of the election by mail. The clerk or secretary
shall address the ballot to the registered voter as that voter's
name appears on the registration records of that voter. Except as
otherwise provided in this subsection and subsection (8), the clerk
or secretary shall mail the official ballots and envelopes during
the period beginning on the twentieth day before the date of the
election by mail and ending on the fourteenth day before the date
of the election by mail. For a statewide election by mail, the
secretary of state shall prescribe in rules promulgated under
section 750a(4) the date on which the official ballots and
envelopes for the statewide election by mail are to be mailed by a
clerk or secretary under this subsection. However, the secretary of
state shall provide in those rules that all ballots shall be mailed
by the fourteenth day before the date of the election by mail.
(4) For a primary election, the election by mail ballot shall
contain a section for the selection of candidates from each
political party that is participating in the primary election. The
instructions accompanying the primary election by mail ballots
shall state clearly that the voter may vote for the appropriate
number of candidates of 1 party only and that a primary ballot on
which candidates from more than 1 party are selected will not be
counted.
(5) For an elector who has applied to register to vote on or
before the close of registration and is not listed in the
registration records of the city, township, village, or school
district, the city, township, or village clerk or secretary of the
school district shall proceed in the same manner as prescribed in
section 523a for a person who appears at a polling place on
election day. If the elector meets the requirements of section
523a, the clerk or secretary shall make the regular or provisional
official ballot, the return identification envelope, and the
secrecy envelope available at the clerk's or secretary's office or
other place designated by the clerk or secretary. The elector who
receives the official ballot and envelopes under this subsection
shall do all of the following:
(a) Vote at the election in the clerk's or secretary's office
or other place designated by the clerk or secretary or vote by
mail.
(b) Mark the ballot, sign the return identification envelope,
and comply with the instructions provided with the ballot.
(c) Return the ballot in the return identification envelope to
the clerk or secretary.
(6) A ballot or ballot label used in an election by mail shall
contain the following warning:
"A person who, by use of force or other means, unduly
influences an elector to vote in a particular manner or to refrain
from voting is subject to imprisonment or to a fine, or both.".
(7) To vote an election by mail ballot received under
subsection (3), a registered voter shall mark the ballot, sign the
return identification envelope supplied with the ballot, and comply
with the instructions provided with the ballot. The voter may
return the marked ballot to the appropriate city, township, or
village clerk or secretary of a school district by depositing it in
the United States mail or with another public postal service,
express mail service, parcel post service, or common carrier. The
voter may return the marked ballot to the appropriate city,
township, or village clerk or secretary of a school district by
depositing it at the office of the clerk or secretary or other
place of deposit designated by the clerk or secretary. The voter
shall return the ballot in the return identification envelope
supplied with the ballot or the ballot will not be counted. An
election by mail ballot must be received at the office of the
appropriate clerk or secretary or other place of deposit designated
by the clerk or secretary not later than the end of the period
determined under subsection (2) on the date of the election.
(8) A voter may obtain a replacement election by mail ballot
if the ballot is destroyed, spoiled, lost, or not received by the
voter. A voter who seeks a replacement ballot shall sign a sworn
statement that the ballot was destroyed, spoiled, lost, or not
received by the voter and submit the statement to the appropriate
clerk or secretary before the end of the period determined under
subsection (2). The clerk or secretary shall keep a record of each
replacement election by mail ballot provided under this subsection.
The clerk or secretary shall designate the clerk's or secretary's
office or a central location in the city, township, village, or
school district in which the election is held as the single place
to obtain a replacement election by mail ballot under this
subsection. A clerk or secretary may mail replacement ballots 5
days or more before the date of the election by mail. The clerk or
secretary may deliver in person to a registered voter a replacement
ballot up until and including the date of the election by mail.
(9) Election officials shall count an election by mail ballot
only if that ballot meets all of the following requirements:
(a) The ballot is returned in the return identification
envelope.
(b) The return identification envelope is signed by the voter
to whom the ballot was issued.
(c) The signature is verified as provided in subsection (10).
(10) The city, township, or village clerk or secretary of a
school district shall verify the signature of each voter on the
return identification envelope with the signature of the voter on
the voter's registration card, according to the procedures
prescribed in this act and rules promulgated by the secretary of
state.
(11) If the clerk, secretary, or other election official
determines that a voter to whom a replacement election by mail
ballot has been issued has voted more than once, an election
official shall not count any ballot cast by that voter. A clerk,
secretary, or other election official who becomes aware of a person
who votes or attempts to vote by means of both an original ballot
and a replacement ballot shall report that information to the
prosecuting attorney for that county and to the secretary of state.
(12) An election by mail ballot or a voter casting a ballot at
an election by mail, or both, is subject to challenge as prescribed
in this act.