2006-PA-0605.htm

Act No. 605

Public Acts of 2006

Approved by the Governor

January 3, 2007

Filed with the Secretary of State

January 3, 2007

EFFECTIVE DATE: January 3, 2007

STATE OF MICHIGAN

93RD LEGISLATURE

REGULAR SESSION OF 2006

Introduced by Reps. Gaffney, Van Regenmorter, Robertson, Vander Veen, Mortimer, Ball, Gleason, Wojno,Byrnes, Accavitti, Gonzales, Ward, Baxter, Palsrok, Pastor, Hummel, Kooiman, Hune, Nofs, Stahl, Marleau, Stakoe, Huizenga, Sheen, Emmons, Wenke, Farhat, Whitmer, Waters, Plakas, Anderson, Stewart, Drolet, Phillips, Zelenko, Kolb, Lipsey, Meyer, Newell, Williams, Adamini, Brown, Hunter, Tobocman, LaJoy, Hopgood, Kathleen Law, Brandenburg, Condino, Vagnozzi, DeRoche, Taub, Amos, Caswell, Shaffer, Byrum, Steil, Sak, Walker, Gillard, Casperson, Dillon, Angerer, Booher, Caul, Cheeks, Clemente, Cushingberry, Elsenheimer, Espinoza, Gosselin, Hansen, Hildenbrand, Rick Jones, Kehrl, David Law, Leland, Lemmons, III, Lemmons, Jr., Mayes, Miller, Moore, Pavlov, Pearce, Polidori, Proos, Rocca, Schuitmaker, Sheltrown, Alma Smith, Spade and Murphy

ENROLLED HOUSE BILL No. 4481

AN ACT to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled "An act to reorganize, consolidate, and add to the election laws; to provide for election officials and prescribe their powers and duties; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, state agencies, and state and local officials and employees; to provide for the nomination and election of candidates for public office; to provide for the resignation, removal, and recall of certain public officers; to provide for the filling of vacancies in public office; to provide for and regulate primaries and elections; to provide for the purity of elections; to guard against the abuse of the elective franchise; to define violations of this act; to provide appropriations; to prescribe penalties and provide remedies; and to repeal certain acts and all other acts inconsistent with this act," by amending section 759a (MCL 168.759a), as amended by 1999 PA 216; and to repeal acts and parts of acts.

The People of the State of Michigan enact:

Sec. 759a. (1) A member of the armed services or an overseas voter who is not registered, but possessed the qualifications of an elector under section 492, may apply for registration by using the federal postcard application. The department of state, bureau of elections, is responsible for disseminating information on the procedures for registering and voting to absent armed services and overseas voters.

(2) Each of the following persons who is a qualified elector of a city, village, or township in this state and who is not a registered voter may apply for an absent voter ballot:

(a) A civilian employee of the armed services outside of the United States.

(b) A member of the armed services outside of the United States.

(d) A citizen of the United States residing in the District of Columbia.

(e) A spouse or dependent of a person described in subdivisions (a) through (d) who is a citizen of the United States and who is accompanying that person, even though the spouse or dependent is not a qualified elector of a city, village, or township of this state, if that spouse or dependent is not a qualified and registered elector anywhere else in the United States.

(3) Upon receipt of an application under this section that complies with this act, a city, village, or township clerk shall forward to the applicant the absent voter ballots requested, the forms necessary for registration, and instructions for completing the forms. If the ballots are not yet available at the time of receipt of the application, the clerk shall immediately forward to the applicant the registration forms and instructions, and forward the ballots as soon as they are available. If the ballots and registration forms are received before the close of the polls on election day and if the registration complies with the requirements of this act, the absent voter ballots shall be delivered to the proper election board to be voted. If the registration does not comply with the requirements of this act, the clerk shall retain the absent voter ballots until the expiration of the time that the voted ballots must be kept and shall then destroy the ballots without opening the envelope. The clerk may retain registration forms completed under this section in a separate file. The address in this state shown on a registration form is the residence of the registrant.

(4) The size of a precinct shall not be determined by registration forms completed under this section.

(5) A member of the armed services or an overseas voter, as described in subsection (2), who registers to vote by federal postcard application under subsection (1), and who applies to vote as an absent voter by federal postcard application is eligible to vote as an absent voter in any local or state election, including any school election, occurring in the calendar year in which the federal postcard application is received by the city, village, or township clerk, but not in an election for which the application is received by the clerk after 2 p.m. of the Saturday before the election. A city or township clerk receiving a federal postcard application shall transmit to a village clerk and school district election coordinator, where applicable, the necessary information to enable the village clerk and school district election coordinator to forward an absent voter ballot for each applicable election in that calendar year to the qualified elector submitting the federal postcard application. A village clerk receiving a federal postcard application shall transmit to a city or township clerk, where applicable, the necessary information to enable the city or township clerk to forward an absent voter ballot for each applicable election in that calendar year to the qualified elector submitting the federal postcard application. If the local elections official rejects a registration or absent voter ballot application submitted on a federal postcard application by an absent armed services or overseas voter, the election official shall notify the armed services or overseas voter of the rejection.

(6) Under the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act, 42 USC 1973ff to 1973ff-6, the state director of elections shall approve a ballot form and registration procedures for electors in the armed services and electors outside the United States, including the spouses and dependents accompanying those electors.

(7) As used in this section, "armed services" means any of the following:

(a) The United States army, navy, air force, marine corps, or coast guard.

(b) The United States merchant marine.

(d) The Michigan national guard as defined in section 105 of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.505.

Enacting section 1. Section 504 of the Michigan election law, 1954 PA 116, MCL 168.504, is repealed.

This act is ordered to take immediate effect.

Clerk of the House of Representatives

Secretary of the Senate

Approved

Governor