January 25, 2018, Introduced by Rep. Kosowski and referred to the Committee on Elections and Ethics.
A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled
"Michigan election law,"
by amending section 759a (MCL 168.759a), as amended by 2012 PA 523.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 759a. (1) An absent uniformed services voter 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 an absent uniformed services voter and an overseas voter.
(2) Upon the request of an absent uniformed services voter or
an overseas voter, the clerk of a county, city, township, or
village shall electronically transmit a blank voter registration
application or blank absent voter ballot application to the voter.
The clerk of a county, city, township, or village shall accept a
completed voter registration application or completed absent voter
ballot application electronically transmitted by an absent
uniformed services voter or overseas voter. A voter registration
application or absent voter ballot application submitted by an
absent
uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall must
contain the signature of the voter.
(3) A spouse or dependent of an overseas voter who is a
citizen of the United States, is accompanying that overseas voter,
and is not a qualified and registered elector anywhere else in the
United States, may apply for an absent voter ballot even though the
spouse or dependent is not a qualified elector of a city or
township of this state.
(4) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter,
whether or not registered to vote, may apply for an absent voter
ballot. Upon receipt of an application for an absent voter ballot
under this section that complies with this act, a county, 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 a federal postcard application or an
application
from the official United States department Department
of
defense Defense website is filed, the clerk shall accept the
federal postcard application or the application from the official
United
States department Department
of defense Defense website
as
the registration application and shall not send any additional
registration forms to the applicant. 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 must be delivered to
the proper election board to be tabulated. 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.
(5) Not later than 45 days before an election, a county, city,
township, or village clerk shall electronically transmit or mail as
appropriate an absent voter ballot to each absent uniformed
services voter or overseas voter who applied for an absent voter
ballot 45 days or more before the election.
(6) Upon the request of an absent uniformed services voter or
overseas voter, the clerk of a county, city, township, or village
shall electronically transmit an absent voter ballot to the voter.
The
Except as otherwise provided
in this subsection, the voter
shall print the absent voter ballot and return the voted ballot by
mail to the appropriate clerk. A member of a uniformed service on
active duty, by reason of being on active duty, a member of the
merchant marine, by reason of service in the merchant marine, the
spouse of a member of a uniformed service on active duty, by reason
of the active duty of the member, or the spouse of a member of the
merchant marine, by reason of the service of the member, who is
absent on the date of an election from the place of residence where
the member or spouse is otherwise qualified to vote may, if using a
United States military issued electronic mail address, return the
voted ballot electronically to the appropriate clerk.
(7) The secretary of state shall prescribe electronic absent
voter ballot formats and electronic absent voter ballot
transmission methods. Each county, city, township, or village clerk
shall employ the prescribed electronic ballot formats to fulfill an
absent voter ballot request received from an absent uniformed
services voter or overseas voter who wishes to receive his or her
absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission. The
secretary of state shall establish procedures to implement the
requirements in this section and for the processing of a marked
absent voter ballot returned by an absent uniformed services voter
or overseas voter who obtained his or her absent voter ballot
through an electronic transmission.
(8) The secretary of state shall modify the printed statement
provided under section 761(4) and the absent voter ballot
instructions provided under section 764a as appropriate to
accommodate the procedures developed for electronically
transmitting an absent voter ballot to an absent uniformed services
voter
or overseas voter. A statement shall must be included in the
certificate signed by the absent voter who obtained his or her
absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission that the
secrecy of the absent voter ballot may be compromised during the
duplication process. The absent voter ballot instructions provided
to
an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall must
include the proper procedures for returning the absent voter ballot
to the appropriate clerk.
(9)
The size of a precinct shall must
not be determined by
registration forms completed under this section.
(10) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter
who submits an absent voter ballot application is eligible to vote
as an absent voter in any local, state, or federal election
occurring in the calendar year in which the election is held for
that ballot requested if the absent voter ballot application is
received by the county, city, village, or township clerk not later
than 2 p.m. of the Saturday before the election. A county, city, or
township clerk receiving an absent voter ballot application from an
absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall transmit to
a village clerk and the school district election coordinators,
where applicable, the necessary information to enable the village
clerk and school district election coordinators to forward an
absent voter ballot for each applicable election in that calendar
year to the absent voter. A village clerk receiving an absent voter
ballot application from an absent uniformed services voter or
overseas voter shall transmit to the township clerk and the school
district election coordinators, where applicable, the necessary
information to enable the city or township clerk and school
district election coordinators to forward an absent voter ballot
for each applicable election in that calendar year to the absent
voter. If the local elections official rejects a voter registration
application or absent voter ballot application submitted by an
absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter, the election
official shall notify the voter of the rejection.
(11) An electronic mail address provided by an absent
uniformed services voter or overseas voter for the purposes of this
section is confidential and exempt from disclosure under the
freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
(12) Under the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting
act, the state director of elections shall approve a ballot form
and registration procedures for absent uniformed services voters
and overseas voters.
(13) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter
may use the federal write-in absentee ballot, in accordance with
the provisions of the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee
voting act, at a regular election or special election to vote for a
local,
state, or federal office or on a ballot question. An Except
as otherwise provided in this subsection, an absent uniformed
services voter or an overseas voter who uses the federal write-in
absentee ballot shall return his or her voted federal write-in
absentee ballot by mail to the appropriate clerk. A member of a
uniformed service on active duty, by reason of being on active
duty, a member of the merchant marine, by reason of service in the
merchant marine, the spouse of a member of a uniformed service on
active duty, by reason of the active duty of the member, or the
spouse of a member of the merchant marine, by reason of the service
of the member, who is absent on the date of an election from the
place of residence where the member or spouse is otherwise
qualified to vote may, if using a United States military issued
electronic mail address, return the voted ballot electronically to
the appropriate clerk. The state bureau of elections shall do both
of the following:
(a) Make the ballot format for each election available to
absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters by electronic
mail or on an internet website maintained by the department of
state.
(b) Make the ballot information, including the offices, names
of candidates, and ballot proposals, for each election available to
absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters on an internet
website maintained by the department of state.
(14) The clerk of a city, village, or township shall submit to
the county clerk of the county in which that city, village, or
township is located a written statement no later than 45 days
before each election indicating whether absent voter ballots were
issued to absent uniformed services voters or overseas voters in
compliance with this section and the uniformed and overseas
citizens absentee voting act. The city, village, or township clerk
shall provide to the county clerk a written explanation describing
remedial actions taken by the city, village, or township clerk if
the city, village, or township clerk fails to comply with this
section and the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting
act. Not later than 42 days before each election, each county clerk
shall submit to the state bureau of elections a written report
compiled from the written statements submitted by the city,
village,
and township clerks. The written report shall must
identify the cities, villages, and townships that complied with the
45-day deadline under this subsection, the cities, villages, and
townships that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this
subsection, but provided a written explanation, and those cities,
villages, and townships that did not comply with the 45-day
deadline under this subsection and that did not provide a written
explanation. The state bureau of elections may require the clerk of
a city, village, or township that did not comply with the 45-day
deadline under this subsection, but provided a written explanation,
to provide additional information. The state bureau of elections
shall require the clerk of a city, village, or township that did
not comply with the 45-day deadline and that did not provide a
written explanation to file a written explanation, describing the
remedial actions taken by the city, village, or township clerk,
within 1 business day after the state bureau of elections notifies
the clerk of that city, village, or township.
(15) For a presidential primary election, the secretary of
state shall prescribe procedures for contacting an elector who is
an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, as
described in this section, and who is eligible to receive an absent
voter ballot or who applies for an absent voter ballot for the
presidential primary election, offering the elector the opportunity
to select a political party ballot for the presidential primary
election.
(16) The secretary of state shall order a city, village, or
township clerk to extend the ballot receipt deadline for any
absentee voter ballots under this section that were not transmitted
to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter in
compliance
with subsection (5). The extension shall must equal the
total number of days beyond the deadline as provided in subsection
(5) that the city, village, or township clerk transmitted the
requested absentee voter ballots. These absentee voter ballots
received
during the extension time shall must
be counted and
tabulated for the final results of the election provided that the
absentee voter ballots are executed and sent by the close of the
polls on election day. The election may be formally certified
before the end of the extension time if the number of outstanding
absentee voter ballots under this subsection will not alter the
outcome of the election.
(17) As used in this section:
(a) "Absent uniformed services voter" means any of the
following:
(i) A member of a uniformed service on active duty who, by
reason of being on active duty, is absent from the place of
residence where the member is otherwise qualified to vote.
(ii) A member of the merchant marine who, by reason of service
in the merchant marine, is absent from the place of residence where
the member is otherwise qualified to vote.
(iii) A spouse or dependent of a member referred to in
subparagraph (i) or (ii) who, by reason of the active duty or
service of the member, is absent from the place of residence where
the spouse or dependent is otherwise qualified to vote.
(b) "Member of the merchant marine" means an individual, other
than a member of a uniformed service or an individual employed,
enrolled, or maintained on the Great Lakes or the inland waterways,
who is either of the following:
(i) Employed as an officer or crew member of a vessel
documented under the laws of the United States, a vessel owned by
the United States, or a vessel of foreign-flag registry under
charter to or control of the United States.
(ii) Enrolled with the United States for employment or
training for employment, or maintained by the United States for
emergency relief service, as an officer or crew member of a vessel
documented under the laws of the United States, a vessel owned by
the United States, or a vessel of foreign-flag registry under
charter to or control of the United States.
(c) "Overseas voter" means any of the following:
(i) An absent uniformed services voter who, by reason of
active duty or service, is absent from the United States on the
date of an election.
(ii) A person who resides outside of the United States and is
qualified to vote in the last place in which the person was
domiciled before leaving the United States.
(iii) A person who resides outside of the United States and
who, but for such residence outside of the United States, would be
qualified to vote in the last place in which he or she was
domiciled before leaving the United States.
(d)
"Uniformed services" means the army, navy, air force,
marine
corps, coast guard, Army,
Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or
Coast
Guard, the commissioned corps Commissioned Corps of the
public
health service, Public Health
Service, the commissioned
corps
Commissioned Corps of the national oceanic National Oceanic
and
atmospheric administration, Atmospheric
Administration, a
reserve
component of a uniformed service, or the Michigan national
guard
National Guard as that
term is defined in section 105 of the
Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.505.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act takes effect 90 days
after the date it is enacted into law.