Report Title:

Absentee Voting

Description:

Requires absentee ballots to be returned no later than 1 day prior to an election day. Requires a signature envelope, separate from the return envelope, to ensure privacy and security for absentee voters who mail in their ballots.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

698

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2003

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to absentee voting.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that current statutory provisions allowing for the return of absentee ballots by the close of polls on election day cause undue delay in the processing of ballots and ultimately postpone the release of the final printout. The legislature finds that people are often reluctant to work at counting centers on election day, because they must work long hours and wait around while absentee ballots are counted.

The legislature also finds that current procedures requiring absentee voters to sign their return envelopes prior to mailing their ballots present both privacy and security concerns. The legislature finds that providing an additional signature envelope, to be inserted into the return envelope, will alleviate these concerns and maintain the secrecy of ballots.

The purpose of this Act is to amend absentee voting provisions to require the timely return of absentee ballots prior to election day so that every vote counts and to require a signature envelope, separate from the return envelope, to ensure privacy and security for absentee voters who mail in their ballots.

SECTION 2. Section 15-4, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§15-4 Request for absentee ballot. Any person registered to vote may request an absentee ballot in person or in writing from the clerk not earlier than on the sixtieth day and not later than 4:30 p.m. on the [seventh] fourteenth day prior to the election. Any mailed requests for an absentee ballot shall be mailed by the person directly to the clerk. The clerk may waive any or all of the foregoing requirements in special cases as provided in the rules adopted by the chief election officer.

The request shall include information such as the person's social security number, date of birth, and the address under which the person is registered to vote. The request shall also include the address to which the person wishes the requested ballot forwarded. The request, when made for any primary or special primary election, may include an additional request for an absentee ballot to be voted at any election immediately following the primary or special primary, provided the person so indicates in the person's request.

Subsequent to the closing of registration for each election, the clerk may mail a request form for an absentee ballot to each voter in a remote area who has not already made such a request. The request form shall be accompanied by:

(1) A stamped, self-addressed envelope; and

(2) Instructions regarding the manner of completing and returning the request form."

SECTION 3. Section 15-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

"(b) If mailed absentee ballots are not received by the voter within five days of an election, the voter may request that absentee ballots be forwarded by facsimile. Upon receipt of such a request and confirmation that proper application was made, the clerk may transmit appropriate ballots by facsimile, together with a form requiring the affirmations and information required by section 15-6[,] and a form containing a waiver of the right to secrecy, as provided by section 11-137. The voter may return the voted ballots and executed forms by facsimile or mail; provided that they are received by the issuing clerk no later than [the close of polls on] one day prior to the election day. Upon receipt, the clerk shall verify compliance with the requirements of section 15-9(c)[,] and prepare the ballots for counting pursuant to section 15-10."

SECTION 4. Section 15-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§15-6 Return envelope, signature envelope, ballot envelope; instructions. The clerk shall provide the absentee voter with the ballots, ballot envelopes, a signature envelope, and a return envelope [which]. The signature envelope shall contain a statement to be subscribed to by the voter [which] that affirms the fact that the voter is the person voting, the instruction that the voter's ballot will be valid only if the affirmation statement is signed, and any other information prescribed by the rules [promulgated] adopted by the chief election officer."

SECTION 5. Section 15-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) [The] Except as otherwise provided in this chapter and in special cases as provided in rules adopted by the chief election officer, the return envelope shall be:

(1) Mailed and must be received by the clerk issuing the absentee ballot not later than [the closing of the polls on] one day prior to any election day; or

(2) Delivered other than by mail to the clerk issuing the absentee ballot, or another election official designated by the clerk to act on the clerk's behalf, not later than [the closing of polls on] one day prior to any election day[; or

(3) Delivered other than by mail to any polling place within the county in which the voter is registered and deposited by a precinct official in the ballot box before the closing of the polls on any election day]."

SECTION 6. Section 15-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsections (c) to (e) to read as follows:

"(c) Prior to opening the [return] signature and ballot envelopes and counting the ballots, the [return] signature envelopes shall be checked for the following:

(1) Signature on the affirmation statement;

(2) Whether the signature corresponds with the absentee request or register as prescribed in the rules adopted by the chief election officer; and

(3) Whether the person is a registered voter and has complied with the requirements of sections 11-15 and 11-16.

(d) If any of the above requirements is not met or if the return, signature, or ballot envelope appears to be tampered with, the clerk or the absentee ballot team official shall mark across the face of the envelope "invalid", and it shall be kept in the custody of the clerk and disposed of as prescribed for ballots in section 11-154.

(e) If an absentee polling place is established at the clerk's office prior to election day, the officials of the absentee polling place shall check the return, signature, or ballot envelopes for the above requirements prior to depositing them in the correct absentee ballot box."

SECTION 7. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 8. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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