CHAPTER 182
HB 1529 – FINAL VERSION
03Mar2010… 0733h
2010 SESSION
03/04
HOUSE BILL 1529
AN ACT relative to absentee voting.
SPONSORS: Rep. Perry, Straf 3; Rep. Drisko, Hills 5
This bill modifies the information contained in the statewide centralized voter registration database and the procedures for recording absentee voter information.
This bill was requested by the department of state.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
03Mar2010… 0733h
10-2453
03/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Ten
AN ACT relative to absentee voting.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
182:1 Statewide Centralized Voter Registration Database. Amend RSA 654:45, I to read as follows:
I. The secretary of state is authorized to plan, develop, equip, establish, site, and maintain a statewide centralized voter registration database and communications system, hereinafter referred to as the voter database, connecting users throughout the state. The voter database shall include the current information on the voter registration [form and] forms, the accepted absentee ballot applications, the voter checklists, and voter participation as recorded on the marked checklist maintained by each city, ward, and town in the state.
182:2 Absentee Voting; Provisions for General Election. Amend RSA 657:12 to read as follows:
657:12 Provisions for General Election. Upon receipt of a properly executed application for an official absentee ballot, whether the form supplied by the secretary of state, the federal post card application form, or a written statement containing the information required by the appropriate paragraph of RSA 657:4, a town or city clerk shall forthwith ascertain if the applicant is on the checklist of the town or city. If the applicant is on the checklist, the clerk shall send the materials provided for in RSA 657:15 to the applicant and record the information pursuant to RSA 657:15; if not, the clerk shall refuse to certify as provided in RSA 657:16. An application may be transmitted by facsimile to a town or city clerk.
182:3 Absentee Voting; Provisions for State or Presidential Primary Elections. Amend RSA 657:13 to read as follows:
657:13 Provisions for State or Presidential Primary Elections. Upon receipt of a properly executed application for an official absentee ballot, whether the form supplied by the secretary of state or a written statement containing the information required by the appropriate paragraph of RSA 657:4, a town or city clerk shall forthwith ascertain if the person is on the checklist of the town or city and is properly registered as to party designation. If such person is found to be on the checklist and to be properly registered or if such person is found to be on the checklist but is not registered as a member of any party, but the information supplied states he or she is applying for a ballot of a political party, the person shall be registered as a member of said party; and, in either case, the clerk shall send the materials provided for in RSA 657:15 to the applicant and record the information pursuant to RSA 657:15. If the person is not on the checklist or is registered as a member of a party different from the one whose ballot he or she is applying for, the clerk shall refuse to certify as provided in RSA 657:16. An application may be transmitted by facsimile to a town or city clerk.
182:4 Sending Absentee Ballots. Amend RSA 657:15 to read as follows:
657:15 Sending Absentee Ballots. When the verification required by RSA 657:12 or 657:13 has been made, the clerk shall retain the application and, without delay, personally deliver or mail to the applicant the appropriate ballot and materials as described in RSA 657:7 through 657:9 or designate an assistant to deliver such materials to the applicant. The clerk may not designate as an assistant any person who is a candidate for nomination or office or who is working for such a candidate. Any ballots sent pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be mailed or delivered only by officials from the city or town clerk’s office and delivered only to the applicant. If the address to which the absent voter’s ballot is sent is outside the United States or Canada, such papers shall be sent by air mail. Said clerks shall keep lists of the names and addresses, arranged by voting places, of all applicants to whom official [absent voting] absentee ballots have been sent, and shall identify those official [absent voting] absentee ballots which have been returned to the clerk and shall record the absentee voter applicant information in the statewide centralized voter registration database. Candidates whose names appear on the ballot and persons bearing notarized requests or copies of notarized requests from candidates whose names appear on the ballot may obtain [copies of such lists] a list of absentee voter applicants, excluding voters who have presented to the supervisors of the checklist valid protective orders pursuant to RSA 173-B; the lists shall not be available for public inspection at any time without a court order.
182:5 Absentee Voting; Procedure by Clerk. Amend RSA 657:18 to read as follows:
657:18 Procedure by Clerk. Upon receipt of a return envelope purporting to contain an official absentee voting ballot, the clerk of the city or town shall attach thereto the application for an absentee ballot submitted by said voter and record the information pursuant to RSA 657:15. All such envelopes shall be preserved unopened until election day.
182:6 Absentee Voting; Sending Ballots. Amend RSA 657:19 to read as follows:
657:19 Sending Ballots. Upon receipt of a properly executed application for an official armed services absentee ballot or an overseas citizens federal election absentee ballot, whether the form supplied by the secretary of state, the federal post card application, or a written statement containing the information required by RSA 657:4, a town or city clerk shall send the materials provided for in RSA 657:8 or 657:9, as applicable, regardless of whether the applicant appears on the checklist, and if the applicant requests that the application be considered an application for an absentee ballot for each subsequent election for federal office through the next 2 regularly scheduled general elections, including primaries, for federal office, the town or city clerk shall provide an absentee ballot to the applicant for each such subsequent election and record the information pursuant to RSA 657:15. The town or city clerk shall forward a copy of the applicant’s registration form to the supervisors of the checklist. Whenever an armed services voter or overseas citizen federal voter requests a state general election ballot prior to October 1 to be mailed to an address outside of the United States, he or she shall be sent the same ballot as provided in RSA 656:34. No town or city clerk shall refuse to accept or process an otherwise valid voter registration application or absentee ballot application submitted by an absent armed services voter or federal overseas citizen voter on the grounds that the application was submitted before the first date on which the state otherwise accepts or processes such applications for that election submitted by absentee voters. A town or city clerk who does not certify a voter registration application or absentee ballot application shall provide the absent armed services voter or federal overseas citizen voter the reason for not certifying a voter registration application or an absentee ballot application.
182:7 Absentee Voting; Federal Post Card Application. Amend RSA 657:19-a to read as follows:
657:19-a Federal Post Card Application. An armed services voter or federal overseas citizen voter who is domiciled outside the United States qualified to vote in New Hampshire may request an absentee ballot by completing a federal post card application form provided by the United States government, and sending it to the town or city clerk of his or her last domicile. The applicant may request an absentee ballot for all elections in which he or she is qualified to cast a ballot during the calendar year. The town or city clerk shall forward a copy of the armed services or federal overseas citizen voter registration form to the supervisors of the checklist.
182:8 Absentee Voting; Cutoff. Amend RSA 657:22 to read as follows:
657:22 Cutoff. In any state election, a town or city clerk shall not accept any completed absentee ballots delivered to the clerk after 5:00 p.m. on election day except as provided in RSA 657:21-a, V. Ballots received after such time shall be retained by the clerk unopened until the time set for the destruction of other state election ballots as provided in RSA 659:100 at which time the envelopes shall likewise be destroyed, unopened and unexamined.
182:9 Absentee Voting; Delivery to Moderator. Amend RSA 657:23 to read as follows:
657:23 Delivery to Moderator. Upon election day, prior to the closing of the polls or the time set for processing absentee ballots in accordance with RSA [659] 659:49, the clerk shall deliver all such envelopes, [and] the applications therefor received by him or her, and the list of absentee voter applicants compiled pursuant to RSA 657:15 to the moderators in the several voting precincts in which the absentee voters assert the right to vote, taking a receipt from the moderator thereof; except that no armed services ballot shall be rejected by a moderator for lack of an attached application.
182:10 New Subdivision; Absentee Voter Website. Amend RSA 657 by inserting after section 25 the following new subdivision:
657:26 Absentee Voter Website. The secretary of state shall make available by July 31, 2010 a public website by which an absentee voter, in the 2010 general election and every subsequent state election, may determine whether the voter’s absentee ballot request has been received by the clerk, whether the absentee ballot has been sent pursuant to such request, and whether the envelope purporting to contain the absentee ballot has been received by the clerk. The town and city clerk shall, without delay, enter into the statewide centralized voter registration database the dates that all valid requests for absentee ballots are received, the dates all absentee ballots are sent, and the dates all envelopes purporting to contain absentee ballots are received. The secretary of state shall allow free and secure access to any voter who enters on the website his or her full first name, full last name, the town where the voter has requested an absentee ballot, and the voter’s date of birth as they appear in the statewide centralized voter registration database. The city and town clerk shall provide instructions to absentee voter applicants describing how to access this website.
182:11 Delivery of Ballots to Additional Polling Place. Amend RSA 658:33 to read as follows:
658:33 Delivery of Ballots to Additional Polling Place. Before the polls are opened at the central polling place on the day of an election, the town clerk shall seal up the 2 duplicate copies of the checklist for each additional polling place lodged with [him] the clerk by the supervisors with a number of blank ballots equal to the number of voters on such checklist and 50 additional ballots. If the moderator has authorized the counting of votes and thereby authorized the processing of absentee ballots at the additional polling place, the absentee ballots of those persons qualified to vote in that additional polling place shall be sealed up along with a list of those persons qualified to vote at that additional polling place to whom absentee ballots have been sent pursuant to RSA 657:15. This package shall be prepared and sealed in the presence of the moderator and selectmen and shall be delivered immediately to the assistant moderator of the additional polling place by 2 election officers designated by the moderator.
182:12 Challenges. Amend RSA 659:51 to read as follows:
659:51 Challenges. All absentee ballots are subject to challenge after the moderator publicly announces the name of the absentee voter but not after the ballot is removed from the envelope. A person who makes a challenge shall state the reason for the challenge. If the ballot is challenged, the moderator shall write on the affidavit envelope containing the ballot the word “challenged” and the name and address of the person who makes the challenge and the basis of the challenge. The moderator shall also number each challenged envelope consecutively by marking, for example, the first challenged ballot “Challenged Ballot No. 1”. The moderator shall then determine if the challenge to the ballot is well grounded. If the moderator decides the challenge is well grounded, [he] the moderator shall not open the envelope but shall preserve it with the other ballots cast at the election as provided in RSA 659:101 and shall record next to the name of the absentee voter on the clerk’s list of absentee voter applicants prepared pursuant to RSA 657:15 the word “challenged” and the reason for the challenge. The clerk shall record this information in the statewide centralized voter registration database. If the moderator decides that the challenge is not well grounded, he or she shall open the affidavit envelope so the affidavit thereon is not destroyed and proceed first to mark on the reverse of the folded ballot the corresponding challenge number as previously marked on the envelope. [He] The moderator shall then proceed to deposit the ballot as provided in RSA 659:52.
182:13 Opening Envelope; Depositing Ballot. Amend RSA 659:52 to read as follows:
659:52 Opening Envelope; Depositing Ballot. If the absentee ballot is not challenged, the moderator shall, after announcing the name of the voter, open the affidavit envelope containing the ballot so the affidavit on the envelope is not destroyed. [He] The moderator shall then take the ballot out of the envelope without unfolding the ballot or without permitting the ballot to be examined, and [he] shall preserve the affidavit envelope [with the ballots cast at the election as provided in RSA 659:101] separately from the ballots and deliver it to the town or city clerk upon the closing of the polls. The moderator shall then have a checkmark placed beside the name of the absentee voter on the checklist and write therewith the letters “A.V.” in red ink and shall then deposit the ballot in the ballot box.
182:14 Forms Not in Order. Amend RSA 659:53 to read as follows:
659:53 Forms Not in Order. If the moderator finds that the absentee voter is not entitled to vote, [he] the moderator shall not open the envelope and shall mark across the face of the envelope the reason the ballot is rejected, such as “rejected as not a voter,” “voted in person,” “affidavit improperly executed,” “not signed by proper person,” or whatever the reason is and shall record next to the name of the absentee voter on the clerk’s list of absentee voter applicants prepared pursuant to RSA 657:15 the word “rejected” and the reason for the rejection. The clerk shall record this information in the statewide centralized voter registration database. The moderator shall save all the unopened envelopes and shall preserve the envelopes with the ballots cast at the election as provided in RSA 659:101.
182:15 New Paragraph; Contact and Polling Place Information. Amend RSA 654:45 by inserting after paragraph VI the following new paragraph:
VII. The city and town clerk shall enter, maintain, and keep up to date election official contact information and polling place information as determined by the secretary of state in the statewide centralized voter registration database for use by the secretary of state in effecting election laws.
182:16 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
Approved: June 21, 2010
Effective Date: June 21, 2010