CHAPTER 72
HB 251- FINAL VERSION
2011 SESSION
03/01
HOUSE BILL 251
AN ACT relative to absentee ballots.
This bill modifies procedures for delivery and acceptance of absentee ballots.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
11-0841
03/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Eleven
AN ACT relative to absentee ballots.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
72:1 Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Amend RSA 657:10-b to read as follows:
657:10-b Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Absent uniformed services voters, absent voters temporarily residing outside the United States, and federal ballot only voters domiciled outside the United States may use the federal write-in absentee ballot in general, special, and primary elections to vote for federal offices only. As required by federal law, a federal write-in absentee ballot shall not be counted if it is submitted from any location in the United States by an absent voter temporarily residing outside the United States or a federal ballot only voter domiciled outside the United States. The federal write-in absentee ballot shall not be counted if a state absentee ballot is received from the voter. In completing the ballot, the voter may designate a candidate by writing in the name of the candidate or by writing in the name of a political party next to the title of the office, in which case the ballot shall be counted for that office for the candidate of the political party. Clerks may use the federal write-in absentee ballot as a request for an official absentee ballot as provided for in RSA 657:12.
72:2 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, email, or mail to the applicant the appropriate ballot and materials as described in RSA 657:7 through 657:8 or designate an assistant to deliver such materials to the applicant. The clerk’s option to email an absentee ballot to a voter shall apply only to absentee ballot applications from UOCAVA voters. The clerk shall send absentee ballots in response to verified absentee ballot requests until 5:00 p.m. on the day before the election. 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 absentee ballots have been sent, and shall identify those official 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 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.
72:3 Sending Ballots to UOCAVA Voters. Amend RSA 657:19, V to read as follows:
V. If a request for an absentee ballot for a regularly-scheduled general election or a presidential primary is received from a UOCAVA voter 45 or more days before a general election or a presidential primary the secretary of state [shall] may, on behalf of the clerk and in accordance with the voter’s choice, electronically transmit or mail the appropriate absentee ballot and instructions to the voter no later than the day 45 days prior to the general election or the presidential primary. At the secretary of state’s discretion, the secretary of state may enter in the statewide centralized voter registration database the mail date on which absentee voters were sent ballots pursuant to this paragraph. Alternatively, the secretary of state may provide each city and town clerk with a list of all voters sent absentee ballots by the secretary of state pursuant to this section. Upon receipt of such report from the secretary of state, the clerk shall record the date that the absentee ballot was sent to the voter in the statewide centralized voter registration database.
72:4 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. The clerk shall record absentee ballots received after such time in the statewide centralized voter registration database with the return date and shall mark the ballot as rejected due to absentee ballot receipt after election day. The clerk shall retain the unopened ballot [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.
72:5 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.
Approved: May 16, 2011
Effective Date: July 15, 2011