Revision: Dec. 21, 2022, 3:36 p.m.
2023 SESSION
23-0356.0
08/10
HOUSE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to the handling of the absentee ballot envelope prior to Election Day.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill requires the clerk to highlight the name of an absentee voter on the outer envelope of their absentee ballot and requires the moderator to highlight the absentee voter's name on the checklist.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
23-0356.0
08/10
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Three
AN ACT relative to the handling of the absentee ballot envelope prior to Election Day.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Procedure by Clerk; Absentee Affidavit Processing. Amend RSA 657:18 to read as follows:
657:18 Procedure by Clerk. Upon receipt of an outer envelope purporting to contain an official absentee voting ballot, the clerk of the city or town shall, subject to RSA 657:16, 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. The clerk shall highlight the name of the voter on the envelope.
2 Delivery to Moderator; Absentee Affidavit Processing. 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 659:49, the clerk shall deliver all such envelopes, 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 UOCAVA voter's ballot shall be rejected by a moderator for lack of an attached application, provided a signature is available for comparison on a voter registration document. Upon receiving the absentee ballots, the moderator shall highlight the names of absentee voters in the checklist.
3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.