SB1412 - 501R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 16-542, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-542. Request for ballot

A. Within ninety-three days before any election called pursuant to the laws of this state, an elector may make a verbal or signed request to the county recorder, or other officer in charge of elections for the applicable political subdivision of this state in whose jurisdiction the elector is registered to vote, for an official early ballot. In addition to name and address, the requesting elector shall provide the date of birth and state or country of birth or other information that if compared to the voter registration information on file would confirm the identity of the elector. If the request indicates that the elector needs a primary election ballot and a general election ballot, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall honor the request. For any partisan primary election, if the elector is not registered as a member of a political party that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot pursuant to section 16‑804, the elector shall designate the ballot of only one of the political parties that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot and the elector may receive and vote the ballot of only that one political party. The county recorder may establish on‑site early voting locations at the recorder's office, which shall be open and available for use beginning the same day that a county begins to send out the early ballots. The county recorder may also establish any other early voting locations in the county the recorder deems necessary.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, a request for an official early ballot from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter as defined in the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act of 1986 (P.L. 99‑410; 42 United States Code section 1973ff-6) or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to section 16‑153 that is received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections more than ninety‑three days before the election is valid. If requested by the absent uniformed services or overseas voter, or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to section 16‑153, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide to the requesting voter early ballot materials through the next two regularly scheduled general elections for federal office immediately following receipt of the request.

C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall mail the early ballot and the envelope for its return postage prepaid to the address provided by the requesting elector within five days after receipt of the official early ballots from the officer charged by law with the duty of preparing ballots pursuant to section 16‑545, except that early ballot distribution shall not begin more than twenty-six days before the election. If an early ballot request is received on or before the thirtieth day before the election, the early ballot shall be distributed on the twenty-sixth day before the election.

D. Except for the spouse, parent or child of the elector, only the elector may be in possession of that elector's voted or unvoted early ballot. If a complete and correct request is made by the elector within twenty‑six days before the election, the mailing must be made within forty‑eight hours after receipt of the request. Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays are excluded from the computation of the forty‑eight hour period prescribed by this subsection. If a complete and correct request is made by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter before the election, the regular early ballot shall be transmitted by mail, by fax or by other electronic format approved by the secretary of state within twenty‑four hours after the early ballots are delivered pursuant to section 16‑545, subsection B, excluding Sundays.

E. In order to be complete and correct and to receive an early ballot by mail, an elector's request that an early ballot be mailed to the elector's residence or temporary address must include all of the information prescribed by subsection A of this section and must be received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections no later than 5:00 p.m. on the eleventh day preceding the election. An elector who appears personally no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election at an on‑site early voting location that is established by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall be given a ballot and permitted to vote at the on‑site location. If an elector's request to receive an early ballot is not complete and correct but complies with all other requirements of this section, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall attempt to notify the elector of the deficiency of the request.

F. Unless an elector specifies that the address to which an early ballot is to be sent is a temporary address, the recorder may use the information from an early ballot request form to update voter registration records.

G. The county recorder or other officer in charge of early balloting shall provide an alphabetized list of all voters in the precinct who have requested and have been sent an early ballot to the election board of the precinct in which the voter is registered not later than the day prior to the election.

H. As a result of an emergency occurring between 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday preceding the election and 5:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding the election, qualified electors may request to vote early in the manner prescribed by the county recorder of their respective county. For the purposes of this subsection, "emergency" means any unforeseen circumstances that would prevent the elector from voting at the polls.

I. A candidate or political committee may distribute early ballot request forms to voters. If the early ballot request forms include a printed address for return to an addressee other than a political subdivision, the addressee shall be the candidate or political committee that paid for the printing and distribution of the request forms. All early ballot request forms that are received by a candidate or political committee shall be transmitted as soon as practicable to the political subdivision that will conduct the election. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 16-545, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-545. Early ballot

A. The early ballot shall be one prepared for use in the precinct in which the applicant resides and, if a partisan primary election, of the political party with which the applicant is affiliated as shown by the affidavit of registration. The ballot shall be identical with the regular official ballots, except that it shall have printed or stamped on it "early".

B. The officer charged by law with the duty of preparing ballots at any election shall:

1. Prepare the official early ballot and deliver a sufficient number to the recorder or other officer in charge of elections not later than the thirty-third day before the election. Except as provided in section 16‑542, subsection D, regular early ballots shall not be distributed to the general public before the beginning of early voting.

2. Ensure that the ballot return envelopes are of a type that are tamper evident and tamper resistant when properly sealed. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 16-547, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-547. Ballot affidavit; form

A. The early ballot shall be accompanied by an envelope bearing upon on the front the name, official title and post office address of the recorder or other officer in charge of elections and upon on the other side a printed affidavit in substantially the following form:

State of Arizona

County of _________

I, _________________, do solemnly swear that I am the identical person whose name is signed to this affidavit and that this name and signature are my true name and signature, or if I did not personally sign, it was because of physical disability and that I requested __________________ (name of person signing affidavit) to sign for me, that I have not voted and will not vote in this election in any other state during the calendar year of this affidavit and that I personally voted the enclosed ballot or that it was marked according to my instructions because I was unable to do so. I understand that knowingly voting more than once in any election is a class 5 felony. I declare that I am more than eighteen years of age, that I am a qualified elector of the state of Arizona and the county of ____________ and that I reside at _____________. If a challenge is filed against my early ballot, I understand that a copy of the challenge will be sent to me by first class mail and that I may have as little as forty‑eight hours' notice of an opportunity to appear. For purposes of notifying me of a ballot challenge between the time I return my ballot and seven days after election day, please use the following address: ________________. (If no address is provided, notice will be mailed to the mailing address listed on the registration rolls.)

________________________

Elector

B. The face of each envelope in which a ballot is sent to a federal postcard applicant or in which a ballot is returned by such applicant to the recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall be in the form prescribed in accordance with the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act of 1986 (P.L. 99‑410; 42 United States Code section 1973ff). Otherwise, the envelopes shall be the same as those used to send ballots to, or receive ballots from, other early voters.

C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall supply printed instructions to early voters that direct them to sign the affidavit, mark the ballot and return both in the enclosed self‑addressed envelope that complies with section 16-545. The instructions shall include the following statement:

In order to be valid and counted, the ballot and affidavit must be delivered to the office of the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections or may be deposited at any polling place in the county no later than 7:00 p.m. on election day.END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 16-1005, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-1005. Ballot abuse; exception; classification

A. Any person who knowingly marks or punches an early tampers with a voted or unvoted ballot or ballot envelope with the intent to fix an election for his own benefit or for that of another person is guilty of a class 5 felony.

B. Any person who possesses another person's voted or unvoted ballot is guilty of a class 6 felony. This subsection does not apply to a person who possesses the voted or unvoted ballot of the spouse, parent or child of that person. END_STATUTE