SB1003 - 511R

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

Section 1. 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 when properly sealed.

C. For all elections that include a candidate or issue on the ballot for which the secretary of state is the filing officer, the secretary of state, in cooperation with county election officials, shall select a unique color for all outbound early ballot envelopes and all inbound early ballot return envelopes. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. 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 on the front the name, official title and post office address of the recorder or other officer in charge of elections and on the other side a printed affidavit in substantially the following form:

I declare the following under penalty of perjury: I am a registered voter in ___________ county Arizona, I have not voted and will not vote in this election in any other county or state, I understand that knowingly voting more than once in any election is a class 5 felony and I voted the enclosed ballot and signed this affidavit personally unless noted below. If I provided my voted ballot to another person for delivery to elections officials, I have voted the ballot and sealed it in the envelope before giving it to another person for delivery.

If the voter was assisted by another person in marking the ballot or was assisted by a person collecting the ballot, complete the following:

1. I declare the following under penalty of perjury: At the registered voter's request I assisted the voter identified in this affidavit with marking the voter's ballot, I marked the ballot as directly instructed by the voter, I provided the assistance because the voter was physically unable to mark the ballot solely due to illness, injury or physical limitation and I understand that there is no power of attorney for voting and that the voter must be able to make their the voter's selection even if they the voter cannot physically mark the ballot.

Name of voter assistant: _____________________________

Address of voter assistant: __________________________

2. With the voter's permission, I collected the voter's voted early ballot and will deliver the voted early ballot to the proper election official on or before election day, and the ballot was voted and sealed in the envelope before I collected it.

Printed Name of ballot collector: ____________________

Signature of ballot collector: _______________________

Date of collection: __________________________________

Printed name of voter: _______________________________

Signature of voter: __________________________________

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 the 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.

WARNING-It is a felony to offer or receive any compensation for a ballot. END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 16-1005, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-1005. Ballot abuse; violation; classification

A. Any person who knowingly marks 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. It is unlawful to offer or provide any consideration to acquire a voted or unvoted early ballot. A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a class 5 felony.

C. It is unlawful to receive or agree to receive any consideration in exchange for a voted or unvoted ballot. A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a class 5 felony.

D. It is unlawful to possess a voted or unvoted ballot with the intent to sell the voted or unvoted ballot of another person. A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a class 5 felony.

E. A person or entity that knowingly solicits the collection of voted or unvoted ballots by misrepresenting itself as an election official or as an official ballot repository or is found to be serving as a ballot drop off site, other than those established and staffed by election officials, is guilty of a class 5 felony.

F. A person who knowingly collects voted or unvoted ballots and does not turn those ballots in to an election official, the United States postal service or any other entity permitted by law to transmit post is guilty of a class 5 felony.

G. A voter may designate any person to return the ballot to the elections official from whom it came or to the precinct board at a polling place within the county except that no early ballot shall be returned by any paid or volunteer worker of any political committee as defined by section 16‑901 or any other group or organization at whose behest the individual designated to return the ballot is performing a service. Any person who knowingly violates this subsection is guilty of a class 6 felony. This subsection does not apply to a candidate or a candidate's spouse.

G. H. A person who engages or participates in a pattern of ballot fraud is guilty of a class 4 felony. For the purposes of this subsection, "pattern of ballot fraud" means the person has offered or provided any consideration to three or more persons to acquire the voted or unvoted ballot of a person. END_STATUTE