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ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVESFifty-sixth Legislature First Regular Session |
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HB 2232: elections; identification; revisions; mail-in; tabulation.
S/E: elections; mail-in; identification; revisions
Sponsor: Representative Harris, LD 13
Committee on Municipal Oversight & Elections
Summary of the Strike-Everything Amendment to HB 2232
Overview
Amends the sections of statute related to the conduct of elections.
History
Early Voting
The County Recorder or officer in charge of elections can begin mailing out early ballots 27 days before the election. An early election board can tabulate early ballots as soon as they are received. In Arizona, mailed early ballots must be received by the County Recorder or officer in charge of elections no later than 5:00 pm 11 days before the election (A.R.S. § 16-542).
A voter may also choose to vote early in person at an on-site early voting location established by the County Recorder. To vote early in person, an individual must present valid identification and must cast the ballot issued at that voting location (A.R.S. §§ 16-246, 16-542)
Identification Requirements
Prior to receiving a ballot at a polling place, an individual must present some form of acceptable identification. Valid identification includes federal, state and local government issued identification, such as an Arizona driver license or a United States Passport and is deemed valid unless expired. If the address on the form of identification does not reasonably match the address in the precinct register, the identification must be accompanied by at least two different items that contain the name and address of the elector, such as a valid Arizona vehicle registration and a utility bill (A.R.S. § 16-579).
Voting Locations
A county Board of Supervisors may establish voting centers in addition to or in lieu of precinct-based polling places. Polling places are specifically designated locations within election precincts where voters who reside in that precinct must vote. Voting centers are locations within a county where individuals can vote regardless of the person's designated election precinct (A.R.S. § 16-411)
Voting Equipment
Arizona law allows for votes to be cast, recorded and counted by voting or marking devices and vote tabulating equipment. A voting device is an apparatus that the voter uses to record the voter's votes by marking a paper ballot, which votes are subsequently counted by electronic tabulating equipment. Electronic tabulating equipment refers to an apparatus necessary to automatically examine and count votes as designated on ballots and tabulate the results (A.R.S. §§ 16-443, 16-444).
Hand Count Audits
county election officers are required to conduct a hand count of a sample of ballots to test the accuracy of the vote tabulation equipment if there is participation from the county political parties. Those counties that conduct the hand count are required by law to report the results to the Secretary of State (A.R.S. § 16-602).
Provisions
Polling Places
1. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors from establishing a precinct that contains more than 1,500 registered voters. (Sec. 11)
2. Clarifies the Board of Supervisors must establish a reasonable number of polling places in each precinct. (Sec. 11)
3. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of voting centers. (Sec. 11)
4. Repeals the sections of statute concerning voting centers. (Sec. 11)
5. Specifies the Board of Supervisors is prohibited from changing a polling place unless the voters in that precinct are notified by mail at least two years in advance. (Sec. 11)
6. Repeals statute allowing for the consolidation of polling places in specified circumstances. (Sec. 11)
7. Repeals statute allowing the principal of a school to deny a request to provide space for use as a polling place. (Sec. 11)
8. Requires the Board of Supervisors to use public schools and governmental offices as polling places whenever possible. (Sec. 11)
9. Asserts school district governing boards, principles and managers of governmental offices must allow their sites to be used as polling places if requested. (Sec. 11)
10. Revises the criteria for which a County Recorder or officer in charge of elections may establish an emergency polling place to include only acts of God that render a previously set polling place as unusable. (Sec. 11)
Prohibition on Electronic Voting Devices
11. Allows for the use of machines or devices only if they cannot access the internet and are used solely to comply with accessibility requirements. (Sec. 12)
12. Prohibits the Secretary of State from approving the general use of electronic voting machines and electronic tabulating machines unless required to comply with accessibility requirements. (Sec. 12, 13 and 14)
13. Requires, except for circumstances involving compliance with accessibility requirements, that all state, county, city and town elections be conducted using paper ballots and ballots be tabulated by hand. (Sec. 14)
14. Requires all electronic voting machines and electronic tabulating machines to be:
a) The same make and model;
b) Uniform in compliance, language and capabilities; and
c) Owned by the office of the Secretary of State and used in agreement with counties and other election jurisdictions. (Sec. 12)
15. Directs the Secretary of State to revoke the certification or prohibit, for a period of five years, the purchase of any voting system or device in specified circumstances. (Sec. 12)
16. Repeals the section of statute concerning the filing of computer election programs with the Secretary of State. (Sec. 13)
17. Allows for the use of electronic tabulating systems for the tabulation of absentee ballots only. (Sec. 19)
18. Repeals the sections of statute concerning the acquisition, cost and rules of vote tabulating devices. (Sec. 20)
19. Repeals the sections of statute concerning the form of ballots and the use of antifraud ballot paper. (Sec. 20)
20. Repeals definitions and language concerning elections where electronic tabulating devices are used. (Sec. 15)
21. Establishes the minimum requirements for ballot paper used in primary and general elections. (Sec. 23)
Mandatory Hand Count
22. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors from authorizing the use of electronic or other tabulating equipment. (Sec. 34)
23. Specifies ballots must be organized and remain separated by precinct both before and after counting. (Sec. 34)
24. Repeals statute concerning the procedure for hand counting ballots. (Sec. 33)
25. Removes statute allowing for the duplication of ballots and electronic vote adjudication. (Sec. 34)
26. Repeals language concerning the procedure for a court ordered recount of ballots if the votes were cast and tabulated on electronic voting equipment. (Sec. 35)
27. Repeals the section of statute that allows for the recount of votes by automatic tabulating system. (Sec. 36)
Mail-in and Early Voting
28. Repeals the provisions of statute concerning mail-in voting. (Sec. 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 21 and 27)
29. Repeals statute allowing candidates, political committees and other organizations to distribute early ballot forms to voters. (Sec. 27)
30. Repeals the section of statute concerning the Active Early Voter List. (Sec. 28)
31. Requires, for votes to be counted and valid, early ballots must be received by the County Recorder or officer in charge off elections no later than three days before election day. (Sec. 30)
32. Requires all early votes to be counted on election day before 7:00 pm. (Sec. 30)
33. States the results of the early vote tally may not be released until after 8:00 pm on election day. (Sec. 30)
Absentee Voting
34. Prohibits a voter from voting by an absentee ballot, unless they meet any of the following criteria:
a) The voter expects to be outside Arizona at the time of the election;
b) The voter is physically unable to go to the polls because the voter is hospitalized or in a nursing home;
c) The voter is visually impaired; or
d) The voter qualifies for an absentee ballot under UOCAVA. (Sec. 26)
35. Requires, when a voter is applying to vote absentee, that the voter specify one of the approved reasons for voting absentee. (Sec. 27)
36. Outlies the required text that must be printed on an affidavit that accompanies an absentee ballot. (Sec. 29)
Primary and General Election Requirements
37. Asserts a voter may not receive or vote a ballot unless the voter has presented valid state-issued identification. (Sec. 3)
38. Stipulates that all voting must occur on election day and all ballots must be cast in person at the voter's designated election precinct polling place unless the voter qualifies for an absentee ballot. (Sec. 3)
39. Requires all ballots to be counted by hand and canvassed and the returns made within 24 hours after the closing of the polls. (Sec. 3)
40. Specifies the County Recorder is only responsible for providing an adequate number and type of ballots, pens, tables and other equipment as necessary for polling places and directs the county Board of Supervisors to perform or supervise all other election related duties. (Sec. 10)
Prohibitions
41. Prohibits the ranking of candidates in any manner, other than with a single vote for one candidate for each office to be filled. (Sec. 10)
42. Prohibits the Board of Supervisors, County Recorder or officer in charge of elections from requiring a voter, board worker or any other person:
a) Wear a facial mask at a polling place or other voting or tabulating location; or
b) Be vaccinated against or tested for a virus as a condition of entering a polling place or other voting or tabulating location. (Sec. 5)
Civil and Criminal Penalties
43. Includes, in the classification of an authorized person who fails to return completed registration materials, a class 2 misdemeanor, a person or nongovernmental organization that receives blank voter registration forms from the Secretary of State, County Recorder or other authorized election official. (Sec. 2)
44. Establishes a civil penalty of $50,000 for nongovernmental organizations that fail to timely return completed registration materials that are timely received from a registrant. (Sec. 2)
45. Specifies a nongovernmental organization is subject to a civil penalty of $1,500 for each unlawfully altered voter registration form it returns, regardless of whether the form was unlawfully altered by an employee, contractor or volunteer of that organization. (Sec. 2)
46. Increases, from a class 3 felony to a class 2 felony, the penalty for a person who knowingly substitutes or tampers with ballot tabulations or election results by electronic means. (Sec. 37)
47. Includes a person who knowingly removes a ballot from an on-site voting location as guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor. (Sec. 39)
Miscellaneous
48. Repeals the definition of instructions and procedures manual. (Sec. 15)
49. Allows one representative of a political party that was appointed by the chairman of that political party to be allowed to remain within the seventy-five-foot limit for purposes of making challenges, regardless of whether that political party is represented on the ballot. (Sec. 25)
50. Repeals language concerning the seventy-five-foot limit and its application to minors voting in simulated elections. (Sec. 25)
51. Contains a conforming legislation clause. (Sec. 40)
52.
Makes technical and conforming changes.
53.
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56. HB 2232
57. Initials JH Page 0 Municipal Oversight & Elections
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