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Senate Engrossed
election officer certification training; yearly |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-seventh Legislature First Regular Session 2025
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SENATE BILL 1319 |
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AN ACT
amending section 16-407, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to conduct of elections.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 16-407, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
16-407. Election officers; qualifications; certificates; certification programs; plan; exemption; election training fund
A. Except as provided in subsection E of this
section, a person may not perform the duties or exercise the authority of an
election officer or of the clerk of the board of supervisors or the county
recorder in performance of election duties in or on behalf of any county unless, for persons who are certified in odd-numbered years, the
person is the holder of an election officer's certificate issued by the
secretary of state before January 1 of each general election year and, for persons
who are certified in even-numbered
years, the person
is certified before
June 1 of that even-numbered year. An election officer's certificate
expires on December 31 inelection yearexcept that election officers may be certified in an
even-numbered year if they are certified before June 1 of that even-numbered
year. An election officer's certificate
expires on December 31 in the year after the
general election.
B. The secretary of state shall provide for the examination of applicants for election officer certificates. The secretary of state may not issue a certificate to a person who has not demonstrated to the satisfaction of the secretary of state that the person is competent to perform the work of an election officer or of the clerk of the board of supervisors or the county recorder in the performance of election duties.
C. The secretary of state shall provide for election officer certification programs of which successful completion by a person attests to the attendance at, participation in and completion of a course of instruction in the technical, legal and administrative aspects of conducting elections within this state.
D. On or before December 31 of each year of a general election, the secretary of state shall submit an election officer education, training and certification plan to the president of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives. The plan shall outline the achievements and problems of the previous two year period since the most recent report and specify the expected education, training and certification activities of the coming two year period year.
E. Subsection A of this section does not apply to elected officials, clerical and secretarial personnel, counting center personnel and precinct election board members and election officials in cities or towns.
F. For city and town employees who work on elections, the city or town may train its own employees if the city or town training program is approved by the secretary of state or, if the city or town chooses to enroll the city or town employees in the certification program prescribed by this section, the city or town shall reimburse the secretary of state for the costs of conducting the training. An election training fund is established consisting of monies received pursuant to this subsection. The secretary of state shall administer the fund. Monies in the fund are continuously appropriated and the secretary of state shall use monies in the fund to pay the costs of training officials from cities and towns pursuant to this subsection.