MAIL AV APPLICATIONS TO VOTERS WHO PUT NAME ON LIST
House Bill 4767
Sponsor: Rep. Chris Ward
Committee: Local Government and Urban Policy
Complete to 5-29-03
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4767 AS INTRODUCED 5-28-03
House Bill 4767 would amend the Michigan Election Law to require that each city, township, or village clerk, and the secretary of a school board compile and maintain a list of electors who request to be listed on a permanent absentee voters list. Then, for each election, the clerk or school board secretary, would be required to mail (or otherwise provide) an absent voter ballot application to each elector on the permanent absentee voters list for that city, township, village, or school district.
In addition, the bill would require that the registration application completed by each elector contain a space for the elector to sign and certify to the truth of the statements on the application, and also a space for the elector to mark, if he or she wished to be listed on a permanent absentee voter list. Currently under the law, the registration application contains the elector's name, address, birthplace and date of birth, driver's license or state identification card number, a statement of citizenship, a statement that the elector is at least 18 years old, a statement that the elector has lived in the state not less than 30 days (or will have lived within the state for 30 days before the coming election), a statement that the elector has or will have established residence within the jurisdiction for not less than 30 days, a statement that he or she is or will be a qualified elector of the jurisdiction, and a space to state the place of the elector's last registration, if any. Under the bill, all of these provisions would be retained.
Currently under the law, if an individual appears in a Department of State branch office to apply for or renew an operator's license under the Michigan Vehicle Code, he or she also may complete an application to register to vote (or to change his or her voter registration). Under the bill, that registration application form also would be changed, so that it included a space to mark if the applicant wished to be listed on a permanent absentee voters list.
Finally, the law specifies that in order to apply for an absent voter ballot, a qualified elector may apply at any time during the 75 days before a primary, special, or general election, but not later than 2 p.m. of the Saturday immediately before the election. The elector must apply in person or by mail with the clerk of the township, city, or village in which he or she is registered. House Bill 4767 would retain these provisions, and also specify that for a school election, the elector would be required to apply for an absent voter ballot with the secretary of the school
board of the school district in which the elector resided. The bill also would make minor changes to the absent voter ballot application form so that it included an elector's zip code in the address.
MCL 168.495, 168.500a, and 168.759
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This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.