HOUSE BILL No. 4231

 

February 7, 2007, Introduced by Reps. Caswell and Hansen and referred to the Committee on Ethics and Elections.

 

     A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled

 

"Michigan election law,"

 

by amending section 499 (MCL 168.499), as amended by 2004 PA 92.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 499. (1) An elector entitled to registration in an

 

election precinct may become registered in the precinct by applying

 

in person and signing the registration application before the clerk

 

or assistant clerk of the township, city, or village in which the

 

precinct is located. For the performance of his or her duties under

 

this act, each clerk and assistant clerk has the power to

 

administer oaths and to swear persons as to the truth of statements

 

contained in an application. For a better examination of the

 

applicant, a clerk may employ and swear an interpreter to interpret

 

all questions put to applicants and the answers to those questions.

 

If the applicant, in answer to a question or in the registration


 

application, makes a material statement that is false, the

 

applicant is guilty of a misdemeanor.

 

     (2) A clerk or assistant clerk shall not accept a fee from an

 

elector applying for registration, either for the registering of

 

the elector or for the taking of the acknowledgment on the

 

application. A person who violates this subsection is guilty of a

 

misdemeanor.

 

     (3) The clerk, immediately after receiving the registration or

 

change of address of an elector, shall prepare a voter

 

identification card for the elector. The clerk shall also prepare

 

and send a corrected voter identification card to an elector

 

affected by a change in United States representative, state

 

senatorial, state representative, or county commissioner district

 

or precinct. The clerk shall forward by first-class mail the voter

 

identification card to the elector at the elector's registration

 

address. However, a clerk may forward by first-class mail the voter

 

identification card, upon request of the elector, to a post office

 

box if the post office box is where the elector normally receives

 

personal mail and the elector does not receive mail at his or her

 

registration address. The voter identification card shall contain

 

the name and address of the registrant and the United States

 

representative, state senatorial, state representative, or county

 

commissioner district and precinct in which the registrant is an

 

elector. If the original voter identification card is returned to

 

the clerk by the post office as nondeliverable, the clerk shall

 

reject the registration and send the individual a notice of

 

rejection. If a duplicate voter identification card is returned to


 

the clerk by the post office, the clerk shall accept this as

 

information that the elector has moved and the clerk shall proceed

 

in conformity with section 509aa.