Existing law requires, with limited exceptions, the county clerk and city clerk to distribute a mail ballot for every election to each active registered voter in the county or city, as applicable, and each person who registers to vote or updates his or her voter registration information not later than 14 days before the election. The county clerk or city clerk are also required to allow a voter to elect not to receive a mail ballot by submitting a written notice in the form prescribed by the clerk which must be received not later than 60 days before the day of the election. (NRS 293.269911, 293.269913, 293C.263, 293C.26312) Section 1 of this bill requires each form for an application to preregister or register to vote that is prescribed by the Secretary of State, the system established by the Secretary of State to preregister or register to vote by computer and each automatic voter registration system to allow a person to elect not to receive a mail ballot, elect to receive a mail ballot for all future elections or elect to receive a mail ballot only for certain future elections. Sections 2 and 6 of this bill make conforming changes to provide that a county clerk or city clerk is prohibited from distributing a mail ballot to any person who elects not to receive a mail ballot using the form. Existing law requires, effective January 1, 2024, the Secretary of State and each automatic voter registration agency to establish a system, commonly known as an automatic voter registration system, by which voter registration information is transmitted electronically to the top-down voter registration database created by the Secretary of State. Upon transmission of the information to the database, the county clerk is required to collate the information into an application to register to vote, determine whether the person is eligible to register to vote in this State and, if so, send to the person by mail certain information, including, without limitation, a notice that the person may affirmatively decline in writing to register to vote. (NRS 293.5768, 293.57693) Section 3 of this bill requires an automatic voter registration agency to provide the person with a notice in the form prescribed by the Secretary of State that allows the person to affirmatively decline to have his or her information transmitted using the automatic voter registration system for purposes of applying to register to vote or have his or her voter registration information updated. If a person affirmatively declines in writing, section 3 prohibits the automatic voter registration agency from transmitting any information about the person using the automatic voter registration system. If a person does not affirmatively decline at the automatic voter registration agency, the person may still affirmatively decline to register to vote or update his or her voter registration when the county clerk sends certain notification to the person after his or her information is transmitted to the voter registration database created by the Secretary of State. (NRS 293.57693) Section 4 of this bill makes a conforming change to create an exception to the general requirement that an automatic voter registration agency electronically transmit certain information to the voter registration database created by the Secretary of State. Existing law authorizes a person who is not eligible to have his or her voter registration transmitted by an automatic voter registration agency to the voter registration database created by the Secretary of State to still apply to register to vote at the automatic voter registration agency. (NRS 293.57697) Section 5 of this bill provides similarly that a person who affirmatively declines to have his or her information transmitted by the automatic voter registration system may still apply to register to vote at the automatic voter registration agency.

Statutes affected:
As Introduced: 293.269911, 293.5768, 293.57688, 293.57697, 293C.263
BDR: 293.269911, 293.5768, 293.57688, 293.57697, 293C.263