Senate Bill 595 seeks to strengthen compliance with the federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) by amending various statutes concerning voter registration and the handling of complaints against the Elections Commission. The bill stipulates that if the commission receives a complaint alleging its own violation of HAVA, it must make a final determination on the merits and cannot dismiss the complaint solely based on the nature of the allegation. It also introduces provisions for public hearings on such complaints, requires the commission to publish results of dismissed complaints, and mandates that all final determinations be documented in writing.

Additionally, the bill establishes new data-sharing agreements between the Elections Commission and state departments to verify voter eligibility and citizenship status, requiring the removal of ineligible voters from the registration list rather than merely changing their status. It mandates regular audits of the voter registration list by the Legislative Audit Bureau to identify non-citizens and sets a fee structure for obtaining copies of the official voter registration list. The bill also amends the management of voter registration records by requiring the commission to maintain a permanent record of removals and updating the process for municipal clerks to ensure timely entry of valid registrations. Furthermore, it modifies the procedure for handling notifications from other states, requiring the complete removal of an elector's name from the registration list instead of changing their status to ineligible.

Statutes affected:
Bill Text: 5.056, 5.061(3), 5.061, 6.275(1)(f), 6.275, 6.32(4), 6.32, 6.33(4), 6.33, 6.33(5)(a)1, 6.36(1)(d), 6.36, 6.36(1)(e)