REFERENCE TITLE: election laws; revisions; appropriation

State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-fifth Legislature First Regular Session 2021

HB 2797

Introduced by Representative Salman

 

AN ACT

 

amending sections 13-907 and 16-407, Arizona Revised Statutes; amending title 16, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 16-407.01; amending title 16, chapter 4, article 4, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 16-446.01; amending sections 16-449, 16-542, 16-549, 16-550, 16-552, 16-584 and 16-622, Arizona Revised Statutes; appropriating monies; relating to elections.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section  1. Section 13-907, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE13-907. Automatic restoration of civil rights; exception; definition

A. On final discharge, any person who has not previously been convicted of a felony offense shall automatically be restored any civil rights that were lost or suspended as a result of the conviction if the person pays any victim restitution imposed.

B. A person who is entitled to the restoration of any civil rights pursuant to this section is not required to file an application pursuant to section 13-908.

C. This section does not apply to a person's right to possess a firearm as defined in section 13-3101. The court may order the restoration of the right to possess a firearm pursuant to section 13-910.

D. For the purposes of this section, "final discharge" means the completion of probation or the receipt of an absolute discharge from the state department of corrections or the United States federal bureau of prisons. END_STATUTE

Sec.  2. Section 16-407, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-407. Election officers; qualifications; certificates; certification programs; plan; exemption; election training fund

A. Except as provided in subsection E of this section, no 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 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 or, for a person issued an interim certificate, an interim certificate issued before August 1 of the general election year.

B. The secretary of state shall provide for the examination of applicants for election officer certificates and interim 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, including interim 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 and specify the expected education, training and certification activities of the coming two year period.

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, 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. END_STATUTE

Sec.  3. Title 16, chapter 4, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 16-407.01, to read:

START_STATUTE16-407.01. Secretary of state; international observers; notice

The SECRETARY of state shall ESTABLISH a system to issue credentials to a limited number of international observers to observe elections in this state. before any election for a statewide ballot measure, for a federal or statewide office or for a MEMBER of the legislature, The secretary of state shall provide a list of credentialed international observers to every county recorder and officer in charge of elections. END_STATUTE

Sec.  4. Title 16, chapter 4, article 4, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 16-446.01, to read:

START_STATUTE16-446.01. Specifications for E-pollbooks

An e-pollbook used in this state shall comply with the requirements in the instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452.   These requirements shall include at least the following:

1. Hardware standards and requirements, including minimum physical SECURITY requirements.

2. Software STANDARDS and requirements, including encryption and audit log requirements. END_STATUTE

Sec.  5. Section 16-449, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-449. Required test of equipment and programs; notice; procedures manual

A. Within the period of time before the election day prescribed by the secretary of state in the instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452, the board of supervisors or other election officer in charge, or for an election involving state or federal candidates, the secretary of state, shall have the automatic tabulating equipment and programs tested to ascertain that the equipment and programs will correctly count the votes cast for all offices and on all measures.   Public notice of the time and place of the test shall be given at least forty-eight hours prior thereto before the test by publication once in one or more daily or weekly newspapers published in the town, city or village using such equipment, if a newspaper is published therein, otherwise in a newspaper of general circulation therein.   The test shall be observed by at least two election inspectors, who shall not be of the same political party, and shall be open to representatives of the political parties, candidates, the press and the public. The test shall be conducted by processing a preaudited group of ballots so marked as to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate and on each measure and shall include for each office one or more ballots that have votes in excess of the number allowed by law in order to test the ability of the automatic tabulating equipment and programs to reject such votes.   If any error is detected, the cause therefor shall be ascertained and corrected and an errorless count shall be made before the automatic tabulating equipment and programs are approved.   A copy of a revised program shall be filed with the secretary of state within forty-eight hours after the revision is made. If the error was created by automatic tabulating equipment malfunction, a report shall be filed with the secretary of state within forty-eight hours after the correction is made, stating the cause and the corrective action taken.   The test shall be repeated immediately before the start of the official count of the ballots in the same manner as set forth above.   After the completion of the count, the programs used and the ballots shall be sealed, retained and disposed of as provided for paper ballots.

B. Electronic ballot tabulating systems shall be tested for logic and accuracy within seven ten days before their use for early balloting pursuant to the instructions and procedures manual for electronic voting systems that is adopted by the secretary of state as prescribed by section 16-452. The instructions and procedures manual shall include procedures for the handling of ballots, the electronic scanning of ballots and any other matters necessary to ensure the maximum degree of correctness, impartiality and uniformity in the administration of an electronic ballot tabulating system.

C. Notwithstanding subsections A and B of this section, if a county uses accessible voting equipment to mark ballots and that accessible voting equipment does not independently tabulate or tally votes, the secretary of state in cooperation with the county officer in charge of elections may designate a single date to test the logic and accuracy of both the accessible voting equipment and electronic ballot tabulating systems. END_STATUTE

Sec.  6. Section 16-542, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-542. Request for ballot; civil penalties; violation; classification

A. Within ninety-three days before any election called pursuant to the laws of this state, an elector may make a verbal or signed request to the county recorder, or other officer in charge of elections for the applicable political subdivision of this state in whose jurisdiction the elector is registered to vote, for an official early ballot.   In addition to name and address, the requesting elector shall provide the date of birth and state or country of birth or other information that if compared to the voter registration information on file would confirm the identity of the elector. If the request indicates that the elector needs a primary election ballot and a general election ballot, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall honor the request. For any partisan primary election, if the elector is not registered as a member of a political party that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot pursuant to section 16-804, the elector shall designate the ballot of only one of the political parties that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot and the elector may receive and vote the ballot of only that one political party, which also shall include any nonpartisan offices and ballot questions, or the elector shall designate the ballot for nonpartisan offices and ballot questions only and the elector may receive and vote the ballot that contains only nonpartisan offices and ballot questions. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall process any request for an early ballot for a municipal election pursuant to this subsection. The county recorder may shall establish on-site early voting locations at the recorder's office, which shall be open and available for use beginning the same day that a county begins to send out the early ballots. The county recorder may shall also establish any other early voting locations in the county the recorder deems necessary as prescribed in the instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452. Any on-site early voting location or other early voting location shall require each elector to present identification as prescribed in section 16-579 before receiving a ballot.   On presentation of proper identification, for an early ballot that is issued at an early voting location, the county recorder may tabulate the elector's ballot without conducting signature verification on the ballot affidavit. Notwithstanding section 16-579, subsection A, paragraph 2, at any on-site early voting location or other early voting location the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections may shall provide for a qualified elector to update the elector's voter registration information as provided for in the secretary of state's instruction instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, a request for an official early ballot from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter as defined in the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act of 1986 (P.L. 99-410; 52 United States Code section 20310) or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to section 16-153 that is received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections more than ninety-three days before the election is valid. If requested by the absent uniformed services or overseas voter, or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to section 16-153, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide to the requesting voter early ballot materials through the next regularly scheduled general election for federal office immediately following receipt of the request unless a different period of time, which does not exceed the next two regularly scheduled general elections for federal office, is designated by the voter.

C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall mail the early ballot and the envelope for its return postage prepaid to the address provided by the requesting elector within five days after receipt of the official early ballots from the officer charged by law with the duty of preparing ballots pursuant to section 16-545, except that early ballot distribution shall not begin more than twenty-seven days before the election. If an early ballot request is received on or before the thirty-first day before the election, the early ballot shall be distributed not earlier than the twenty-seventh day before the election and not later than the twenty-fourth day before the election.

D. Only the elector may be in possession of that elector's unvoted early ballot. If a complete and correct request is made by the elector within twenty-seven days before the election, the mailing must be made within forty-eight hours after receipt of the request. Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays are excluded from the computation of the forty-eight hour forty-eight-hour period prescribed by this subsection.   If a complete and correct request is made by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter before the election, the regular early ballot shall be transmitted by mail, by fax or by other electronic format approved by the secretary of state within twenty-four hours after the early ballots are delivered pursuant to section 16-545, subsection B, excluding Sundays.

E. In order to be complete and correct and to receive an early ballot by mail, an elector's request that an early ballot be mailed to the elector's residence or temporary address must include all of the information prescribed by subsection A of this section and must be received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections no not later than 5:00 p.m. on the eleventh day preceding the election.   An elector who appears personally no not later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday Monday preceding the election at an on-site early voting location that is established by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall be given a ballot after