HOUSE BILL NO. 6524

December 17, 2020, Introduced by Reps. Haadsma, Kuppa, Hertel, Hope, Guerra, Tyrone Carter, Elder, Sowerby, Wittenberg, Rabhi, Peterson, Brixie and Camilleri and referred to the Committee on Elections and Ethics.

A bill to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled

"Michigan election law,"

(MCL 168.1 to 168.992) by adding section 759e.

the people of the state of michigan enact:

Sec. 759e. (1) Each city or township clerk shall maintain a permanent absent voter list.

(2) Each county, city, or township clerk may mail to each registered elector in the county, city, or township a notice indicating that the elector may request to be placed on the permanent absent voter list of the city or township in which the elector is registered to vote.

(3) If a city or township clerk maintains a permanent absent voter list on or before the effective date of the amendatory act that added this section, the city or township clerk may continue to maintain that list as its permanent absent voter list.

(4) Each voter registration application produced by this state must include a space for the elector to mark if the elector wishes to be listed on the permanent absent voter list of the city or township in which the elector is registered to vote. In addition, each absent voter ballot application as prescribed under section 759 and distributed by a county, city, or township clerk must include a space for the elector to mark if the elector wishes to be listed on the permanent absent voter list of the city or township in which the elector is registered to vote.

(5) In addition to subsection (4), a qualified and registered elector may request to be placed on the permanent absent voter list of the city or township in which the elector is registered to vote. A request by an elector under this subsection must be made to the city or township clerk in person or by telephone, facsimile communication, electronic mail, or first-class mail.

(6) The request of each registered and qualified elector to be placed on the permanent absent voter list must be entered in the qualified voter file in the same manner as data are entered for a new elector.

(7) The county, city, or township clerk responsible for issuing absent voter ballots for an election shall send to each elector on the permanent absent voter list an application for an absent voter ballot for the election.

(8) A qualified and registered elector may request in writing to be removed from the permanent absent voter list of the city or township. A written request by an elector under this subsection must be made to the city or township clerk in person or by facsimile communication, electronic mail, or first-class mail. In addition, a city or township clerk shall remove an elector from the permanent absent voter list of the city or township if either of the following occurs:

(a) The city or township clerk has knowledge that the elector has died.

(b) An absent voter ballot application sent to an elector under this section is returned to the city or township clerk by the post office as undeliverable.

(9) Every January, the city or township clerk may remove an elector from the permanent absent voter list if the elector has not requested an absent voter ballot in any election held in the previous 4 consecutive years.

(10) If an elector is on a permanent absent voter list and the elector changes his or her residence, the elector's request to be on a permanent absent voter list automatically continues and the elector must be listed on the permanent absent voter list of the city or township in which the elector is registered to vote.