CONSOLIDATED ELECTION PRECINCTS                                                                       H.B. 4134 (H-1):

                                                                                                                                  SUMMARY OF HOUSE-PASSED BILL

                                                                                                                                                                                          IN COMMITTEE

House Bill 4134 (Substitute H-1 as passed by the House)

Sponsor:   Representative Ann Bollin

House Committee:   Elections and Ethics

Senate Committee:   Elections

Date Completed:   9-1-21

CONTENT

The bill would amend the Michigan Election Law to do the following:

 --     Require a consolidated election precinct to have no more than 4,000, instead of 2,999 active registered electors.

 --     Specify that municipal elections commissioners could consolidate precincts for a particular election that was not a general November election, instead of an election that was not a general November election, primary election immediately before a general November election, or other statewide or Federal election.

 --     Eliminate references to villages in provisions relating to precinct consolidation.

 --     Allow a consolidated primary election occurring before a general November election to occur only if the polling place for those precincts did not change.

 --     Eliminate a provision prescribing methods by which a city or township election commission or the Secretary of State may use to determine the number of registered voters for a precinct.

 --     Require the clerk of each county, city, or township to maintain a permanent absent voter application list.

 --     Allow a qualified and registered elector to submit a written request to be placed on or removed from a permanent absent voter application list and prescribe the method by which an elector could do so.

 --     Require the clerk of a county, city, or township to remove an elector from the permanent absent voter application list if that elector were placed in the inactive voter file.

 --     Require an elector's request to be on a permanent absent voter application list to continue automatically if the elector changed his or her registered address.

Consolidated Election Precinct

Currently, if a city, ward, township, or village is divided into two or more election precincts and it appears from an examination of the precinct registration records that there are no more than 2,999 active registered electors in that city, ward, township, or village, using voting machines, the election commission, or other applicable official, may abolish the division and constitute the city, ward, township, or village as a single election precinct. Under the bill, the 2,999-elector threshold would be raised to 4,000. The bill also would remove a requirement to use voting machines.

If a county, city, ward, township, village, metropolitan district, or school district is divided into two or more precincts, the county, city, ward, township, or village election commission may, by resolution, consolidate the precincts for a particular election that is not a general November election, primary election immediately before a general November election, or other statewide or Federal election. The bill would eliminate references to villages from the consolidation provisions, and specifies that the applicable elections commissioners could consolidate the precincts for a particular election that was not a general November election.