SB 683 — Combat Absentee Ballot Fraud.

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA SESSION 2019 S 21 SENATE BILL 683 Redistricting and Elections Committee Substitute Adopted 7/1/19 Short Title:

Senators Daniel, McKissick, and Hise (Primary Sponsors).

Rules and Operations of the Senate July 1, 2019 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAWS GOVERNING MAIL-IN ABSENTEE BALLOTS AND TO RESTORE THE LAST SATURDAY OF EARLY ONE-STOP VOTING.

*S683-v-2**S683-v-1* General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 (c) The State Board mayprovide for the register official registers required by this section to be kept byelectronic data processing equipment, and a copy shall be printed out each business day or a supplement printed out each business day of new information.equipment.

The official register of absentee requests, applications and ballots issued required bysubsection (b) of this section shall constitute a public record and shall be opened to the inspection of any registered voter of the county within 60 days before and 30 days after an election in which absentee ballots were authorized, or at any other time when good and sufficient reason may be assigned for its inspection.inspection." SECTION 1.(b) G.S.

(e) Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, the State Board or a county board of elections shall inform the voter of the status of that voter's request for mail-in absentee ballots upon inquiry the voter or the voter's near relative or verifiable legal guardian." SECTION 1.(b) G.S.

Any copies ofofanyphotographicidentification any photographic identification associated with the request forforabsenteeballots, absenteeorthereturned ballotsapplication and ballots, shall not be a public record.

(b) All applications for absentee ballots shall be retained bytheby countyboardthe county board of elections for a period of one year after which they those applications may be destroyed." SECTION 1.(c) G.S.

163A-862, once approved bybythe thecounty countyboardboard of elections, becomes backup to the official registration record of the voter.

163A-1295(a) or that voter's near relative or verifiable legal guardian, shall complete a request form for an absentee application and in writing an application for absentee Page 2 Senate Bill 683-Second Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 ballots so that the county board of elections receives that completed the request form not later than 5:00 P.M.

signed by the voter, the voter's near relative, or the voter's Page 2 Senate Bill 683-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 verifiable legal guardian.

– When the county board of elections receives a completed request form for applications and absentee ballots, ballots from the voter, or the near relative or the verifiable legal guardian of that voter, so requesting, the board shall promptly issue and transmit them to the voter in accordance with the following instructions:

163A-1307(b), the absentee voter's name, the absentee voter's application number, and the designation of Senate Bill 683-Second Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 the precinct in which the voter is registered.

Senate Bill 683-First Edition Page 3 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 (3) The chair, member, officer, or employee of the board of elections shall then place the unsealed container-return envelope holding the ballots together with printed instructions for voting and returning the ballots, in an envelope addressed to the voter at the post office address stated in the request, seal the envelope,andmailitenvelope, andmailit attheexpenseofthecountyboardofelections:Provided, that in case of a request received after 5:00 p.m.

Page 4 Senate Bill 683-Second Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 (h) For the purpose of this Part, "near relative" means spouse, brother, sister, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, mother-in-law, father-in-law, daughter-in-law, son-in-law, stepparent, or stepchild." SECTION 3.(a) G.S.

Page 4 Senate Bill 683-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 (a) Valid Types of Written Requests.

163A-1308 is valid only if it is written entirely by the requester personally, or is on a form created generated by the State Board writtencounty entirelyboard byof theelections, requester personally and signed bybythe the requester and submitted together with the identification required bybysubsection subsection (f1) of this section.

IfThe acounty requester,board dueof toelections disabilityshall orissue illiteracy, is unable to complete a writtenrequest request,form thatonly requesterto maythe receivevoter assistanceseeking into writingthatvote requestby fromabsentee anballot individualofthatrequester's choice.voter requestingabsenteeballots or thatto voter'sa nearperson relativeauthorized orby verifiableG.S. legal guardian.

163A-1308 to make a request for the voter.

If a requester, due to disability or illiteracy, is unable to complete a written request, that requester may receive assistance in writing that request from an individual of that requester's choice.voter requesting absentee ballots or that voter's near relative or verifiable legal guardian.

(b) ReturnA completed request form for an absentee ballot shall be deemed a request to update the official record of Request.voter registration for that voter and shall be confirmed in writing in accordance with G.S.

–163A-877(d). A completed request form for an absentee ballot shall be deemed a request to update the official record of voter registration for that voter and shall be confirmed in writing in accordance with G.S.

163A-877(d).returned to the county board of elections only by the voter, or the near relative or the verifiable legal guardian of that voter, so requesting the absentee ballot.

Ifthatvoteris confirmedas aregisteredaregisteredvoterofthecounty, voterofthecounty, the absentee ballots and certification form shall be mailed to the voter, unless personally delivered in accordance with G.S.

The rules to adopted by the State Board to implement Senate Bill 683-Second Edition Page 5 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 and enforce this section shall provide for the forms of identification that must be included with the written request for an absentee ballot.

Senate Bill 683-First Edition Page 5 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 (2) A process for a voter without acceptable readable identification under subdivision (1) of this section to complete an alternative affidavit in accordance with G.S.

(d1) Sell or Attempt to Sell Completed Written Request Form for Absentee Ballot Made a Class 2 Misdemeanor.

Page 6 Senate Bill 683-Second Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 (d4) Compensation Based on Requests.

(d5)(e) IntentViolationsNotOtherwiseProvidedforMadeClass 21Misdemeanors.– Ifanyperson shall willfully violate any of the provisions of this Part, or willfully fail to Unlawfullycomply Influence.with any of Page 6 Senate Bill 683-First Edition General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 the provisions thereof, for which no other punishment is herein provided, he that person shall be guilty of a Class 2 1 misdemeanor." SECTION 4.(b) This section becomes effective December 1, 2019, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

– Any person who commits, attempts to commit, or conspires to commit a crime identified in G.S.

163A-865(b), 163A-1298(a), 163A-1388, 163A-1389, or this section with the intent to unlawfully influence or interfere with a primary or election, or to otherwise unlawfully gain, shall be guilty of a Class F felony.

(e) ViolationsNotOtherwiseProvidedforMadeClass 21Misdemeanors.– Ifanyperson shall willfully violate any of the provisions of this Part, or willfully fail to comply with any of the provisions thereof, for which no other punishment is herein provided, he that person shall be guilty of a Class 2 1 misdemeanor." SECTION 4.(b) This section becomes effective December 1, 2019, and applies to offenses committed on or after that date.

163A-1300(b), then all one-stop sites shall be open for the same number of hours uniformly throughout the county on those Sundays." Senate Bill 683-Second Edition Page 7 General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2019 SECTION 5.(c)6. This section becomes effective August 1, 2019.

SECTION 6.

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