SB 836 — Modifies provisions relating to elections

SB 836 11 4.

State of __________________  County (City) of __________________  I, __________________ (print (print applicant's name), declare that I am a resident and registered voter of _________SCS County,SB 836 10 _________ County, Missouri, and am permanently disabled.

I hereby request that my name be placed on the election authority's list of voters qualified to participate as absentee voters pursuant to section 115.284, and that I be delivered an absentee ballot applicationapplicatio n for each election in which I am eligible to vote.

_______________________________________  Signature of Voter ______________________________  ______________________________  Voter's Address 5.

SB 836 12 6.

SCS SB 836 11 7.

Such lists of applications shall not be posted or displayed in an area open to the general public, nor shall such lists of applications be shown to any unauthorized person.

115.351.

No person who files as a party candidate for nomination or election to an office shall, without withdrawing, file as another party's candidate or an independent candidate for nomination or election to the office for the same term.

No person who files as an independent candidate for election to an office shall, without withdrawing, file as a party candidate for nomination or election to the office for the same term.

No person shall file for one office and, without withdrawing, file for another office to be filled at the same election.

A person who files a request to be included on the presidential preference primary ballot is not prohibited by this section from filing or appearing on any ballot as a party candidate for nomination to another office.

Receipt by the secretary of state of proper certification of nomination pursuant to subsection 1 of section 115.399 constitutes withdrawal by operation of law pursuant to subsection 1 of section 115.359 of any presidential or vice SB 836 13 presidential nominee from any other office for which such nominee is a candidate at the same election.

Any person violating any provision of this section shall be disqualified from running for nomination or election to any office at the primary and general election next succeeding the violation.

and SB 836 14 (d) The document was issued by the United States or the state of Missouri;

or (4) Any identification containing a photograph of the individual which is issued by the Missouri National Guard, SCS SB 836 12 the United States Armed Forces, including the Space Force, or the United States Department of Veteran Affairs to a member or former member of the Missouri National Guard or the United States Armed Forces, including the Space Force, and that is not expired or does not have an expiration date.

The provisional ballot envelope shall provide a place for the voter's name, address, date of birth, and last SB 836 15 four digits of his or her Social Security number, followed by a certificate in substantially the following form:

SCS SB 836 13 I do solemnly swear that I am the person identified above and the information provided is correct.

or SB 836 16 (b) The election authority verifies my identity by comparing my signature on this envelope to the signature on file with the election authority and SCS SB 836 14 determines that I was eligible to cast a ballot at this polling place;

99 __________________  ____________________ Signature of Voter Date __________________  ____________________ Signature of Election Officials Once voted, the provisional ballot shall be sealed in the provisional ballot envelope and placed in a separate secured container by the election judge or election authority.

or (b) The election authority verifies the identity of the individual by comparing that individual's signature to the signature on file with the election authority and determines that the individual was eligible to cast a ballot SB 836 17 at the [polling place] location where the ballot was cast;

SCS SB 836 15 5.

Any individual seeking one of the above documents in order to obtain a form of personal photo identification described in subsection 1 of this section for voting may request the SB 836 18 secretary of state to facilitate the acquisition of such documents.

The secretary of state shall pay any fee or fees charged by another state or its agencies, or any court of competent jurisdiction in this state or any other state, or SCS SB 836 16 the federal government or its agencies, in order to obtain any of the above documents from such state or the federal government.

SB 836 19 PRECINCT WARD OR TOWNSHIP ______ SCS SB 836 17 GENERAL (SPECIAL, PRIMARY) ELECTION Held ______, 20______ Date I hereby certify that I am qualified to vote at this election by signing my name and verifying my address by signing my initials next to my address.

If any voter is unable to sign his name at the appropriate place on the certificate or computer printout, an election judge or election authority shall print the name and address of the voter in the appropriate place on the precinct register, the voter shall make his mark in lieu of SB 836 20 signature, and the voter's mark shall be witnessed by the signature of an election judge or election authority.

This section shall apply to [primary and general elections where candidates for federal or statewide offices are nominated or elected and any election where SCS SB 836 18 statewide issue or issues are submitted to the voters] any public election.

If the voter refuses to go to the correct polling place or a central polling place, the voter shall be permitted to vote a provisional ballot at the incorrect polling place, but such ballot shall not be SB 836 21 counted if the voter was not eligible to vote at that polling place.

SCS SB 836 19 (a) The election judge shall examine the precinct register as provided in section 115.425.

SB 836 22 (4) For a voter requesting an absentee ballot in person, such voter shall be entitled to cast a provisional ballot when the voter's eligibility cannot be immediately SCS SB 836 20 established upon examination of the precinct registers or the Missouri voter registration system.

The provisional ballot envelope specified in this section shall contain a voter's SB 836 23 certificate which shall be in substantially the following form:

SCS SB 836 21 STATE OF ______ COUNTY OF ______ 98 I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that my name is ______;

__________________ (Signature of Voter) __________________ (Current Address) Subscribed and affirmed before me this ______ day of ______, 20______ __________________ (Signature of Election Official) SB 836 24 The voter may provide additional information to further assist the election authority in determining eligibility, including the place and date the voter registered to vote, if known.

SCS SB 836 22 5.

Teams of election authority employees or teams of election judges with each SB 836 25 team consisting of one member of each major political party shall photocopy each provisional ballot envelope, such photocopy to be used by the election authority to determine provisional voter eligibility.

The sealed provisional SCS SB 836 23 ballot envelopes shall be placed by the team in a sealed container and shall remain therein until tabulation.

SB 836 26 (6) If the election authority determines that the provisional voter is not registered or eligible to vote in the election, the election authority shall provide documentation verifying the voter's ineligibility.

Such documentation shall be noted on the copy of the provisional SCS SB 836 24 ballot envelope and shall contain substantially the following information:

If the voter is not registered but is SB 836 27 qualified to register for future elections, the affidavit shall be considered a mail-in application to register to vote pursuant to this chapter.

(1) After the election authority completes its review of the provisional voter's eligibility under SCS SB 836 25 subsection 5 of this section, the election authority shall deliver the provisional ballots and copies of the provisional ballot envelopes that include eligibility information to bipartisan counting teams, which may be the board of verification, for review and tabulation.

SB 836 28 (4) The votes shall be tallied and the returns made as provided in sections 115.447 to 115.525 for paper ballots.

After the vote on all ballots assigned to a team have been counted, the ballots, ballot envelopes, and copies of ballot envelopes with the eligibility information provided by the SCS SB 836 26 election authority shall be enclosed in sealed containers marked "Voted provisional ballots and ballot envelopes from the election held ______, 20______".

The election authority shall notify the county chair of each major political party of the time and location when bipartisan counting teams will be reviewing or counting the provisional ballots, the provisional ballot envelopes, or the copies of the provisional ballot envelopes that SB 836 29 include the eligibility information provided by the election authority.

and SCS SB 836 27 (2) Reflect the number of sealed provisional envelopes with voted ballots deposited in the ballot box.

SB 836 30 14.

In accordance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002, any individual who votes in an election as a result of a court order or any other order extending the time established for closing the polls in section 115.407 may vote only by using a provisional ballot, and such provisional ballot shall be separated and held apart from SCS SB 836 28 other provisional ballots cast by those not affected by the order.

The judges shall count votes marked SB 836 31 substantially in accordance with this section and section 115.456 when the intent of the voter seems clear.

SCS SB 836 29 (4) Write-in votes shall be counted only for candidates for election to office who have filed a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate for election to office with the proper election authority, who shall then notify the proper filing officer of the write-in candidate prior to 5:00 p.m.

The election authority shall furnish a list to the election judges and counting teams prior to election day of all write-in SB 836 32 candidates who have filed such declaration.

[This subdivision shall not apply to elections wherein candidates are being elected to an office for which no candidate has filed.] No person shall file a declaration of intent to be a write-in candidate for election to any municipal office SCS SB 836 30 unless such person is qualified to be certified as a candidate under section 115.306;

Each declaration of candidacy for the office of presidential elector shall be subscribed and sworn to by the candidate before the election official receiving the declaration of intent to be a write- SB 836 33 in, notary public or other officer authorized by law to administer oaths.

115.637.

The following offenses, and any others specifically so described by law, shall be class four election offenses and are deemed misdemeanors not connected with the exercise of the right of suffrage.

Conviction for any of these offenses shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than one year or by a fine of not more than two thousand five hundred dollars or by both such imprisonment and fine:

(1) Stealing or willfully concealing, defacing, mutilating, or destroying any sample ballots that may be furnished by an organization or individual at or near any voting place on election day, except that this subdivision shall not be construed so as to interfere with the right of an individual voter to erase or cause to be erased on a sample ballot the name of any candidate and substituting the name of the person for whom he or she intends to vote;

or to dispose of the received sample ballot;

(2) Printing, circulating, or causing to be printed or circulated, any false and fraudulent sample ballots which appear on their face to be designed as a fraud upon voters;

(3) Purposefully giving a printed or written sample ballot to any qualified voter which is intended to mislead the voter;

(4) On the part of any candidate for election to any office of honor, trust, or profit, offering or promising to discharge the duties of such office for a less sum than the salary, fees, or emoluments as fixed by law or promising to pay back or donate to any public or private interest any portion of such salary, fees, or emolument as an inducement to voters;

SB 836 34 (5) On the part of any canvasser appointed to canvass any registration list, willfully failing to appear, refusing to continue, or abandoning such canvass or willfully neglecting to perform his duties in making such canvass or willfully neglecting any duties lawfully assigned to him or her;

(6) On the part of any employer, making, enforcing, or attempting to enforce any order, rule, or regulation or adopting any other device or method to prevent an employee from engaging in political activities, accepting candidacy for nomination to, election to, or the holding of, political office, holding a position as a member of a political committee, soliciting or receiving funds for political purpose, acting as chairman or participating in a political convention, assuming the conduct of any political campaign, signing, or subscribing his or her name to any initiative, referendum, or recall petition, or any other petition circulated pursuant to law;

(7) On the part of any person authorized or employed to print official ballots, or any person employed in printing ballots, giving, delivering, or knowingly permitting to be taken any ballot to or by any person other than the official under whose direction the ballots are being printed, any ballot in any form other than that prescribed by law, or with unauthorized names, with names misspelled, or with the names of candidates arranged in any way other than that authorized by law;

(8) On the part of any election authority or official charged by law with the duty of distributing the printed ballots, or any person acting on his or her behalf, knowingly distributing or causing to be distributed any ballot in any manner other than that prescribed by law;

SB 836 35 (9) Any person having in his or her possession any official ballot, except in the performance of his or her duty as an election authority or official, or in the act of exercising his or her individual voting privilege;

(10) Willfully mutilating, defacing, or altering any ballot before it is delivered to a voter;

(11) On the part of any election judge, being willfully absent from the polls on election day without good cause or willfully detaining any election material or equipment and not causing it to be produced at the voting place at the opening of the polls or within fifteen minutes thereafter;

(12) On the part of any election authority or official, willfully neglecting, refusing, or omitting to perform any duty required of him or her by law with respect to holding and conducting an election, receiving and counting out the ballots, or making proper returns;

(13) On the part of any election judge, or party watcher or challenger, furnishing any information tending in any way to show the state of the count to any other person prior to the closing of the polls;

(14) On the part of any voter, except as otherwise provided by law, allowing his or her ballot to be seen by any person with the intent of letting it be known how he or she is about to vote or has voted, or knowingly making a false statement as to his or her inability to mark a ballot;

(15) On the part of any election judge, disclosing to any person the name of any candidate for whom a voter has voted;

(16) Interfering, or attempting to interfere, with any voter inside a polling place;

SB 836 36 (17) On the part of any person at any registration site, polling place, counting location or verification location, causing any breach of the peace or engaging in disorderly conduct, violence, or threats of violence whereby such registration, election, count or verification is impeded or interfered with;

(18) Exit polling, surveying, sampling, electioneering, distributing election literature, posting signs or placing vehicles bearing signs with respect to any candidate or question to be voted on at an election on election day inside the building in which a polling place is located or within [twenty-five] fifty feet of the building's outer door closest to the polling place, or, on the part of any person, refusing to remove or permit removal from property owned or controlled by such person, any such election sign or literature located within such distance on such day after request for removal by any person;

(19) Stealing or willfully defacing, mutilating, or destroying any campaign yard sign on private property, except that this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any private property owner to take any action with regard to campaign yard signs on the owner's property and this subdivision shall not be construed to interfere with the right of any candidate, or the candidate's designee, to remove the candidate's campaign yard sign from the owner's private property after the election day.

115.755.

A statewide presidential preference primary shall be held on the first Tuesday in March of each presidential election year.

115.758.

On or before the tenth Tuesday prior to the date of the presidential preference primary election, the SB 836 37 secretary of state shall announce the official list of presidential candidates for each established political party as provided in section 115.761.

115.761.

1.

The official list of presidential candidates for each established political party shall include the names of all constitutionally qualified candidates for whom, on or after 8:00 a.m.

on the fifteenth Tuesday prior to the presidential preference primary election, and on or before 5:00 p.m., on the eleventh Tuesday prior to the presidential preference primary election, a written request to be included on the presidential preference primary ballot is filed with the secretary of state along with:

(1) Receipt of payment to the state committee of the established political party on whose ballot the candidate wishes to appear of a filing fee of five thousand dollars;

or (2) A written statement, sworn to before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, that the candidate is unable to pay the filing fee and does not have funds in a campaign fund or committee to pay the filing fee and a petition signed by not less than five thousand registered Missouri voters, as determined by the secretary of state, that the candidate's name be placed on the ballot of the specified established political party for the presidential preference primary election.

The request to be included on the presidential preference primary ballot shall include each signer's printed name, registered address, and signature and shall be in substantially the following form:

I (We) the undersigned, do hereby request that the name of _____________ be placed upon the March _______ ,____, presidential preference primary ballot as candidate for nomination as the nominee SB 836 38 for President of the United States on the _______ party ticket.

2.

The state or national party organization of an established political party that adopts rules imposing signature requirements to be met before a candidate can be listed as an official candidate shall notify the secretary of state by October first of the year preceding the presidential preference primary election.

3.

Any candidate or such candidate's authorized representative may have such candidate's name stricken from the presidential preference primary ballot by filing with the secretary of state on or before 5:00 p.m.

on the eleventh Tuesday prior to the presidential preference primary election a written statement, sworn to before an officer authorized by law to administer oaths, requesting that such candidate's name not be printed on the official primary ballot.

Thereafter, the secretary of state shall not include the name of that candidate in the official list announced pursuant to section 115.758 or in the certified list of candidates transmitted pursuant to section 115.765.

4.

The filing times set out in this section shall only apply to presidential preference primary elections, and are in lieu of those established in section 115.349.

115.765.

On or before the tenth Tuesday prior to a presidential preference primary election, the secretary of state shall transmit to each election authority a certified list containing the names of all candidates whose names shall appear on the presidential preference primary ballot of each party.

The names of the candidates shall appear in the order in which their request to be included on the presidential preference primary ballot was received in the SB 836 39 office of the secretary of state, except that, in the case of candidates who file a request to be included on the presidential preference primary ballot with the secretary of state prior to 5:00 p.m.

on the first day for filing, the secretary of state shall determine by random drawing the order in which such candidates' names shall appear on the ballot.

The drawing shall be conducted so that each candidate, or candidate's representative, may draw a number at random at the time of filing.

The secretary of state shall record the number drawn with the candidate's request to be included on the presidential preference primary ballot.

The names of candidates filing on the first day for filing on each party ballot shall be listed in ascending order of the numbers so drawn.

115.767.

Each election authority shall cause the name of candidates certified by the secretary of state to appear on the presidential preference primary ballot of each party, followed by a listing for an uncommitted vote.

115.770.

The conduct of the presidential preference primary election and the count and canvass of the votes cast therein shall conform as nearly as is practicable to that prescribed for the conduct of the primary election for state officers.

All primary election laws not inconsistent with the provisions of sections 115.750 to 115.785 shall be applicable to the conduct of this election, and the form of the ballot insofar as is practicable shall be substantially as that prescribed by section 115.395.

In a presidential preference primary election, each voter shall be entitled to receive the ballot of one and only one established political party, designated by the voter before receiving such voter's ballot.

SB 836 40 115.773.

After the count and canvass of the votes cast, the secretary of state shall notify the state chair of each of the established political parties for whom a candidate was listed of the number of votes recorded in that established political party's primary that each candidate and uncommitted listing received.

115.776.

The state party organization which is the state organization recognized by the national organization of that established political party shall, after the primary and before the national convention, conduct a series of caucuses culminating in congressional and state conventions [for the purpose of nominating a candidate for the president of the United States].

Delegates to the national conventions shall be chosen at the congressional district and state conventions pursuant to rules established by the political parties.

115.785.

All costs of a presidential preference primary election shall be paid by the state, except that, pursuant to section 115.065, costs shall be shared proportionately by the state and any political subdivisions and special districts holding an election on the same day as any such primary.

115.904.

The voting procedures in sections 115.900 to 115.936 shall apply to:

(1) A general, special, presidential preference or primary election for federal office;

(2) A general, special, or primary election for statewide or state legislative office or state ballot measure;

or (3) Any election in which absentee voting is conducted pursuant to sections 115.275 to 115.304.