HB393 - Election reform.

1 Co-Sponsor

Elections; election reform. Requires Elections; election reform. Requires that the general register of each locality publish on the official website of the locality (i) monthly, a list of all registered voters added to or removed from each precinct in the locality including a reason for each change; (ii) on the first day on which the registration records are closed for any election, a list of all the qualified voters registered to vote in each precinct participating in the election; (iii) after the election, a list of all persons who voted for each precinct participating in the election; and (iv) within seven days of any application for or receipt or use of any money, grants, property, or services given by a private individual, nongovernmental entity, or federal government entity, a notice of such activity. The bill requires a registered voter to provide a reason for being absent or unable to vote at his polling place on election day in order to receive an absentee ballot to vote by mail. Registered voters offering to vote absentee in person are similarly required by the bill to provide a reason. The bill provides that an applicant for an absentee ballot is required to receive an absentee ballot by mail and to vote absentee in person before the second Saturday immediately preceding an election. The bill also repeals the permanent absentee voter list and limits the special annual application to those voters with an illness or disability. Provisions of the Code providing for the establishment of drop-off locations for the return of absentee ballots are repealed. The bill requires that all absentee ballots sent in compliance with applicable state and federal law be received by the close of polls on election day. The bill provides that only members of a uniformed service, as defined in relevant law, persons who are residing temporarily outside of the United States, and spouses or dependents of such members or persons are entitled to register to vote after the close of registration records in person up to and including the day of the election. Under current law, any person who is qualified to register to vote is entitled to register to vote after the close of registration records up to and including the day of the election. The bill also requires presentation of a form of identification containing a photograph in order to vote. The bill repeals the provisions of law permitting a voter who does not have one of the required forms of identification to vote after signing a statement, subject to felony penalties for false statements, that he is the named registered voter he claims to be. Instead, the bill provides that such voter is entitled to cast a provisional ballot. The bill requires the Department of Motor Vehicles to provide voter photo identification cards containing the voter's photograph and signature free of charge to those voters who do not have another valid form of identification. The bill eliminates provisions allowing for the use of ranked choice voting in the Commonwealth. The use of central absentee precincts is also eliminated. All returned absentee ballots are required to be held in their return envelopes until they are distributed on election day to the precinct in which the absentee voter resides for counting.