AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION AND PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT PROCEDURES.

AN ACT CONCERNING ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION AND PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT PROCEDURES.

This bill allows certain people to register to vote on Election Day, the day a regular state or municipal election or primary is held. It establishes Election Day registration procedures.

It eliminates the requirement for registrars of voters to hold a voter registration session a week before each regular election. Under current law, registrars hold this session to admit people whose qualifications for becoming an elector were attained after the previous session.

It also eliminates the use of presidential ballots for state residents and shifts responsibilities for presidential (but not overseas) ballots from town clerks to registrars of voters.

The bill makes changes to the overseas balloting process. By law, members of the U. S. uniformed services and merchant marine, their family members, and U. S. citizens residing outside the country may vote by overseas ballot.

The bill requires the secretary of the state to submit a report on the administration of Election Day registration to the Government Administration and Elections (GAE) Committee by February 1, 2010.

*House Amendment “A” (1) allows people to register and vote on the day of a primary; (2) changes the process for voting on Election Day established by the original bill by eliminating the process of voting by verifiable ballot, allowing electors to cast their own ballots, and providing for the custody, control and counting of Election Day ballots; (3) adds the provisions on voter registration session and Election Day registration report; and (4) makes changes to the overseas balloting process.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2009, except that the provisions on the contents of the presidential ballot application form and the process upon receipt of a ballot application are effective upon passage.

The bill requires applicants to appear in person at a location the registrars of voters designate for completing and processing Election Day registration applications. The location must (1) allow registrars to access the statewide centralized voter registry system; (2) comply with state law on handicapped accessibility; and (3) provide all voters with the same opportunity for access and participation, including privacy and independence.

The bill prohibits certain activities near the location. Specifically, no one can be within 75 feet of the entrance to the polling place or in any hallway or other approach to it in order to solicit support for or opposition to a candidate (himself or another) or a ballot question, loiter, peddle, or offer advertising material or circulars. These same activities are prohibited in or near polling places.

The bill permits the registrars of voters to appoint one or more election officials to serve at the location and delegate to the official(s) any of the responsibilities assigned to the registrars. The registrars must train and supervise the officials.

The bill permits anyone to register and vote in person on Election Day if he or she (1) is not an elector (i. e. , registered voter) and (2) meets the eligibility requirements for voting in this state.

The bill requires Election Day registration applicants to provide the same information as people who apply for registration before this date. This means they must state under penalty of perjury (1) their name, bona fide street address, date of birth, and citizenship; (2) whether they are disenfranchised because of a criminal conviction; and (3) whether they were previously registered to vote in another town in the state. They must present their birth certificate, driver's license, or Social Security card to the admitting official for inspection. The bill requires the applicant to declare under oath that he or she has not previously voted in the election.

If the applicant's ID does not include proof of his or her residential address, he or she must submit a U. S. passport, military ID card, learner's permit, utility bill due within 30 days after the election, or current college registration or fee statement that includes his or her name and current address. The bill allows college students to present their student photo ID in lieu of the identification currently required by law.

The registrars of voters must check the statewide voter registry before admitting an applicant as an elector. If the registrars determine that an applicant is qualified to register as an elector, they must admit him or her and election-related privileges attach immediately. If the registrars determine that the applicant is registered in another town but states a desire to change his or her town of registration, the registrars must immediately notify the registrars in the town of registration of this intention and request that they remove the elector's name from the official registry list. The election officials in the town of registration must cross through the elector's name on the list and mark “off” next to it.

If the registrars learn that the applicant has already voted in the prior municipality, they must deny him or her an Election Day registration ballot, cease the Election Day registration process, and review the matter. If the matter cannot be resolved on review, the registrars must report it to the State Election Enforcement Commission (SEEC) for an investigation.

The registrars of voters must give a voting ballot and security envelope to applicants that they admit as electors and record the issuance. The elector must sign an affirmation that must be printed on the back of the security envelope.

1. is the person admitted as an elector in a specified town;

2. is eligible to vote in the election or primary taking place in the specified town;

3. included correct and complete information on his or her voter registration card;

4. lives at the address given to the registrars of voters;

5. if previously registered, gave the registrars the address in the city of registration and request that the cancellation of the prior registration;

6. has not voted and will not otherwise vote during the election or primary; and

7. has completed an application for and received an Election Day registration ballot.

The penalty for a false statement is up to one year in prison, a $ 2,000 fine, or both.

The newly admitted elector must secretly mark the ballot in the presence of the registrars, place it in the security envelope, and deposit the envelope in a secured Election Day registration ballot depository receptacle.

The procedures related to the custody, control, and counting of absentee ballots apply as nearly as possible to custody, control, and counting of Election Day registration ballots. Among other things, this means the registrars must transport the receptacle for ballot counting to the same area of the polling place or designated central location where absentee ballots are counted at the time designated by the registrars and noticed to election officials. It also means, (1) the election officials present at the location count the ballots; (2) a section of the head moderators must show the number of Election Day registration ballots cast; (3) the registrars must seal a copy of the votes cast in the depository envelope with the ballots and store the envelope with the other election results materials; and (4) the registrars must preserve the envelope for the same period of time required to preserve counted ballots for elections, 180 days after the election.

After accepting an Election Day registration, the registrars of voters must immediately send a confirmation by first-class mail to the residential address of each applicant admitted as an elector on Election Day. The registrars must ask that the confirmation be returned if it is not deliverable at the address shown. If it is returned undelivered, the registrars must take other actions required by law to verify the address; however, they may take the action at any time rather than by May 1^st as currently required. If the address cannot be verified, the registrars place the elector's name on the inactive list and remove it from the list totally after four years unless the elector verifies it.

The secretary of the state must submit a report to the GAE committee by February 1, 2010 that addresses any issues or concerns regarding Election Day registration, including ballot security and privacy, during the November 2009 municipal election. The secretary of the state, in consultation with SEEC, must interview registrars of voters, poll workers, and candidates from towns with small, medium, and large populations to determine the efficacy of Election Day registration. They must include observations and results in the report, including ways to enhance ballot security and privacy on primary day.

Current law allows unregistered Connecticut residents and former state residents who move to another state after its deadline to register to apply for a presidential ballot and vote for candidates for president and vice-president, but no other offices. The bill eliminates the provision allowing Connecticut residents to vote by presidential ballot, leaving the procedures in place only for former state residents. Under the bill, unregistered state residents would instead follow the Election Day registration procedures.

With one exception, the application and voting procedures (which include the requirement to show current identification) remain the same as under current law. The exception is that applications for presidential ballots must be submitted to the registrars of voters, rather than the town clerk, in the town where the applicant is qualified to vote.

The bill also (1) eliminates the requirement for town clerks to mail duplicate copies of presidential ballot applications to the appropriate state or local official in the town where the applicant resides or formally resided, (2) eliminates a requirement for registrars to prepare a list of presidential voters whose names do not appear on the registry list, and (3) specifies when registrars must indicate in the margin of the voter registry list whether a voter is a presidential voter. Under the bill, the registrars must make the indication upon receipt of the presidential ballot.

The bill requires registrars of voters, instead of town clerks, to prepare, keep open to the public, and maintain a list of everyone who applies to vote as presidential or overseas electors. It requires town clerks to provide the registrars with the information regarding overseas electors (see below). By law, the list must (1) contain the voters' name, address, application date, and serial number of the return envelope issued and (2) be maintained for 180 days after each election or primary.

By law, overseas electors may apply for an overseas ballot from their town clerk. These electors must certify that they (1) are qualified to vote for candidates for federal office and (2) will vote for the federal candidates only by overseas ballot. The bill eliminates a requirement for town clerks to keep the certification of overseas electors in their office before delivering them to registrars of voters.

It requires town clerks, instead of registrars of voters, to prepare a list, by voting district, of overseas electors whose names do not appear on the registry list. By law, this list accompanies the checkers list in use at the election.

Yea

Nay

(03/20/2009)

Yea

Nay

(04/20/2009)

Yea

Nay

(05/18/2009)