SB631: Bill Text

SB631,12 Section 12 . 6.875 (8) of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,10,15 6.875 (8) (a) 1. For an election held during a public health emergency or an incident of infectious disease that results in restricting access to a qualified retirement home or residential care facility, the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners of each municipality in which one or more qualified retirement homes or residential care facilities are located may appoint any individual who is employed or retained at a qualified retirement home or residential care facility in the municipality to serve as a personal care voting assistant.

SB631,10,22 2. Personal care voting assistants appointed under subd. 1. shall comply with the duties for special voting deputies and complete a 2-hour online training, as prescribed by the commission under s. 7.315 (1) (a). A personal care voting assistant appointed under subd. 1. need not be a qualified elector of the county where the municipality is located but shall be a qualified elector in this state. No personal care voting assistant appointed under subd. 1. may assist with or facilitate the registration of any resident of a qualified retirement home or residential care facility.

SB631,11,10 3. Prior to entering upon his or her duties, each individual appointed to serve as a personal care voting assistant under subd. 1. shall file the oath required by s. 7.30 (5). In the oath, the individual shall swear that he or she is qualified to act as a personal care voting assistant under this subsection, that he or she has read the statutes governing absentee voting, that he or she understands the proper absentee voting procedure, that he or she understands the penalties under s. 12.13 for noncompliance with the procedure, and that his or her sacred obligation will be to fully and fairly implement the absentee voting law and seek to have the intent of the electors ascertained. In addition, the oath shall state that the individual realizes that any error in conducting the voting procedure may result in invalidation of an elector's vote under s. 7.51 (2) (e) and that the individual realizes that absentee voting is a privilege and not a constitutional right. The form of the oath shall be prescribed by the commission.

SB631,11,16 4. The municipal clerk or board of election commissioners shall appoint at least 2 individuals employed or retained by the qualified retirement home or residential care facility to serve as personal care voting assistants under subd. 1. The 2 personal care voting assistants for each qualified retirement home or residential care facility shall be affiliated with different political parties whenever personal care voting assistants representing different parties are available.

SB631,11,22 (b) A personal care voting assistant appointed under par. (a) 1. shall complete documentation, on a form prescribed by the commission, that provides the assistant's name, the name of each elector in the qualified retirement home or residential care facility for whom the personal care voting assistant provides assistance, and the type of assistance provided to the elector. The personal care voting assistant shall also include the information contained on the form on the return envelope.

SB631,12,7 (c) The form prescribed under par. (b) shall be a document separate from the absentee ballot certificate and shall be delivered by the administrator of the qualified retirement home or residential care facility to the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners. Absentee ballots completed with the assistance of personal care voting assistants shall be mailed to the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners, except that the municipal clerk or board of election commissioners may make arrangements with the administrator of the qualified retirement home or residential care facility to have an election official, other than a personal care voting assistant, collect the ballots at the qualified retirement home or residential care facility and return them to the clerk or board.

SB631,13 Section 13 . 7.03 (1) (d) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB631,12,13 7.03 (1) (d) Except as otherwise provided in par. (a), special voting deputies appointed under s. 6.875 (4), personal care voting assistants appointed under s. 6.875 (8), and other officials and trainees who attend training sessions under s. 6.875 (8) (a) 2., 7.15 (1) (e), or 7.25 (5) may also be compensated by the municipality where they serve at the option of the municipality.

SB631,14 Section 14 . 7.30 (3) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB631,12,21 7.30 (3) (a) Not less than 30 days before any election the governing body or board of election commissioners of any municipality, by resolution, may authorize the municipal clerk or executive director of the board of election commissioners to select and employ tabulators for any election. Such authorization applies to the elections specified in the resolution, and if not specified, applies until the authorization is modified or revoked. Each tabulator shall sign the official oath and return it to the municipal clerk before the election.

SB631,15 Section 15 . 7.30 (7) of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,12,23 7.30 (7) Prohibited employment. (a) In this subsection:

SB631,12,24 1. “Committee" has the meaning given in s. 11.0101 (6).

SB631,13,2 2. “Issue advocacy” means communication that provides information about political or social issues and is made to influence the outcome of an election.

SB631,13,4 3. “Issue advocacy group” means any organization whose sole or primary purpose is to engage in issue advocacy.

SB631,13,6 (b) No person who is an employee of any of the following may be appointed as an election official:

SB631,13,7 1. A committee.

SB631,13,9 2. A political organization required to register with the federal election commission.

SB631,13,10 3. An issue advocacy group.

SB631,16 Section 16 . 7.315 (1) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB631,13,15 7.315 (1) (a) The commission shall, by rule, prescribe the contents of the training that municipal clerks must provide to inspectors, other than chief inspectors, and to special voting deputies appointed under s. 6.875 (4), and to personal care voting assistants appointed under s. 6.875 (8).

SB631,17 Section 17 . 7.51 (1) of the statutes is renumbered 7.51 (1) (a) and amended to read:

SB631,14,9 7.51 (1) (a) Immediately after the polls close the inspectors except any inspector appointed under s. 7.30 (1) (b) shall proceed to canvass publicly all votes received at the polling place. In any municipality where an electronic voting system is used, the municipal governing body or board of election commissioners may provide or authorize the municipal clerk or executive director of the board of election commissioners to provide for the adjournment of the canvass to one or more central counting locations for specified polling places in the manner prescribed in subch. III of ch. 5. No central counting location may be used to count votes at a polling place where an electronic voting system is not employed. The Except as provided in par. (b), the canvass, whether conducted at the polling place or at a central counting location, shall continue without adjournment until the canvass of all ballots cast and received on or before election day is completed and the return statement is made or, in municipalities where absentee ballots are canvassed under s. 7.52, until the canvass of all absentee ballots cast and received on or before election day is completed and the return statement for those ballots is made. The inspectors shall not permit access to the name of any elector who has obtained a confidential listing under s. 6.47 (2) during the canvass, except as authorized in s. 6.47 (8).

SB631,18 Section 18 . 7.51 (1) (b) of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,14,16 7.51 (1) (b) The municipal board of canvassers may recess the canvass under par. (a) as the result of a natural disaster, if an inspector is ill or otherwise incapacitated, or if the physical condition of the canvass location is unsuitable for continuing the canvass. The board shall reconvene as soon as possible to complete the canvass of all ballots cast and received on or before election day and make the return statement.

SB631,19 Section 19 . 7.53 (2) (cm) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB631,15,2 7.53 (2) (cm) If one or more temporary vacancies on the municipal board of canvassers reduces the number of members to less than 3, the municipal clerk shall appoint a member to fill each vacancy, except in cities of more than 500,000 population. In cities of more than 500,000 population, the executive director of the board of election commissioners shall serve as a member of the board of canvassers to fill a temporary vacancy on that board. If the municipal board of canvassers recesses as provided under s. 7.51 (1) (b) because an inspector is ill or otherwise incapacitated, the municipal clerk or the executive director of the board of election commissioners shall immediately appoint an individual to temporarily serve as a member of the municipal board of canvassers.

SB631,20 Section 20 . 12.13 (2) (b) 9. of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,15,6 12.13 (2) (b) 9. Intentionally assist or cause the casting or counting of a vote or the receipt of a registration that is invalid for any reason in addition to those specified in subd. 3.

SB631,21 Section 21 . 12.13 (2) (b) 10. of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,15,9 12.13 (2) (b) 10. Intentionally assist or cause the rejection of or failure to otherwise count a valid vote or the rejection of a valid registration.

SB631,22 Section 22 . 12.13 (2) (b) 11. of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,15,13 12.13 (2) (b) 11. Intentionally fail to promptly report a violation under this subsection to the commission and to the district attorney for the county in which the violation occurred.

SB631,23 Section 23 . 12.13 (3) (zp) of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,15,18 12.13 (3) (zp) Assist in counting or tabulating votes at an election unless the person is a resident of this state, is an election official who is trained to the extent provided by law, and has signed the official oath and returned it to the municipal clerk with respect to that election.

SB631,24 Section 24 . 12.13 (3m) of the statutes is created to read:

SB631,15,25 12.13 (3m) Absentee voting in certain residential care facilities and retirement homes. (a) No employee of a qualified retirement home, as defined in s. 6.875 (1) (at), or residential care facility, as defined in s. 6.875 (1) (bm), may coerce an occupant of the qualified retirement home or residential care facility to apply for or not apply for an absentee ballot or to cast or refrain from casting a ballot or coerce an occupant to cast a ballot for or against a particular candidate or ballot question.

SB631,16,4 (b) No employee of a qualified retirement home, as defined in s. 6.875 (1) (at), or residential care facility, as defined in s. 6.875 (1) (bm), may coerce an occupant of the qualified retirement home or residential care facility to register or not to register to vote.

SB631,25 Section 25 . 12.60 (1) (a) of the statutes is amended to read:

SB631,16,8 12.60 (1) (a) Whoever violates s. 12.09, 12.11 , or 12.13 (1), (2) (b) 1. to 7. or, 9., 10., or 11., (3) (a), (e), (f), (j), (k), (L), (m), (y) or, (z), or (zp), or (3m) is guilty of a Class I felony.

SB631,16,9 (End)