March 16, 2021 - Introduced by Senators Stafsholt, Stroebel, Darling and Feyen,
cosponsored by Representatives Tauchen, Gundrum and Loudenbeck.
Referred to Committee on Elections, Election Process Reform and Ethics.

SB214,1,6 1An Act to repeal 8.20 (8) (am); to amend 5.25 (2), 5.84 (1), 7.15 (1) (cm), 7.52
2(1) (a), 7.52 (2), 7.52 (3) (a), 7.52 (4) (a) and 8.20 (8) (a); and to create 6.19, 7.52
3(1) (d) to (g) and 7.52 (10) of the statutes; relating to: early canvassing of
4absentee ballots, issuance of presidential ballots, combined polling places,
5timeline for sending or transmitting absentee ballots, nomination papers for
6certain independent candidates, and providing a penalty.

Under current law, absentee ballots may not be canvassed until election day.
Also under current law, any municipality may provide by ordinance that, in lieu of
canvassing absentee ballots at polling places, a municipal board of absentee ballot
canvassers established by the municipality is responsible for canvassing all absentee
ballots received by the municipal clerk by 8 p.m. on election day. In such a
municipality, the board of absentee ballot canvassers is required to convene a
meeting any time after the polls open and before 10 p.m. on election day to canvass
the absentee ballots cast in the municipality in the election. Among the
requirements governing such a meeting, any member of the public has the same right
of access to the meeting that the individual would have to observe the canvassing of
absentee ballots at a polling place.

This bill authorizes the municipal board of absentee ballot canvassers in such
a municipality to begin canvassing absentee ballots on the day before an election,
subject to the following requirements:

1. The board must convene its meeting no earlier than 7 a.m. on the day before
the election nor later than 10 p.m. on election day. The meeting must continue until
all absentee ballots have been counted, except that, if the meeting convenes on the
day before the election, the meeting must adjourn no later than 10 p.m. that day and
must reconvene no earlier than 7 a.m. on election day.

2. At least daily while ballots are being canvassed, the municipal clerk or his
or her designee must post, at his or her office and on the Internet at a site announced
by the clerk before canvassing begins, and must make available to any person upon
request, a statement that shows the number of absentee ballots that the board has
canvassed and the number of absentee ballots remaining to be canvassed.

3. If the meeting of the board of absentee ballot canvassers convenes and then
adjourns on the day before the election, the board is required to secure the automatic
tabulating equipment, and the areas where the programmed media, memory
devices, and absentee ballots are housed, with tamper-evident security seals in a
double-lock location such as a locked cabinet inside a locked office. Before resuming
the canvassing of absentee ballots on election day, the board must check and record
the status of each tamper-evident seal and must immediately notify the Elections
Commission of any evidence of tampering. If the board discovers evidence of
tampering with respect to automatic tabulating equipment, the canvass may not
resume until after the equipment is replaced and tested in the manner provided by
law. Also, if the board discovers evidence of tampering, after the election, the
municipality is required conduct a recount in the manner provided by law and must
audit the election equipment to verify the accuracy of the absentee ballot count.

4. Absentee ballots canvassed under the bill may not be tallied until after the
canvass is complete or after the polls close on election day, whichever is later.

5. No person may act in a manner that would give him or her the ability to know
or to provide information on the accumulating or final results from the ballots
canvassed under the bill before the canvass is complete or before the polls close on
election day, whichever is later. Whoever intentionally violates that prohibition is
guilty of a Class I felony, the penalty for which is a fine not to exceed $10,000 or
imprisonment not to exceed three years and six months, or both.