SB941,1,5 1An Act to renumber and amend 6.275 (2); to amend 5.05 (2m) (e) and 5.05 (4);
2and to create 5.05 (19), 6.275 (1) (ab), 6.275 (1) (db), 6.275 (1) (eb), 6.275 (1) (ec),
36.275 (1) (ed), 6.275 (1) (ee), 6.275 (1) (ef), 6.275 (1) (eg), 6.275 (1) (eh), 6.275 (1)
4(g), 6.275 (1m), 6.275 (2) (b), 6.36 (7) and 16.54 (8s) of the statutes; relating to:
5overseeing the administration of elections.

This bill make a number of changes to current law regarding the oversight of
elections in this state.

The governor is authorized under current law to accept funds from the federal
government and to designate the state agency that will receive the funds. Generally,
a designated state agency must expend the funds consistent with federal
requirements for accepting and spending the funds. Under the bill, before the
governor may disburse federal funds to the Elections Commission, the commission
must submit a plan for use of the funds to the Joint Committee on Finance. If the
committee does not schedule a meeting to review the plan within 14 days of receiving
the plan from the commission, the commission may implement the plan and the
governor may disburse the funds. If the committee schedules a meeting to review
the plan within 14 days of receiving the plan from the commission, the commission
may not implement the plan, and the governor may not disburse the funds, without
the committee's approval.

The bill requires state agencies to submit federal election guidance, and
communications from the federal government or the Department of Justice related
to that guidance, to the senate majority leader, the senate minority leader, the
speaker of the assembly, the assembly minority leader, the chairpersons of the
standing committees with jurisdiction concerning elections, and the cochairpersons
of the Joint Committee for Review of Administrative Rules no later than 48 hours
after receiving the guidance or communication. Under the bill, a state agency make
not take any action to implement federal election guidance without the approval of
JCRAR, except that if JCRAR does not schedule a meeting to review the guidance
within 30 days of receiving the it, the state agency may implement the guidance.

The bill defines “federal election guidance” as any directive or guidance issued
by the federal department of justice or any other executive branch agency of the
federal government pertaining to elections, including the times, places, and manner
for administering elections in this state.

Under current law, no later than 30 days after an election, each municipal clerk
must submit a report to the Elections Commission and to the county clerk of the
county where the municipality is located that provides certain registration and
voting statistics. The report must provide the number of voters who voted in the
election; the number of voters who registered before election day; the number of
voters who registered on election day; the number of voters who voted by absentee
ballot; and, generally, the results of the postelection audit to verify election day
registrations.

Under the bill, the report that the municipal clerk submits to the commission
and the county clerk after each election must also include the following:

1. The total number of registered voters residing in the municipality on the day
of the election

2. The total number of voters who registered to vote beginning on the day of the
immediately preceding election and ending on the day of the most recent election.

3. The total number of voters voting absentee ballots by mail and the total
number of voters voting absentee ballots in person.

4. The total number absentee ballots returned by voters that were not counted
and the reasons for why such ballots were not counted.

5. The total number of voters casting ballots at the polling place.

6. The total number of voters casting provisional ballots and the number of such
ballots they were ultimately not counted.

7. The total number of defective ballots that election officials recreated, with
a separate itemization of such ballots cast by military and oversea electors, damaged
ballots, and ballots recreated for other reasons.

8. The location of each residential care facility and qualified retirement home
to which the municipality dispatched special voting deputies and the total number
of ballots cast by residents of the facilities and homes using special voting deputies.

9. The number of voters whose personally identifiable information on the
official registration list did not match the personally identifiable information

maintained by the Department of Transportation beginning on the day of the
immediately preceding election and ending on the day of the most recent election; a
description of each mismatch; and the number of such voters whose registration
status was changed from eligible to ineligible.

The bill also requires that, no later than 30 days after each election at which
a state or national office is filled, each county clerk submit to the Elections
Commission a report that indicates the number of ballots that the county clerk
ordered for each municipality and distributed to each municipality for the election;
the number of ballots ultimately cast in that election; the number of ballots rejected
and the reasons for rejection; the number of unused ballots; any other action that the
county performed to reconcile the total number of ballots with the number of votes
cast; and an explanation of any discrepancy between the number of ballots ordered
and the number distributed and of any discrepancy between the number of ballots
distributed and the number cast or rejected.

Under the bill, within seven days after receiving a report from a municipal clerk
under current law or from a county clerk under the bill, the Elections Commission
must publish the report on the commission's Internet site in a format that is easily
accessible to the public. In addition, the commission must submit each county clerk's
report to the legislature and the Legislative Audit Bureau within seven days after
receiving the report. Under the bill, LAB reviews the report and, within 30 days after
receiving the report, submits a report to the legislature with its findings and
recommendations, including a description of any discrepancies it found and any
explanation of those discrepancies it received from local election officials.

Current law requires that all employees of the Elections Commission be
nonpartisan. This bill requires that legal counsel for the commission be partisan.
Under the bill, the legislative leadership of one of the two major political parties that
received the largest number of votes for president at the most recent presidential
election appoints one individual to serve as legal counsel and the legislative
leadership of the other such political party appoints one individual to serve as legal
counsel.

Under the bill, on the first day of each month, the Elections Commission must
archive an electronic copy of the official registration list as it appeared for the
previous month and retain that copy for no less than 22 months.