HSB 664

DIVISION II —— ISSUANCE OF BONDS. This division of the bill relates to the issuance of bonds. The bill requires a public measure to approve the issuance of bonds to include on the ballot the current property tax levy, the term of the bond, and the average increase or decrease in the amount of property tax due on an average home in each county voting on the bond, as well as the average of such averages, according to data provided by the United States census bureau. DIVISION III —— SELF-PROMOTION WITH TAXPAYER FUNDS. This division of the bill relates to the prohibition on using taxpayer funds for self-promotion. The bill defines “direct mass mailing” for the purposes of the prohibition as a mailing the purpose of which is to promote a person or idea sent by a statewide elected official that is delivered by a mail service, sent to more than two hundred addresses, is substantially similar as regards each mailing, and all of which mailings are sent at the same time or within days of each other. DIVISION IV —— MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS. This division of the bill relates to various changes to the Code. The bill changes the rate of compensation for presidential electors from $5 per day to one-half of the per diem rate set by the federal general services administration. The bill changes the time at which the senate shall organize as a court of impeachment from forthwith after the hour of final adjournment to as soon as practicable. _____ special session of the general assembly if the general assembly is not in regular session. If the general assembly is in regular session, the bill provides that members shall receive no additional compensation. DIVISION V —— CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS. This division of the bill relates to the conduct of elections. The bill provides that a person who holds an elective office and wins an election for a second office shall automatically vacate the first office if the person does not vacate one of the offices. The bill alters the deadlines for filing a nomination petition, withdrawing a nomination, and filling a ballot vacancy. If a vacancy occurs on a ballot due to the death of a candidate after the date for filling a vacancy until the time the polls close on election day, the election for that office shall not be canvassed and the office shall be filled by a special election. The bill changes the filing deadline for nomination papers of persons seeking to be a nonparty political organization’s candidate for elected office. The bill changes the deadlines for filing nomination papers and objections to the same deadline that is applied to persons seeking to be a political party’s candidate for elected office. The bill makes technical changes to the provisions of law governing the content of notices of elections. The bill alters the number of signatures required for a person to obtain a nomination by petition. The bill moves the voter registration deadline for all elections other than general elections from days before an election to days before an election. The voter registration deadline for general elections is currently days before the election. The bill does not affect election day voter registration. _____ during a period beginning days prior to an election and ending days after an election. The bill changes the circumstances under which and places at which a county commissioner of elections may create a satellite voting location.m. The bill requires that the opening and closing times for polling places be placed on the internet site of the legislative services agency, voter identification cards, and property tax statements. The bill reduces the number of hours an employee must have available away from work during the time polls are open on election day from three hours to two hours. The bill requires the state commissioner of elections to transmit a certified copy of a constitutional amendment or public measure and a sample ballot to each county commissioner of elections days before an election at which a constitutional amendment or public measure is to be submitted to a vote of the entire people of the state. Current law requires such certified copies and sample ballots to be sent days before the election. The bill requires any election other than a presidential election or an election for a nonpartisan office that results in a tie to go to a special election. A tied election for president shall result in the electors being split between the candidates. The bill allows a candidate requesting a recount to request the presence of a county commissioner of elections from another county at the recount. Such a commissioner may report any irregularities observed by the commissioner at any time after the election to the state commissioner of elections. _____ for the contested election was cast. The bill grants local law enforcement agencies and the state patrol the authority to take all reasonable actions to prevent violations of Code chapter (canvass of votes). The bill makes technical changes to the Code section controlling absentee ballot request forms. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections who receives an incomplete absentee ballot request to inform the applicant within hours of receipt of the request by telephone or electronic mail if such information was provided, and by mail if such information was not provided. The bill prohibits a county commissioner of elections from using the voter registration system to obtain additional necessary information. The bill allows a county commissioner of elections to verify the identity of an applicant for an absentee ballot who cannot access the applicant’s voter verification number by asking for at least two of the following from the applicant: date of birth, the last four digits of the applicant’s social security number, residential address, mailing address, and middle name. The bill requires a county commissioner of elections to verify the identity of a person voting absentee in person in the same manner as a poll worker verifying the identity of a person voting at the polls on election day.78. The bill changes the process by which absentee ballots lacking a signature are verified. _____ hours and inform the voter how to remediate the ballot. A ballot received after the applicable deadline is sent to the absentee and special voters precinct board for review. If the absentee and special voters precinct board determines that the affidavit is incomplete, the commissioner shall inform the voter within hours how the ballot may be remediated if the ballot lacks a signature. The bill alters the timeline for contesting a gubernatorial election and the makeup of a contest court for such a challenge. The bill allows certain abbreviations to be used in attribution statements attached to political communications sent by text message. The bill prohibits a person from placing on any published material a name or abbreviation of a name intended to cause a voter to believe that the person represents a political party or nonparty political organization of which the person is not a candidate. A willful violation of the prohibition is a serious misdemeanor. The bill alters the timeline for holding a special election to fill a vacant office and prohibits a person who has ever been removed from office from being appointed to fill a vacancy. The division includes effective date provisions. DIVISION VI —— VOTER REGISTRATION. This division of the bill relates to voter registration. The bill alters the process for removing inactive voter registration records. The bill requires the state registrar of voters to use information from the electronic registration information center to update the statewide voter registration database. The bill changes the deadline for returning a notification that a person no longer lives in a given county to days before an election. The bill requires voter identification cards and acknowledgments of registration to include the times polls will be open. _____ The bill requires each county commissioner of registration to submit a report on voter list maintenance activities annually to the state registrar of voters. The state registrar of voters shall publish such reports on the internet site of the state registrar of voters.