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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/16/2005 Supplement Clerk's Office Staff Report Staff Report 2005 Election laws Update Provided by: The Marana Town Clerk on behalf of The League of Arizona Cities and Towns July 15, 2005 TO: CityfT own Clerks, Attorneys and County Elections Directors FROM: Eddie Geiger, Legislative Associate SUBJECT: 2005 Election Laws Update Memo Here it is again, our annual election laws update memorandum. This memo is included to give a quick glance at the election law changes that effect municipal elections made during the past legislative session. As of this update, the Prop 200 requirements for showing identification at the polls have been agreed to by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General. However, because these standards and procedures must still be approved by the Department of Justice, the earliest possible time that they could be implemented are the November 2005 elections. We will be in contact when additional information is available. Also, if your city or town has a population of 20,000 or more and owns and uses its own voting systems, there will be new compliance and equivalency standards established by the Secretary of State that go into effect January 1,2006 when you buy new or upgrade your existing equipment. Please see Laws 2004, Chapter 290 for more details and specific time frames. Below are this year's changes noted by chapter number and statutory cite. Laws passed by the 47th Legislature, First Regular Session, that relate to municipal elections do the following: o Allows cities and towns to enroll elections employees in the election certification program conducted by the Secretary of State (50S) and to pay the SOS for the costs of the program. Chapter 144. A.R.S. ~16-407. o Allows the 50S to revoke the certification of voting systems or prohibit the purchase, lease or use of a voting system for up to five years if a person or firm installs or uses a voting system or uses hardware or software that is not certified for use or approved for experimental use. Chapter 144. A.R.S. ~16-442. ,.'-- o Allows the SOS to approve on an emergency basis the use of a voting system if the governing body establishes that the election cannot be conducted without the emergency certification and limits the certification to no more than six months. Chapter 144. A.R.S. ~16-442. o Requires that an electronic voting system provide a paper document or ballot that visually indicates the voter's selections. Chapter 144. A.R.S. ~16-446. o Allows the SOS to set the time frame by which the automatic tabulating equipment and programs must be tested. It is currently set at within seven days of election day. Chapter 144. A.R.S. ~16-449. o Makes it a Class 5 felony for anyone who knowingly modifies the software, hardware or source code used for voting equipment without receiving approval or certification. Chapter 144. A.R.S. ~16-1004. o Allows a ballot proposition political committee to file an amended statement of organization adding the official serial number within five days of receiving the official serial number and clarifies that the filing officer can prescribe the form of the $500 Threshold Exemption Statement. Chapter 98. A.R.S. ~16-902.01. o Stipulates for documents filed by a commercial delivery service that provide a standardized delivery confirmation that the date of receipt is also the date of filing and for a service that provides electronic tracking that the date of confirmation is also the date of filing regarding the statement of contributions and expenditures document. Chapter 98. A.R.S. ~16-916. o States that a voter who moves from one county to another within 29 days of an election is considered registered in the county from which they moved until the day after the election. Chapter 98. A.R.S. ~16-125. o Requires candidate petition signers to be registered to vote in the electoral district in which the candidate is running. Chapter 98. A.R.S. ~16-321. o Prohibits a candidate from running in the general election as a write-in if they failed to provide enough valid signatures on the nomination other than by primary petition. Chapter 98. A.R.S. ~16-312. o Allows a local or state elected official, other than the Governor, who receives orders for active military duty for longer than three months but less than the remainder of the officer's term, to temporarily vacate the office. Allows a temporary replacement to be appointed in the same manner as a permanent replacement and specifies that the temporary appointee shall serve until the elected officer's return from active military duty or until the expiration of the officer's term of office, whichever occurs first. Chapter 189. A.R.S. ~38-300. o Removes the 90-day mailing requirement for early ballot requests of an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter and requires the early ballot to be sent by mail, fax or other approved electronic format within 24 hours after the early ballots are delivered. Chapter 271. A.R.S. 916-542. o Allows the officer in charge of elections to send early ballot request forms to eligible absent voters and overseas voters by any approved electronic format or by fax. Chapter 271. A.R.S. 916-543. o Allows a person who was an overseas voter immediately before being domiciled in Arizona or a person who was discharged from military service and moved to Arizona within 90 days of an election to register to vote until 5 p.m. on the Friday before an election. Chapter 271. A.R.S. 916-103. o Allows a United States citizen who has never lived in the United States, but whose parents are qualified electors in Arizona, to register and to vote in Arizona by a Federal write-in early ballot. Chapter 271. A.R.S.916-103. o Effective November 1, 2005, requires the ballot for any proposed general obligation bond where payment is by property tax to contain the phrase "The issuance of these bonds will result in an annual levy of property taxes sufficient to pay the debt on the bonds." Allows the governing body to use an alternative notification on the ballot if the bonds are to be paid by sources other than property taxes that states "The issuance of these bonds will result in an annual levy of property taxes sufficient to pay the debt on the bonds, unless the governing body provides for payment from other sources." Chapter 164. A.R.S. 935-454. All measures included in this memo take effect August 12, 2005, except where noted. If you have any questions, please give us a call.