Bill > S3653

Introduced Session

This bill removes the provision of current law that allows for mail-in ballots to be counted if received within 144-hours after the polls closed and are postmarked by election day. This bill also removes the provision of current law that allows for mail-in ballots to be counted if received by the county board 48-hours after the polls close. This bill increases the penalties for the violation of the ballot messenger and bearer limits and the prohibition against candidates acting as messengers or bearers. Under current law, every mail-in ballot that is postmarked by election day and that is received by the county board of elections within 144 hours after the time of the closing of the polls is considered valid and is required to be canvassed and every mail-in ballot received by the county board of elections within 48-hours after the time of the closing of the polls, whether it bears a postmark or not, is considered valid and is required to be canvassed. This bill removes both of these timeframes. Therefore, mail-in ballots received after the polls close would not be counted. Current law also provides that a person may act as a ballot messenger or a bearer for up to three voters in an election. Messengers deliver blank ballots to eligible voters, and bearers return completed ballots to election officials on behalf of eligible voters. The law prohibits candidates from serving as messengers or bearers. Under current law, a person who violates these provisions is guilty of a crime of the third degree and, upon conviction, is subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement, unless and until pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage. This bill provides that any person who knowingly violates the law by serving as an authorized messenger or as a bearer for more than three qualified voters in an election, and any candidate serving as a messenger or bearer in the election for which the voter requests a mail-in ballot, is guilty of a crime of the second degree and, upon conviction, is subject, in addition to such other penalties as are authorized by law, to disenfranchisement, unless and until pardoned or restored by law to the right of suffrage.

Committee Categories

Parker Space (R)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee (on 09/26/2024)

Official Document