Bill > S485

Introduced Session

This bill establishes a procedure, known as early voting, whereby voters will be permitted to vote at specially designated polling places starting on the 15th day before a presidential primary election, a primary election and a general election and ending on the second day before the election. Municipalities holding elections on the second Tuesday in May would be able, by ordinance, to also conduct early voting for those elections. Early voting will enable a registered voter to vote at a designated polling place before the day of certain elections, for eight hours each week day and eight hours in the aggregate for each weekend, using the same machines and procedures used on the day of any election. A registered voter will be permitted to vote after displaying a specified identifying document and signing an early voting voter certificate. If the voter does not display one of these documents, the voter will not be permitted to vote on a voting machine, but instead will be permitted to vote by provisional ballot. Under the bill, each county board is to designate at least one public location for early voting to occur, including, but not limited to, courthouses, libraries and the offices of the county clerk. When ever possible, each location is to be geographically located in the part of the county that features the greatest concentration of population, according to the most recent federal decennial census of the United States. No public school building may serve as an early voting location. The election officers responsible for conducting early voting would be the same as those responsible for conducting a general election. The number of such officers and their hours of service would be as determined by each county board of elections. The compensation for such officers would be as provided for by current law for poll workers serving at a school election. The bill provides that each county board will be responsible for forming and executing a written plan for the security of the voting machines used during the early voting period, based on guidelines established by the Secretary of State and submitted thereto no later than December 15 of each year. For the elections that early voting is available, the procedures concerning the conduct of voters at the polling place and the appointment of challengers, as well as the prohibition on electioneering within 100 feet of a polling place, will be as provided for in current law. Funds to pay for early voting would be provided to each county governing body and each municipal governing body that approves early voting in such amounts as the State Treasurer and the Director of the Division of Budget and Accounting deem necessary to cover any additional costs incurred as a result of this bill. This bill is based on the early voting procedures used by Florida and other states that permit voting on voting machines prior to the day of certain elections.

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Raymond Lesniak (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee (on 01/12/2010)