HB 1752-S2 - DIGEST

(DIGEST OF PROPOSED 2ND SUBSTITUTE)

Provides that, no voting device shall be approved by the secretary of state unless, beginning on January 1, 2006, in the case of a poll-site based electronic voting system, it produces a machine-countable paper record for each vote that may be reviewed and accepted or rejected by the voter before finalizing his or her vote, as a part of the voting process. Rejected records must either be destroyed or marked in order to clearly identify the record as rejected.

Declares that a voter's signature on an absentee or provisional ballot is considered a match if at least three of the following criteria are met: (1) The capital letters match;

(2) Letters tail off alike;

(3) Letter spacing is the same;

(4) The space between the signature and the line is the same;

(5) The beginning and ending of the signature and the slant are consistent;

(6) Unique letters in the signature match;

(7) The overall appearances match.

Provides that, in determining whether a signature on an absentee or provisional ballot matches the signature on the registration file, the age of the voter and the date of the signature on the registration file may also be considered.

Provides that if the voter neglects to sign the outside envelope of an absentee or provisional ballot, the auditor shall notify the voter by telephone, and advise the voter of the correct procedures for completing the unsigned affidavit. In order for the ballot to be counted, the voter must either: (1) Appear in person and sign the envelope no later than the day before the certification of the primary or election; or

(2) Sign a copy of the envelope provided by the auditor, and return it to the auditor no later than the day before the certification of the primary or election.

Establishes requirements pertaining to write-in ballots.