Act No. 197
Public Acts of 2022
Approved by the Governor
October 7, 2022
Filed with the Secretary of State
October 7, 2022
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 7, 2022
state of michigan
101st Legislature
Regular session of 2022
Introduced by Senators Johnson, Bumstead, LaSata, Horn, Stamas, Zorn, Victory, Barrett, Daley, Outman, VanderWall and Schmidt
ENROLLED SENATE BILL No. 311
AN ACT to amend 1954 PA 116, entitled An act to reorganize, consolidate, and add to the election laws; to provide for election officials and prescribe their powers and duties; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments, state agencies, and state and local officials and employees; to provide for the nomination and election of candidates for public office; to provide for the resignation, removal, and recall of certain public officers; to provide for the filling of vacancies in public office; to provide for and regulate primaries and elections; to provide for the purity of elections; to guard against the abuse of the elective franchise; to define violations of this act; to provide appropriations; to prescribe penalties and provide remedies; and to repeal certain acts and all other acts inconsistent with this act, by amending section 759a (MCL 168.759a), as amended by 2012 PA 523.
The People of the State of Michigan enact:
(2) Upon the request of an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, the clerk of a county, city, or townshipshall electronically transmit a blank voter registration application or blank absent voter ballot application to the voter. The clerk of a county, city, or townshipshall accept a completed voter registration application or completed absent voter ballot application electronically transmitted by an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter. A voter registration application or absent voter ballot application submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter must contain the signature of the voter.
(3) A spouse or dependent of an overseas voter who is a citizen of the United States, is accompanying that overseas voter, and is not a qualified and registered elector anywhere else in the United States, may apply for an absent voter ballot even though the spouse or dependent is not a qualified elector of a city or township of this state.
(4) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, whether or not registered to vote, may apply for an absent voter ballot. Upon receipt of an application for an absent voter ballot under this section that complies with this act, a county, city, or township clerk shall forward to the applicant the absent voter ballots requested, the forms necessary for registration, and instructions for completing the forms. If the ballots are not yet available at the time of receipt of the application, the clerk shall immediately forward to the applicant the registration forms and instructions, and forward the ballots as soon as they are available. If a federal postcard application or an application from the official United States Department of Defense website is filed, the clerk shall accept the federal postcard application or the application from the official United States Department of Defense website as the registration application and shall not send any additional registration forms to the applicant. If the ballots and registration forms are received before the close of the polls on election day and if the registration complies with the requirements of this act, the absent voter ballots must be delivered to the proper election board to be tabulated. If the registration does not comply with the requirements of this act, the clerk shall retain the absent voter ballots until the expiration of the time that the voted ballots must be kept and shall then destroy the ballots without opening the envelope. The clerk may retain registration forms completed under this section in a separate file. The address in this state shown on a registration form is the residence of the registrant.
(5) Not later than 45 days before an election, a county, city, or townshipclerk shall electronically transmit or mail as appropriate an absent voter ballot to each absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter who applied for an absent voter ballot 45 days or more before the election.
(6) Upon the request of an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter, the clerk of a county, city, or townshipshall electronically transmit an absent voter ballot to the voter. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, the voter shall print the absent voter ballot and return the voted ballot by mail to the appropriate clerk. Subject to subsection (17), beginning January 1, 2024, a member of a uniformed service on active duty, by reason of being on active duty, or a member of the merchant marine, by reason of service in the merchant marine, who is absent from the United States and does not expect to return to the residence where the member is otherwise qualified to vote before an election may electronically return a voted ballot to the appropriate city or township clerk to be counted under the rules promulgated by the secretary of state as set forth in subsection (17).
(7) The secretary of state shall prescribe electronic absent voter ballot formats and electronic absent voter ballot transmission methods. Each county, city, or townshipclerk shall employ the prescribed electronic ballot formats to fulfill an absent voter ballot request received from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter who wishes to receive an absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission. The secretary of state shall establish procedures to implement the requirements in this section and for the processing of a marked absent voter ballot returned by an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter who obtained an absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission.
(8) The secretary of state shall modify the printed statement provided under section 761(4) and the absent voter ballot instructions provided under section 764a as appropriate to accommodate the procedures developed for electronically transmitting an absent voter ballot to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter. A statement must be included in the certificate signed by the absent voter who obtained an absent voter ballot through an electronic transmission that the secrecy of the absent voter ballot may be compromised during the duplication process. The absent voter ballot instructions provided to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter must include the proper procedures for returning the absent voter ballot to the appropriate clerk.
(9) The size of a precinct must not be determined by registration forms completed under this section.
(10) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter who submits an absent voter ballot application is eligible to vote as an absent voter in any local, state, or federal election occurring in the calendar year in which the election is held for that ballot requested if the absent voter ballot application is received by the county, city, or township clerk not later than 2 p.m. of the Saturday before the election. A village clerk receiving an absent voter ballot application from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter shall transmit to the township clerk and the school district election coordinators, where applicable, the necessary information to enable the city or township clerk and school district election coordinators to forward an absent voter ballot for each applicable election in that calendar year to the absent voter. If the local elections official rejects a voter registration application or absent voter ballot application submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter, the election official shall notify the voter of the rejection.
(11) An email address provided by an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter for the purposes of this section is confidential and exempt from disclosure under the freedom of information act, 1976 PA 442, MCL 15.231 to 15.246.
(12) Under the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act, the state director of elections shall approve a ballot form and registration procedures for absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters.
(13) An absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter may use the federal write-in absentee ballot, in accordance with the provisions of the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act, at a regular election or special election to vote for a local, state, or federal office or on a ballot question. Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter who uses the federal write-in absentee ballot shall return the voters voted federal write-in absentee ballot by mail to the appropriate clerk. Subject to subsection (17), beginning January 1, 2024, a member of a uniformed service on active duty, by reason of being on active duty, or a member of the merchant marine, by reason of service in the merchant marine, who is absent from the United States and does not expect to return to the residence where the member is otherwise qualified to vote before an election may electronically return a voted ballot to the appropriate city or township clerk to be counted under the rules promulgated by the secretary of state as set forth in subsection (17). The state bureau of elections shall do both of the following:
(a) Make the ballot format for each election available to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters by email or on an internet website maintained by the department of state.
(b) Make the ballot information, including the offices, names of candidates, and ballot proposals, for each election available to absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters on an internet website maintained by the department of state.
(14) The clerk of a cityor township shall submit to the county clerk of the county in which that cityor township is located a written statement no later than 45 days before each election indicating whether absent voter ballots were issued to absent uniformed services voters or overseas voters in compliance with this section and the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act. The cityor township clerk shall provide to the county clerk a written explanation describing remedial actions taken by the cityor township clerk if the cityor township clerk fails to comply with this section and the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act. Not later than 42 days before each election, each county clerk shall submit to the state bureau of elections a written report compiled from the written statements submitted by the cityand township clerks. The written report must identify the citiesand townships that complied with the 45-day deadline under this subsection, the citiesand townships that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this subsection, but provided a written explanation, and those citiesand townships that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this subsection and that did not provide a written explanation. The state bureau of elections may require the clerk of a cityor township that did not comply with the 45-day deadline under this subsection, but provided a written explanation, to provide additional information. The state bureau of elections shall require the clerk of a cityor township that did not comply with the 45-day deadline and that did not provide a written explanation to file a written explanation, describing the remedial actions taken by the cityor township clerk, within 1 business day after the state bureau of elections notifies the clerk of that cityor township.
(15) For a presidential primary election, the secretary of state shall prescribe procedures for contacting an elector who is an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter, as described in this section, and who is eligible to receive an absent voter ballot or who applies for an absent voter ballot for the presidential primary election, offering the elector the opportunity to select a political party ballot for the presidential primary election.
(16) The secretary of state shall order a cityor township clerk to extend the ballot receipt deadline for any absentee voter ballots under this section that were not transmitted to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter in compliance with subsection (5). The extension must equal the total number of days beyond the deadline as provided in subsection (5) that the cityor township clerk transmitted the requested absentee voter ballots. These absentee voter ballots received during the extension time must be counted and tabulated for the final results of the election provided that the absentee voter ballots are executed and sent by the close of the polls on election day. The election may be formally certified before the end of the extension time if the number of outstanding absentee voter ballots under this subsection will not alter the outcome of the election.
(17) The secretary of state shall promulgate rules that establish policies and procedures for the electronic return of voted ballots by eligible members. In promulgating rules that establish the policies and procedures for the electronic return of voted ballots by eligible members, the secretary of state shall require an eligible member to use a United States Department of Defense verified electronic signature, as that term is defined in section 18a, so that the identity of the eligible member can be verified utilizing those policies and procedures. A member who is unable or unwilling to provide a United States Department of Defense verified electronic signature is not eligible to electronically return a voted ballot. The secretary of state shall take reasonable steps to ensure the integrity and secrecy of voted ballots returned electronically. The secretary of state may develop and maintain a secure web portal on the secretary of states website to facilitate the electronic return of voted ballots by eligible members. Only the secretary of state or the secretary of states duly authorized agent, a city or township clerk, the clerks deputy clerk, or a sworn member of the clerks staff is authorized to access the secure web portal on the secretary of states website. No later than January 1, 2024, the secretary of state shall promulgate rules pursuant to the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306, MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to implement this subsection, and the secretary of state must allow for the electronic return of voted ballots by eligible members starting no later than the 2024 statewide presidential primary election. As used in this subsection, eligible member means a member of a uniformed service on active duty or a member of the merchant marine, as described in subsection (6) or (13).
(18) As used in this section:
(a) Absent uniformed services voter means any of the following:
(i)
A member of a uniformed service on active duty who, by reason of being on
active duty, is absent from the place of residence where the member is
otherwise qualified to vote.
(ii) A member of the merchant marine who, by reason of service in the merchant marine, is absent from the place of residence where the member is otherwise qualified to vote.
(iii) A spouse or dependent of a member referred to in subparagraph (i) or (ii) who, by reason of the active duty or service of the member, is absent from the place of residence where the spouse or dependent is otherwise qualified to vote.
(b) Member of the merchant marine means an individual, other than a member of a uniformed service or an individual employed, enrolled, or maintained on the Great Lakes or the inland waterways, who is either of the following:
(i) Employed as an officer or crew member of a vessel documented under the laws of the United States, a vessel owned by the United States, or a vessel of foreign-flag registry under charter to or control of the United States.
(ii) Enrolled with the United States for employment or training for employment, or maintained by the United States for emergency relief service, as an officer or crew member of a vessel documented under the laws of the United States, a vessel owned by the United States, or a vessel of foreign-flag registry under charter to or control of the United States.
(c) Overseas voter means any of the following:
(i) An absent uniformed services voter who, by reason of active duty or service, is absent from the United States on the date of an election.
(ii) An individual who resides outside of the United States and is qualified to vote in the last place in which the individual was domiciled before leaving the United States.
(iii) An individual who resides outside of the United States and who, but for such residence outside of the United States, would be qualified to vote in the last place in which the individual was domiciled before leaving the United States.
(d) Uniformed services means the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, or Coast Guard, the Commissioned Corps of the Public Health Service, the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, a reserve component of a uniformed service, or the Michigan National Guard as that term is defined in section 105 of the Michigan military act, 1967 PA 150, MCL 32.505.
Enacting section 1. This amendatory act does not take effect unless Senate Bill No. 8 of the 101st Legislature is enacted into law.
This act
is ordered to take immediate effect.
Secretary of the Senate
Clerk of the House of Representatives
Approved___________________________________________
____________________________________________________
Governor