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ACROSS SESSIONS
- Subject Index: Since 1995
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2013 SESSION
Cosgrove (Chairman), Jones, Cox, J.A., Ransone, Brink, Sickles, Cole
Clerk: Marjorie Hrouda
Staff: Jack Austin/David Cotter
Date of Meeting: January 15, 2013
Time and Place: 7:30 a.m./5th Floor West, GAB
Patron: Ware, R.L.
Local election districts and redistricting. Permits any county, city, or town governing body to exclude from the census population used in decennial redistricting the adult inmate populations of federal, state, or regional adult correctional facilities located in the localities. Current law allows the exclusion of such inmate populations only if they exceed 12 percent of the ideal population of a local election district.
Patron: Morrissey
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that qualified voters may vote absentee in person without providing an excuse or reason for not being able to vote in person on election day. The bill retains the present statutory list of specific reasons entitling a voter to cast an absentee ballot for those persons who vote absentee by mail.
Patron: Scott, J.M.
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that qualified voters may vote absentee in person without providing an excuse or reason for not being able to vote in person on election day. The bill retains the present statutory list of specific reasons entitling a voter to cast an absentee ballot for those persons who vote absentee by mail.
Patron: Marshall, D.W.
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that persons age 65 and older on the day of an election for which an absentee ballot is requested are entitled to vote absentee.
Patron: Watts
Voting by assisted living facility residents. Provides that residents of assisted living facilites are permitted to vote absentee. The bill also provides that localities may establish absentee voter precincts at assisted living facilities that will be open prior to an election to allow in-person absentee voting by the residents. The bill further provides that upon the request of an administrator of an assisted living facility in which at least 50 registered voters reside, at least two officers of election will be sent to the facility on election day to assist persons 65 years old or older or physically disabled with voting.
Patron: Villanueva
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that qualified voters may vote absentee in person without providing an excuse or reason for not being able to vote in person on election day. The bill retains the present statutory list of specific reasons entitling a voter to cast an absentee ballot for those persons who vote absentee by mail.
Patron: Plum
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that the parent or legal custodian of a child four years of age or younger and who is caring for such child in the home shall be entitled to vote absentee.
Patron: Rust
Absentee voting; handling of absentee ballot applications by third parties. Requires any person who offers to mail or deliver 25 or more absentee ballot applications to first register with the State Board of Elections, receive training, and include a specified notice and information to applicants. The bill includes requirements for the timely return of applications. Failure to comply with these requirements is a Class 4 misdemeanor; destruction of or failure to mail an application is a Class 1 misdemeanor. Also, any person who knowingly aids or abets, or attempts to aid or abet, a violation of the Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act is guilty of a Class 4 felony.
Patron: Bell, Robert B.
Elections; identification required to vote. Amends the type of identification a voter must present to vote at the polls. All such identification must contain the voter's name, date of birth, and photograph; must be issued by the United States or the Commonwealth; and must contain an expiration date that is unexpired or that expired only after the most recent general election. The bill also requires that the Department of Motor Vehicles shall issue a free special identification card to voters who do not possess and cannot afford the necessary photo identification. The bill has a delayed effective date of July 1, 2014.
Patron: LeMunyon
Officers of election. Provides that electoral boards shall appoint officers of election at a regular board meeting held at least 30 days before the November general election date, rather than during the first week of February as is currently required.
Patron: Brink
Candidate petitions; circulator requirements. Provides that a person who circulates a petition to place a candidate's name on the ballot and witnesses the signatures thereon shall include in his affidavit on the petition his name, age, residence address, and, if different, mailing address and the name of the organization, if any, that he represents in circulating the petition. The bill also eliminates the requirement that the circulator be a resident of the Commonwealth, but provides that a circulator who is not a resident shall be deemed to have submitted to the jurisdiction of the Commonwealth.
Patron: Carr
Candidate petitions; appeal of disqualification for insufficient signatures. Provides standards and procedures for determining whether petition signatures are valid, and an appeal procedure from a determination by the electoral board that the number of valid signatures is insufficient. The process applies in the case of candidates for county, city, and town office who are not party nominees.
Patron: Herring
Absentee voting; declared state of emergency. Provides that in case of an emergency declared by the Governor, or declared by the President of the United States or the governor of another state and confirmed by the Governor, any registered voter whose precinct is affected by the emergency may vote absentee by mail or in person without giving one of the standard authorized reasons for voting absentee.
Patron: Herring
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that qualified voters may vote absentee in person without providing an excuse or reason for not being able to vote in person on election day. The bill retains the present statutory list of specific reasons entitling a voter to cast an absentee ballot for those persons who vote absentee by mail.
Patron: Lopez
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that qualified voters may vote absentee in person without providing an excuse or reason for not being able to vote in person on election day. The bill retains the present statutory list of specific reasons entitling a voter to cast an absentee ballot for those persons who vote absentee by mail.
Patron: Lopez
Elections; absentee voting. Provides that persons age 65 and older on the day of an election for which an absentee ballot is requested are entitled to vote absentee.