There have been a couple posts with questions regarding legislation. Over the course of the summer I will address them, generally as they are either signed or vetoed by the Governor. I’m going to begin with three pieces of legislation that recently became law and with which I had some input.

The first was HB 1315. This bill has been signed by the Governor and removes the requirement that voters with a disability who need assistance in voting state whether their disability is permanent. As you can imagine, for many disabled voters this was offensive. For many of our election judges it was uncomfortable. There was no good reason for it to be in the statute. I had been asked about this by members of PACE (Persons Assuming Control of Their Environment) in the past, and had suggested to the legislative committee of the County Clerk’s Association that this requirement be removed. Finally, this year, we were able to move it through the process. It’s a relatively minor piece of legislation but it removes one more insensitive clause in our state statutes.

Another bill which I worked on was HB 23. A provision in this bill allows registered sex offenders to vote at a school on election day. Federal court cases are pretty clear in requiring that any eligible individual be afforded the right to cast a ballot. I spoke with legislators regarding the possibility of allowing registered sex offenders to vote absentee if their polling place is in a school. This was in response to an actual situation we had last November. While my suggestion did not pass, the provision that is included in HB23 will serve the same purpose and ensure that all eligible voters can cast a ballot.

A third piece of legislation, HB 203, passed and was signed by the Governor which expands the times when a person can get a special absentee ballot prior to the election. Currently, if a person is admitted to the hospital in the few days prior to the election, they can have an absentee ballot brought to them. This bill expands that to include admissions to nursing homes and rehabilitation centers. Some county clerks, including me, were hoping to have the bill amended to allow those who have been admitted prior to the fifth day before the election but who remain after the fifth day to have this special absentee ballot. That flaw in the statute will hopefully be addressed in the future.

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