SB 1 Highlights to Secure and Protect Elections
Drive-through voting
SB 1 prohibits voting from a motor vehicle, except as already provided for curbside voting under current law.Drop-boxes
Ballots that are returned by hand rather than by mail must be received in-person by an election official, not placed in a drop-box. This prevents tampering or theft from boxes and allows for clear record-keeping by the receiving official to make sure ballots are received and counted properly.
Felon admonishment
SB 1 mandates a warning to felons upon their conviction to make them aware that they cannot vote until the full sentence is served. This will help prevent felons from mistakes or misunderstandings that might lead them to commit an additional crime by voting while out on parole or probation.
Vote harvesting
The bill makes vote harvesting a crime. Vote harvesting is defined as an in-person interaction with a voter in the physical presence of a ballot that is intended to deliver votes for a specific candidate or measure. The bill also creates a civil penalty for several types of election fraud, including vote harvesting.
Solicitation or mass mailing of application to vote by mail
SB 1 prohibits an early voting clerk from 1) soliciting an application for ballot by mail, and 2) sending out applications that have not been requested.
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Other Noteworthy Changes
Voter Registration
Prevents anyone form pre-filling portions of a voter registration card that relate to eligibility to vote, including citizenship status, residency, and whether the voter is a felon.
Requires registrars to coordinate and update voter rolls between counties when a voter moves within the state.
Requires the registrar to notify the SOS if someone who is ineligible to vote registers to vote. Current law only requires the registrar to notify the local DA if someone ineligible registers to vote and votes.
Requires SOS and DPS to crosscheck databases monthly to verify whether anyone who has previously registered to vote (thereby swearing to be a citizen) subsequently obtained an ID through DPS and told DPS he or she was not a citizen.
Requires County or District Clerk to send a list of people disqualified for jury duty for citizenship to local DA and SOS, and local registrar. Previously this list was only sent to the local registrar.
Provides accountability for registrars who refuse to take action to remove people who are no longer eligible to vote in the county from the voter rolls.
Conduct & Security of Elections
Requires mandatory video and livestream of central count, signature verification committee, and early voting ballot board for counties with a population of more than 100,000. Livestream is permissive for counties of less than 100,000.
Requires an election judge to admit an authorized poll watcher, allows the poll watcher to stand or sit close enough to the activities they are entitled to observe to see and hear the activities, and prohibits obstructing a watcher's view or placing them so that they cannot meaningfully observe the activities.
Allows a watcher to seek mandamus relief for being denied opportunity to observe.
Requires testing a representative sample of voting system machines to verify that the source code is original and has not been altered.
Voting by Mail
Requires that late-returned ballots be stored in a locked container to secure ballots that might otherwise be counted or countable (previously not required to be locked).
Allows the signature verification committee to look at and compare the signature on the carrier envelope to any known signature of the voter rather than just to two or more recent signatures.
Requires that ballots voted by mail be tabulated and stored separately from ballots voted in person.
Assistance of Voters
Requires that a person fill out a form giving their name and address if the person drives seven or more non-family members to the polling place who all vote curbside due to an inability to enter the polling place without risk of injury.
Requires that an assistant who assists a voter in the polling booth fill out a form giving their name, address, relationship to the voter, and whether they received compensation for assisting the voter.
EXPLANATION: We heard testimony that organized ballot harvesters coerce voters into voting for certain candidates through assistance. In the case of curbside voting, some groups use the pretense of providing a ride to the polls in order to take vans full of people to the polling place. Upon arriving, they say that everyone in the van needs to vote curbside in the van. The standard for eligibility to vote curbside is that the voter risks injury by entering the polling place. Once the voting system is brought to the vehicle, the harvesters direct each voter inside the vehicle on how to vote. In the case of assistants inside the polling place, we heard testimony that certain paid agents wait at the polling place, and voters have been instructed to ask for those individuals to assist them. The standard for receiving assistance in the polling place is an inability to see or read the ballot. Even though the voters do not meet this standard, they ask for the assistant, who directs them on how to vote inside the polling booth.
Enforcement
Prohibits someone from serving as an election official if they have been convicted of an elections crime.
Requires all courts of appeals and trial courts to prioritize elections cases over all other cases (except death penalty cases) when we are less than 120 days from the election that is the subject of the claim.
SB 1 Highlights to Expand and Standardize Elections
1) Voting hours for early voting
Senate Bill 1 expands voting hours by increasing the number of counties who are required to provide a minimum of 12 hours of voting each day instead of 8 hours. By lowering the population requirement from 100,000 to 55,000, SB 1 requires over 20 additional counties to extend early voting hours from “business hours” to at least 12 hours.
The bill also requires cities and other political subdivisions conducting elections to be open an extra hour during early voting. More populous cities and political subdivisions go from a minimum of 8 hours to 9 hours, and less populous cities and political subdivisions from 3 hours to 4 hours.
None of these changes limit counties to that minimum number. It is a floor, not a ceiling. Counties can still have 16 hours of voting from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. during early voting if they choose to. Overall, people will have more hours in more counties under this bill.
2) Standing in line when polls close
Under current law, voters who are in line before the polls close on election day are guaranteed the opportunity to vote. SB 1 expands this protection from election day to the entire early voting period.
3) Employee time off
On election day, current law requires employers to allow an employee who would not otherwise have time off to take time off to go vote. SB 1 expands this protection from election day to the entire early voting period.
4) Mail ballot voter ID
SB 1 requires a voter requesting a mail ballot to submit a driver’s license, state ID, or free election ID certificate number on their application. If they do not have one of these, they may submit the last four of their SSN with their application. If they do not have this, they must swear that they do not have any of these numbers. When the number they provide is compared with the same ID number provided on their voter registration, a match creates a rebuttable presumption that their signatures match. This makes it easier for a signature verification committee to accept a ballot with a signature that may be inconsistent due to disability or age.
5) Mail ballot defect curing process
SB 1 creates a curing process for mail ballots and applications with certain defects. Currently, if something is missing from the mail ballot, it is automatically canceled. Many times the voter does not realize that their vote was not counted until after the election. Under SB 1, a voter may even cure the defect through an new online system that tracks the location of the voter's ballot.
SB 1 creates a process by which, if time permits, the ballot can be sent back to the voter to be fixed. Or, if there is not time for mail service, a voter can come to the early voting clerk and fix the ballot. Finally, it allows a voter to cancel that mail ballot and vote in person, either inside the polling location or using curbside.