FIRST REGULAR SESSION
SENATE BILL NO. 254
91ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY
INTRODUCED BY SENATORS GROSS AND FOSTER.
Read 1st time January 9, 2001, and 1,000 copies ordered printed.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
0368S.01I
AN ACT
To repeal sections 115.151, 115.155, 115.160 and 115.165, RSMo 2000, relating to elections, and to enact in lieu thereof three new sections relating to the same subject.
Section A. Sections 115.151, 115.155, 115.160 and 115.165, RSMo 2000, are repealed and three new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 115.151, 115.155 and 115.165, to read as follows:
115.151. 1. Each qualified applicant who appears before the election authority shall be deemed registered as of the time the applicant's completed, signed and sworn registration application is witnessed by the election authority or deputy registration official.
2. Each applicant who registers by mail shall be deemed to be registered as of the date the application is postmarked, if such application is accepted and not rejected by the election authority and the verification notice required pursuant to section 115.155 is not returned as undeliverable by the postal service.
3. Each applicant who registers at a voter registration agency [or the division of motor vehicle and drivers licensing of the department of revenue] shall be deemed to be registered as of the date the application is signed by the applicant, if such application is accepted and not rejected by the election authority and the verification notice required pursuant to section 115.155 is not returned as undeliverable by the postal service.
115.155. 1. The election authority shall provide for the registration of each voter. Each application shall be in substantially the following form:
APPLICATION FOR REGISTRATION
.........................................
Township (or Ward)
.......................................... .........................................
Name Precinct
......................................... ........................................
Home Address Required Personal
Identification Information
.........................................
City ZIP
........................................... ..........................................
Date of Birth Place of Birth (Optional)
........................................... ..........................................
Telephone Number Mother's Maiden Name
(Optional) (Optional)
.......................................... .........................................
Occupation (Optional) Last Place Previously
Registered
.......................................... .........................................
Last four digits of Under What Name
Social Security Number
(Required for
registration unless no Social
Security number exists for
Applicant)
Remarks:
.........................................
When
I am a citizen of the United States and a resident of the state of Missouri. I have not been adjudged incapacitated by any court of law. If I have been convicted of a felony or of a misdemeanor connected with the right of suffrage, I have had the voting disabilities resulting from such conviction removed pursuant to law. I do solemnly swear that all statements made on this card are true to the best of my knowledge and belief.
.......................................... .......................................
Signature of Voter Date
..........................................
Signature of Election Official
2. After supplying all information necessary for the registration records, each applicant who appears in person before the election authority shall swear or affirm the statements on the registration application by signing his or her full name, witnessed by the signature of the election authority or such authority's deputy registration official. Each applicant who applies to register by mail pursuant to section 115.159, or pursuant to the provisions of section [115.160 or] 115.162, shall attest to the statements on the application by his or her signature.
3. Upon receipt by mail of a completed and signed voter registration application[,] or a voter registration application forwarded by [the division of motor vehicle and drivers licensing of the department of revenue pursuant to section 115.160, or] a voter registration agency pursuant to section 115.162, the election authority shall, if satisfied that the applicant is entitled to register, transfer all data necessary for the registration records from the application to its registration system. Within seven business days after receiving the application, the election authority shall send the applicant a verification notice. If such notice is returned as undeliverable by the postal service within the time established by the election authority, the election authority shall not place the applicant's name on the voter registration file.
4. If, upon receipt by mail of a voter registration application or a voter registration application forwarded pursuant to section [115.160 or] 115.162, the election authority determines that the applicant is not entitled to register, such authority shall, within seven business days after receiving the application, so notify the applicant by mail and state the reason such authority has determined the applicant is not qualified. The applicant may have such determination reviewed pursuant to the provisions of section 115.223.
5. It shall be the responsibility of the secretary of state to prescribe specifications for voter registration documents so that they are uniform throughout the state of Missouri and comply with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, including the reporting requirements, and so that registrations, name changes and transfers of registrations within the state may take place as allowed by law.
6. All voter registration applications shall be preserved in the office of the election authority.
[115.160. 1. All Missouri driver's license applicants shall receive a voter registration application form as a simultaneous part of the application for a driver's license, renewal of driver's license, change of address, duplicate request and a nondriver's license.
2. If a single application form is used, the voter registration application portion of any application described in subsection 1 of this section may not require any information that duplicates information required in the driver's license portion of the form, except a second signature or other information required by law.
3. After conferring with the secretary of state as the chief state election official responsible for overseeing of the voter registration process, the director of revenue shall adopt rules and regulations pertaining to the format of the voter registration application used by the department.
4. No information relating to the failure of an applicant for a driver's license or nondriver's license to sign a voter registration application may be used for any purpose other than voter registration.
5. Any voter registration application received pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be forwarded to the election authority located within that county or any city not within a county, or if there is more than one election authority within the county, then to the election authority located nearest to the location where the driver's license application was received. The election authority receiving the application forms shall review the applications and forward any applications pertaining to a different election authority to that election authority.
6. A completed voter registration application accepted in the driver's licensing process shall be transmitted to the election authority described in subsection 5 of this section not later than ten days after the date of acceptance or if the voter registration application is accepted within five days before the last day for registration to vote in an election, the application shall be transmitted to the election authority described in subsection 5 of this section not later than five days after the date of acceptance.]115.165. 1. If the voter files a change of address application in person at the office of the election authority, at the polling place, or pursuant to section 115.159, [115.160,] 115.162 or 115.193, or otherwise provides signed written notice of the move, an election authority may change the address on a voter registration record for a voter who moves within the election authority's jurisdiction after comparing and verifying the signature. Before changing the address on a voter record, the election authority shall be satisfied that the record is that of the person providing the change of address information.
2. A registered voter who has changed his or her residence within an election authority's jurisdiction and has not been removed from the list of registered voters pursuant to this chapter shall be permitted to file a change of address with the election authority or before an election judge at a polling place and vote at a central polling place or at the polling place that serves his or her new address upon written or oral affirmation by the voter of the new address.
3. If the applicant for registration was last registered in another jurisdiction within this state or another state, the election authority shall send notice of the registration to the election authority where the applicant was previously registered. The election authority sending the notice shall provide identifying information to assist the election authority receiving the notice to determine whether the person named was previously registered in such jurisdiction and whether, based on the identifying information provided, the application can be removed from the voting record in the former jurisdiction.
4. Upon receipt of a notice from another election authority that a voter has registered in another jurisdiction in this state or another state, the election authority shall determine whether sufficient information is provided in the notice to identify the person named in such notice as previously registered in the election authority's jurisdiction and presently removable from the voting records in the election authority's jurisdiction. Every election authority is authorized to examine the information provided in a notice of duplicate registration provided by the centralized voter registration database authorized pursuant to section 115.158 to determine if a voter in one election authority's voter registration records has subsequently registered in another jurisdiction. If, after reviewing the information provided, the election authority is satisfied that the person identified in the notice is listed as a registered voter in the election authority's jurisdiction but has subsequently registered in another jurisdiction, the election authority may remove the person's registration from the list of registered voters.