Sec. 509o.

(1) The secretary of state shall direct and supervise the establishment and maintenance of a statewide qualified voter file. The secretary of state shall establish the technology to implement the qualified voter file on or before January 1, 1997. The qualified voter file shall be the official file for the conduct of all elections held in this state on or after January 1, 1998. The secretary of state may direct that all or any part of the city, township, or village registration files shall be used in conjunction with the qualified voter file at the first state primary and election held after the creation of the qualified voter file.

(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, beginning January 1, 1998, a person who appears to vote in an election and whose name appears in the qualified voter file for that city, township, village, or school district is considered a registered voter of that city, township, village, or school district under this act.

(3) The secretary of state, a designated voter registration agency, or a county, city, township, or village clerk shall not place a name of an individual into the qualified voter file unless that person signs an application as prescribed in section 509r(3). The secretary of state or a designated voter registration agency shall not allow a person to indicate a different address than the address in either the secretary of state's or designated voter registration agency's files to be placed in the qualified voter file.