"POST OFFICE" ADDRESS
House Bill 5466 as enrolled
Public Act 431 of 2002
Second Analysis (7-10-02)
Sponsor: Rep. Andrew Richner
House Committee: Redistricting and Elections
Senate Committee: Government Operations
At a number of places in the Michigan Election Law, the "post office" address of a candidate, or petition circulator, or voter signing a petition is required to be listed. This is said to be an outmoded requirement that confuses people. Some people do not know what a "post office" address is or which "post office" they are connected to, but leaving the information off a petition, (to cite one example) could lead to signatures not being counted. Legislation has been introduced that would delete this obsolete requirement and instead require the listing of a person's address, including, where appropriate, the zip code.
THE CONTENT OF THE BILL:
At a number of places in the Michigan Election Law the "post office addresses" of candidates or voters are required to be listed. House Bill 5466 would amend three sections of the law to delete the reference to "post office".
Generally speaking, in the case of candidate petitions, the bill would require the city or township to be included with the address of the candidate, and the zip code to be included with the address of the circulator or elector signing the petition instead of the post office. However, the bill would specify that the failure of a candidate petition circulator or an elector signing a candidate petition to enter a zip code or the failure to enter the correct zip code would not affect the validity of the signature of the circulator or elector.
Section 46 deals with the certification of electors of President and Vice-President by the governor and would be amended simply to delete the reference to "post office"; Section 544c deals with nominating petitions for primary elections; and Section 590h deals with the nature of the qualifying petitions to be submitted by a candidate without party affiliation.
The bill also would amend Section 646a of the Michigan Election Law to specify that certain certification and filing deadlines for local and county ballot questions would not apply in the year 2002 to a local or county ballot question that was required to be placed on the ballot by state statute. Otherwise, the ballot wording has to be certified to the local or county clerk 70 days prior to the election, and petitions to place the question on the ballot have to be filed with the appropriate clerk at least 14 days prior to the deadline for certification of the ballot wording.
(Note: Public Act 432 of 2002 -- House Bill 6114 -- places before the voters of the City of Detroit at the August 6, 2002 primary election the question of whether to switch from a city council elected at-large to a city council elected from nine single-member districts. Public Act 432 took effect on June 6, 2002.)
MCL 168.46 et al.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
The House Fiscal Agency reports that the bill could result in minimal costs for reprinting nominating petitions and certificates of circulator forms but the amount is indeterminate. (HFA fiscal note dated 1-30-02)
ARGUMENTS:
For:
The bill would eliminate a requirement described as obsolete, namely that people list their "post office" on various election-related forms. Instead, in most cases, the bill would require the listing of a full address, sometimes including zip code. The bill would, however, make it clear that the failure to list a zip code or to list the proper zip code would not invalidate a petition signature.
______________________________________________________
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan House staff for use by House members in their deliberations, and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.