VOTER APPLICATION: CITIZENSHIP S.B. 803 (S-1): FLOOR SUMMARY
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Senate Bill 803 (Substitute S-1 as reported by the Committee of the Whole)
Sponsor: Senator Darwin L. Booher
Committee: Local Government and Elections

CONTENT
The bill would amend the Michigan Election Law to do the following:

-- Require an application to vote to include an affirmative statement by the elector that he or she was a citizen of the United States.
-- Require an elector who did not affirmatively state that he or she was a U.S. citizen to be challenged, and prohibit issuance of a ballot to an elector who did not make the statement under oath.
-- Require an application for an absent voter ballot to question whether the applicant was a U.S. citizen.
-- Prohibit a clerk from issuing an absent voter ballot to a person who indicated that he or she was not a U.S. citizen.
-- Require a clerk to issue an absent voter ballot to a person who did not answer the citizenship question, and include a prominent notice that the person had not answered the question and that the ballot would not be counted unless he or she answered it before the polls closed on election day.
-- If an election were contested in court, allow an absent voter ballot that was not counted due to a failure to answer the citizenship question to be counted if the court determined that the voter was a citizen at the time of the election.


MCL 168.253 et al. Legislative Analyst: Julie Cassidy

FISCAL IMPACT
The bill could result in a minimal cost to the Department of State due to a requirement that the Secretary of State prepare and provide to each city, township, and village clerk copes of the notice stating that if a person did not answer the citizenship question on his or her absent voter ballot application, his or her ballot would not be counted. The cost would be absorbed by current Department appropriations.


Date Completed: 2-8-12 Fiscal Analyst: Joe Carrasco

Analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent. sb803/1112