168.761. Verification or rejection of application; procedure; issuance and delivery of absent voter ballot; requirements; statement on return envelope; prohibited conduct; penalties | Statutes | Westlaw

Sec. 761. (1) If the clerk of a city or township receives an application for an absent voter ballot, * * * the clerk must immediately determine if the applicant is registered to vote in that city or township and if the signature on the application agrees sufficiently with the signature on file for the * * * individual as required in subsection (2) * * *. The clerk must immediately, upon verification of the application or, if the application is received and verified before the printing of the absent voter ballots, as soon as the absent voter ballots are received by the clerk, * * * forward by mail, postage prepaid, or * * * deliver * * * the absent voter ballot to the applicant. The clerk must include with the absent voter ballot a postage prepaid absent voter ballot return envelope. A clerk shall not send an absent voter ballot to an applicant by first-class mail after 5 p.m. on the fourth day before an election. If the clerk of a city or township receives an application for an absent voter ballot from an applicant who is a program participant, as that term is defined in section 3 of the address confidentiality program act, 2020 PA 301, MCL 780.853, then the city or township clerk shall mail an absent voter ballot to that program participant at the designated address provided to that program participant by the department of the attorney general under the address confidentiality program act, 2020 PA 301, MCL 780.851 to 780.873. * * * If the clerk of a city or township receives an absent voter ballot application after the deadline for a clerk to mail an absent voter ballot by first-class mail to the applicant under this subsection, and the clerk does not otherwise promptly provide the applicant with the absent voter ballot, the clerk must immediately notify the applicant that the applicant's absent voter ballot application was rejected as not timely received and notify the applicant of the alternative methods of voting available for that election. The clerk must notify the applicant by telephone, email, or text message, if available. In the absence of the applicant's telephone number or email address, the clerk must notify the applicant by United States mail. The clerk may also provide notice to the applicant by any other available methods of contact. Electronic notification of the rejection of the application under section 764c¹ that provides the information required by this subsection constitutes sufficient notification to the applicant. However, an absent voter ballot application that is rejected must still be processed for any future elections indicated on that absent voter ballot application. If a county clerk receives an application for an absent voter ballot from an individual, the county clerk shall immediately forward that absent voter ballot application to the appropriate city or township clerk where that individual resides. If a city or township clerk receives an application for an absent voter ballot from an individual who is registered to vote in a different city or township, that clerk must immediately contact the individual to determine where the individual resides and should be registered to vote. If the city or township clerk determines that the individual is registered to vote in a different city or township, the city or township clerk must electronically forward the application to the clerk of the city or township in which the individual is registered.

(2) The * * * signature on file must be used to determine the genuineness of a signature on an application for an absent voter ballot. Signature comparisons must be made * * * using the procedures required under section 766a.² If the clerk of a city or township rejects an absent voter ballot application because the signature on the absent voter ballot application does not agree sufficiently with the signature on * * * file or because the elector failed to sign the absent voter ballot application, * * * the applicant must be provided notice and the opportunity to cure the deficiency as provided under section 766a. The notice must inform the applicant that the applicant must cure the deficiency by 4 p.m. on the fourth day before the election in order to receive an absent voter ballot by first-class mail. If the applicant cures the deficiency as provided under section 766a by 4 p.m. on the fourth day before the election, the clerk must immediately send an absent voter ballot and a postage prepaid absent voter ballot return envelope to the applicant as provided under subsection (1).

(4) * * * The clerk shall enclose with the ballot * * * a postage prepaid return envelope properly addressed to the clerk and bearing on the back of the return envelope a printed statement in substantially the following form:

INDIVIDUALS WHO CAN LEGALLY BE IN POSSESSION OF AN ABSENT VOTER BALLOT ISSUED TO AN ABSENT VOTER ARE LIMITED TO THE ABSENT VOTER; * * * AN INDIVIDUAL WHO IS A MEMBER OF THE ABSENT VOTER'S IMMEDIATE FAMILY OR RESIDES IN THE ABSENT VOTER'S HOUSEHOLD AND WHO HAS BEEN ASKED BY THE ABSENT VOTER TO RETURN THE BALLOT; * * * AN INDIVIDUAL WHOSE JOB IT IS TO HANDLE MAIL BEFORE, DURING, OR AFTER BEING TRANSPORTED BY A PUBLIC POSTAL SERVICE, EXPRESS MAIL SERVICE, PARCEL POST SERVICE, OR COMMON CARRIER, BUT ONLY DURING THE NORMAL COURSE OF * * * THE INDIVIDUAL'S EMPLOYMENT; AND THE CLERK, ASSISTANTS OF THE CLERK, AND OTHER AUTHORIZED ELECTION OFFICIALS OF THE CITY OR TOWNSHIP. ANY OTHER INDIVIDUAL IN POSSESSION OF AN ABSENT VOTER BALLOT IS GUILTY OF A FELONY.

(5) An absent voter who knowingly makes a false statement on the absent voter ballot return envelope is guilty of a misdemeanor. * * * An individual who assists an absent voter and who knowingly makes a false statement on the absent voter ballot return envelope is guilty of a felony.