00 HOUSE BILL NO. 96 01 "An Act relating to elections; and providing for an effective date." 02 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 03  * Section 1. AS 15.15.430(a) is amended to read: 04 (a) The review of ballot counting by the director shall include only 05 (1) a review of the precinct registers, tallies, and ballots cast; 06 (2) a review of absentee and questioned ballots as prescribed by law; 07 and 08 (3) unless the ballot for the house district contains nothing but 09 uncontested offices, a hand count of ballots from at least one randomly selected 10 precinct in each house district that accounts for at least five percent of the ballots cast 11 in that district. 12  * Sec. 2. AS 15.20.030 is amended to read: 13 Sec. 15.20.030. Preparation of ballots, envelopes, and other material. The 14 director shall provide ballots for use as absentee ballots in all districts. The director 15 shall provide a secrecy sleeve in which the voter shall initially place the marked ballot, 01 and shall provide an envelope with the prescribed voter's certificate on it, in which the 02 secrecy sleeve with ballot enclosed shall be placed. The director shall prescribe the 03 form of and prepare the voter's certificate, envelopes, and other material used in 04 absentee voting. The voter's certificate shall include a declaration, for use when 05 required, that the voter is a qualified voter in all respects, a blank for the voter's 06 signature, a blank for a voter identifier, a certification that the affiant properly 07 executed the marking of the ballot and gave the voter's identity, blanks for the 08 attesting official or witness, and a place for recording the date the envelope was sealed 09 and witnessed. The envelope with the voter's certificate must include a notice that 10 false statements made by the voter or by the attesting official or witness on the 11 certificate are punishable by law.  12  * Sec. 3. AS 15.20.081(a) is amended to read: 13 (a) A qualified voter may apply in person, by mail, or by facsimile, scanning, 14 or other electronic transmission to the director for an absentee ballot under this 15 section. Another individual may apply for an absentee ballot on behalf of a qualified 16 voter if that individual is designated to act on behalf of the voter in a written general 17 power of attorney or a written special power of attorney that authorizes the other 18 individual to apply for an absentee ballot on behalf of the voter. The application must 19 include the address or, if the application requests delivery of an absentee ballot by 20 electronic transmission, the telephone electronic transmission number, to which the 21 absentee ballot is to be returned, the applicant's full Alaska residence address, two  22 voter identifiers for the applicant one of which must be the applicant's date of  23 birth, and the applicant's signature. However, a person residing outside the United 24 States and applying to vote absentee in federal elections in accordance with 25 AS 15.05.011 need not include an Alaska residence address in the application. A 26 person may supply to a voter an absentee ballot application form with a political party 27 or group affiliation indicated only if the voter is already registered as affiliated with 28 the political party or group indicated. Only the voter or the individual designated by 29 the voter in a written power of attorney under this subsection may mark the voter's 30 choice of primary ballot on an application. A person supplying an absentee ballot 31 application form may not design or mark the application in a manner that suggests 01 choice of one ballot over another, except that ballot choices may be listed on an 02 application as authorized by the division. The application must be made on a form 03 prescribed or approved by the director. The voter or registration official shall submit 04 the application directly to the division of elections. For purposes of this subsection, 05 "directly to the division of elections" means that an application may not be submitted 06 to any intermediary that could control or delay the submission of the application to the 07 division or gather data on the applicant from the application form. However, nothing 08 in this subsection is intended to prohibit a voter from giving a completed absentee 09 ballot application to a friend, relative, or associate for transfer to the United States 10 Postal Service or a private commercial delivery service for delivery to the division. 11  * Sec. 4. AS 15.20.081(d) is amended to read: 12 (d) Upon receipt of an absentee ballot by mail, the voter, in the presence of a 13 notary public, commissioned officer of the armed forces including the National Guard, 14 district judge or magistrate, United States postal official, registration official, or other 15 person qualified to administer oaths, may proceed to mark the ballot in secret, to place 16 the ballot in the secrecy sleeve, to place the secrecy sleeve in the envelope provided, 17 and to sign the voter's certificate containing the information required under  18 AS 15.20.030 on the envelope in the presence of an official listed in this subsection 19 who shall sign as attesting official and shall date the signature. If none of the officials 20 listed in this subsection is reasonably accessible, an absentee voter shall sign the 21 voter's certificate in the presence of an individual who is 18 years of age or older, who 22 shall sign as a witness and attest to the date on which the voter signed the certificate in 23 the individual's presence, and, in addition, the voter shall certify, as prescribed in 24 AS 09.63.020, under penalty of perjury, that the statements in the voter's certification 25 are true.  26  * Sec. 5. AS 15.20.203(a) is amended to read: 27 (a) The district absentee ballot counting board shall examine each absentee 28 ballot envelope and shall determine whether the absentee voter is qualified to vote at 29 the election, whether the certificate required under AS 15.20.030 has been  30 properly executed, including the voter's signature and voter identifier, and 31 whether the absentee ballot has been properly cast. 01  * Sec. 6. AS 15.20.203(b) is amended to read: 02 (b) An absentee ballot may not be counted if  03 (1) the voter has failed to properly execute the certificate required  04 under AS 15.20.030, including failing to provide the voter's signature or voter  05 identifier; 06 (2) an official or the witnesses authorized by law to attest the voter's 07 certificate fail to execute the certificate, except that an absentee ballot cast in person 08 and accepted by an absentee voting official or election supervisor may be counted 09 despite failure of the absentee voting official or election supervisor to properly sign 10 and date the voter's certificate as attesting official as required under AS 15.20.061(c); 11 (3) the ballot is not attested on or before the date of the election; 12 (4) the ballot, if postmarked, is not postmarked on or before the date of 13 the election; 14 (5) after the day of election, the ballot was delivered by a means other 15 than mail; or 16 (6) the voter voted 17 (A) in person and is a 18 (i) first-time voter who initially registered by mail or by 19 facsimile or other electronic transmission approved by the director 20 under AS 15.07.050, has not provided the identification required by 21 AS 15.15.225(a), was not eligible for waiver of the identification 22 requirement under AS 15.15.225(b), and has not provided the 23 identifiers required in AS 15.07.060(a)(2) and (3) that can be verified 24 through state agency records described in AS 15.07.055(e); or 25 (ii) voter other than one described in (i) of this 26 subparagraph, did not provide identification described in 27 AS 15.15.225(a), was not personally known by the election official, 28 and has not provided the identifiers required in AS 15.07.060(a)(2) and 29 (3); or 30 (B) by mail or electronic transmission, is a first-time voter who 31 initially registered by mail or by facsimile or other electronic transmission 01 approved by the director under AS 15.07.050 to vote, has not met the 02 identification requirements set out in AS 15.07.060, and does not submit with 03 the ballot a copy of a 04 (i) driver's license, state identification card, current and 05 valid photo identification, birth certificate, passport, or hunting or 06 fishing license; or 07 (ii) current utility bill, bank statement, paycheck, 08 government check, or other government document; an item described 09 in this sub-subparagraph must show the name and current address of 10 the voter. 11  * Sec. 7. AS 15.20.450 is amended to read: 12 Sec. 15.20.450. Costs of recount; requirement of deposit. The application 13 must include a deposit. The director shall adopt regulations that establish the  14 amount and manner of payment of the deposit [IN CASH, BY CERTIFIED 15 CHECK, OR BY BOND WITH A SURETY APPROVED BY THE DIRECTOR. 16 THE AMOUNT OF THE DEPOSIT IS $1,000 FOR EACH PRECINCT, $2,000 FOR 17 EACH HOUSE DISTRICT, AND $15,000 FOR THE ENTIRE STATE]. If the 18 recount includes an office for which candidates received a tie vote, or the difference 19 between the number of votes cast was 20 or less or was less than .5 percent of the total 20 number of votes cast for the two candidates for the contested office, or a question or 21 proposition for which there was a tie vote on the issue, or the difference between the 22 number of votes cast in favor of or opposed to the issue was 20 or less or was less than 23 .5 percent of the total votes cast in favor of or opposed to the issue, the application 24 need not include a deposit, and the state shall bear the cost of the recount. If, on the 25 recount, a candidate other than the candidate who received the original election 26 certificate is declared elected, or if the vote on recount is determined to be four percent 27 or more in excess of the vote reported by the state review for the candidate applying 28 for the recount or in favor of or opposed to the question or proposition as stated in the 29 application, the entire deposit shall be refunded. If the entire deposit is not refunded, 30 the director shall refund any money remaining after the cost of the recount has been 31 paid from the deposit. 01  * Sec. 8. AS 15.20.800(a) is amended to read: 02 (a) The director may conduct an election by mail if it is 03 (1) held at a time other than when the general, party primary, or 04 municipal election is held; or  05 (2) a community with a population of 750 or less. 06  * Sec. 9. AS 15.81.010 is amended by adding a new paragraph to read: 07 (46) "voter identifier" means a voter's 08 (A) registration number; 09 (B) social security number or the last four digits of the voter's 10 social security number; 11 (C) date of birth; 12 (D) Alaska driver's license number; or 13 (E) Alaska state identification number. 14  * Sec. 10. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 15 read: 16 TRANSITION: REGULATIONS. The division of elections may adopt regulations 17 necessary to implement the changes made by this Act. The regulations take effect under 18 AS 44.62 (Administrative Procedure Act), but not before the effective date of the law 19 implemented by this regulation. 20  * Sec. 11. Section 10 of this Act takes effect immediately under AS 01.10.070(c).