Legislature(2001 - 2002)
02/15/2001 08:02 AM House STA
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* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
HB 109-VOTING IN PERSON BY ABSENTEE BALLOT Number 0180 CHAIR COGHILL announced the first order of business as HOUSE BILL NO. 109, "An Act relating to failure by an election official to execute the voter's certificate on an absentee ballot or by a person authorized by law to execute the voter's certificate on a questioned ballot." RYNNIEVA MOSS, Staff to Representative Coghill, Alaska State Legislature, came forward to present HB 109. She explained that during the municipal election last year, a constituent who wanted to vote in the had gone to the city hall in North Pole and cast a questioned ballot. A couple of weeks later, the voter received a letter from the borough clerk's office explaining that his ballot was not counted because it had not been signed by an election official. House Bill 109 deals with questioned ballots and absentee ballots. When people vote questioned or absentee [ballots], they fill out a certification [on an envelope in which the ballot will be enclosed]. State law says if an absentee or questioned ballot is not filled out correctly by the election official, the vote will count. This does not happen often; this is the first time she has heard of it and she has been an election worker since 1970. But because it does happen, the voters should not be punished. CHAIR COGHILL said that the bill is giving the benefit of the doubt to the voter. Number 0431 REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked what a questioned ballot is. MS. MOSS explained that a questioned ballot is [cast] when a voter votes out of his/her precinct. There is a registered voter list at each precinct, and if the voter is not on that precinct list, he/she cannot be refused the right to vote, but he/she has to vote a questioned ballot, by which the voter certifies that he/she is a registered voter. The ballot goes to [the Division of] Elections and goes through a canvassing process where it is checked to be sure the voter is registered and then the vote is counted. REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked where a voter can vote a questioned ballot. MS. MOSS replied that a voter can vote at [the polling place for] any precinct. The constituent who voted at the North Pole city hall [and whose vote was not counted] lived in another precinct. REPRESENTATIVE WILSON wondered if there wasn't anyone at city hall who could have initialed it. MS. MOSS said the election official is supposed to do so, but during a general election, especially a presidential election, things can get hectic and mistakes can happen. Number 0569 REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS said the election official didn't do what he/she was supposed to do. He wondered if passing HB 109 would make possible any abuse of the system by someone voting when he/she shouldn't be voting. MS. MOSS replied that she didn't think so. This [HB 109] basically says if the error is on the part of the election worker, then the vote will be counted. The voter also has to complete the document properly. If an error is the voter's fault, the ballot doesn't count; if the error is the election worker's fault, then the ballot does count. REPRESENTATIVE FATE asked if there was any chance of abuse of this. For example, if the signature isn't required, is there a chance of [counting] a counterfeit questioned ballot? Could the box be stuffed without the election officials' signatures on [questioned ballots]? MS. MOSS answered that first of all, the voter has to sign the document for it to be valid. In order to vote a questioned ballot, the voter must show identification. She doesn't see any way to abuse it. REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD asked: If a questioned ballot was found and it wasn't signed by an election official, and the election official said he/she didn't remember [the ballot] and didn't think it had come through his/her precinct, would it still be allowed even though he/she believed it didn't belong there? MS. MOSS explained that the questioned ballots are brought before a canvassing board, and if an election worker felt that an envelope had been placed in the ballot box improperly, that would be dealt with by the canvassing board. REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS said the purpose of the election official's signature is to show that he/she has looked at the identification. [Otherwise,] how would the canvassing board know that that person had the proper identification? MS. MOSS replied that the canvassing board would have to deal with [such questions], and if it came to the point of having to call the election worker to the canvassing board and interviewing that worker, there is a process for doing that. REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS said that gets back to Representative Crawford's question about putting the responsibility on someone's memory. MS. MOSS explained that precincts are close-knit. Election boards are [made up of] very responsible people. Most of the election board people work 20-25 years; they know everybody in the precinct; they have very good memories. The purpose of this bill is to protect an individual's right to vote. CHAIR COGHILL explained that positive identification and a signature [are required of] the voter. If, inadvertently, the date was not properly put on or the signature block wasn't signed properly by the election official, HB 109 is saying that the voter still voted properly, in good faith, and "we" messed up. Chair Coghill added that he is not trying to "lift the lid" on any fraud opportunity. REPRESENTATIVE WILSON expressed her reluctance on this issue because it might open. Number 1009 GAIL FENUMIAI, Election Program Specialist, Central Office, Division of Elections, Office of the Lieutenant Governor, came forward to answer questions. She explained the questioned ballot process. If somebody votes out of precinct and his/her name is not on the precinct register, at that time he/she would then be asked to vote a questioned ballot because everybody has the right to vote. The other reason somebody would vote a questioned ballot is if he/she did not have identification or was not personally known by an election worker at that precinct. The questioned ballot envelope has the same information [on it] that is required on a voter registration form. If that person is not registered at the time, he/she ... would then be registered by completing that envelope. Information the voter provides includes: Name, residence address, a mailing address, the city lived in, and optional information such as place of birth, date of birth, and Social Security number. She said about 95 percent of the people provide that information plus his/her signature and also the signature of the election official. When somebody votes a questioned ballot, he/she also signs a questioned register at the precinct, which is another tool precinct workers use in the ballot accountability [procedure] at the end of the night. The register is used to verify the number of questioned ballots. MS. FENUMIAI explained there is a tight ballot accountability process that [is followed] at the end of the evening. The election workers must account for every ballot that they had when the polls opened at 7 a.m., every ballot issued, and every ballot that has been spoiled, until 8 p.m. The questioned ballot is contained in an envelope and goes to the regional election office that has jurisdiction for the House district in which that ballot was cast, and [the questioned ballot is] reviewed by a bipartisan board that checks to see if the person was registered, based on the information provided on that envelope. Signatures also are examined. If the person is registered to vote based on the information provided on the envelope, the eligibility of the right to have voted that ballot is then determined. If the residence address is still the same as what appears on the voter registration system, then the voter just voted "out of precinct" but not "out of district," and it would be a "full count ballot." If the residence address is changed and the person is voting out of district, then it is a "partial count ballot," which means certain portions of the ballot would count. [Votes on] statewide issues would count for everybody as long as the voter was registered 30 days before the election. If the voter moves from House District 12 to House District 13 and he/she voted in House District 13, the House District portion would not count unless that change of address had been made 30 days prior to the election. MS. FENUMIAI noted there are good checks and balances in place to see if people are trying to abuse the system, and it just doesn't happen. Everybody that signs a precinct register on election day establishes a "voter history" that goes into the voter registration data base. It is flagged in the system that the individual voted in person. When the review board reviews absentee and questioned ballots, if they find somebody who had already voted in person, a flag goes up ... and further investigation is done. If it turns out the voter voted twice, the second ballot is not counted and the voter's name is sent to the Department of Law. CHAIR COGHILL asked, "If a person voting a questioned ballot doesn't sign it or fails to complete the paperwork in the mandatory area, would the vote still count?" MS. FENUMIAI said it would be rejected because the voter didn't provide sufficient information. CHAIR COGHILL said that if the voter does everything right, but there is an inadvertent mistake on the election official's part, the voter's vote still counts; [that] is where this bill is trying to go. MS. FENUMIAI agreed. She gave some statistics from the last general election. There were only two absentee in-person ballots and one questioned ballot statewide that were rejected for this reason. If the voter has done everything in his/her power to do it right, if it was an election official's error, she does not want to see the voter penalized. It happens very rarely. CHAIR COGHILL explained that he introduced the bill not to highlight a major error, but many things come down to one vote and he wants to make sure that the voter has the benefit of any doubt. REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS agreed that made sense, but if the signature is not needed in this case, why is there ever a reason? MS. FENUMIAI said they would still like to have it because the only way to get a questioned ballot or absentee in-person ballot is to get it from an election official. It is another safeguard. It helps to protect the validity of that ballot being cast. She said she doesn't think he would want witnessing to go away altogether. If no witnessing was required, there might be more opportunity for potential abuse of the system. Number 1522 REPRESENTATIVE WILSON asked if there were only two questioned ballots this [last] time, how many would there have to be before the Division of Elections would think it was unusual enough to check. MS. FENUMIAI replied that if an election official didn't sign about 15 [of the questioned ballots], the Division of Elections would be concerned that it had not done a good job in training those people. She thinks that in past court cases, the Division of Elections has been advised that if there is an error on the part of the election official, the division should rule in favor of the voter. Number 1582 CHAIR COGHILL noted that Representative James had joined the committee meeting. Number 1619 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if [when handling] absentee military votes, the Division of Elections pays attention to the date stamp or the date the voter signed the ballot. She said she was concerned because many military personnel have no control over when mail is posted and much military mail does not have a postmark on it. MS. FENUMIAI said the Division of Elections does look at the postmark to see that the ballot was postmarked on or before election day, and the ballot has to be received within so many days after the election in order to be counted. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES asked if they ever get military ballots from overseas that do not have a postmark. MS. FENUMIAI did not know. REPRESENTATIVE JAMES said all the mail she had received from her husband when he was in military service came without a postmark. That was a long time ago, and she wondered what the situation is now. She has heard concern from military personnel that they have no control over when mail is posted when they are at sea or on a mission. MS. FENUMIAI said "special advance overseas" ballots are sent 60 days in advance to military personnel who are going to be out of the state at election time. She does not recall seeing one [come back] that did not have a postmark, but she remembers seeing a lot of federal FPO and APO postmarks with the dates on them. Number 1774 REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS asked if the question [addressed by HB 109] could be approached from the other direction, by making sure that no ballot gets through without a signature. He asked how the signing takes place and what the procedure is. MS. FENUMIAI said when a voter goes to a polling place ... to vote a questioned ballot, the election official gives the voter an envelope to fill out, the voter returns it to the election official, and [the official] signs the envelope. The voter signs the questioned register, which is supposed to already have a signature on it from the official at the start of business that day. The voter then takes the ballot into the voting booth, returns it to the official, and puts it inside the envelope. Then [the envelope] is put into a special bin in the ballot box, which at the end of the night is taken out, counted to go through the ballot accountability process, then delivered to the regional office on election night for review. REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS asked, "Then it never goes through the Accu-Vote System? At the polling place, [the voter] goes back to the official and that's when the voter signs it, or has the voter already signed the form by that time?" MS. FENUMIAI said the voter signs the envelope when completing the information on the envelope. REPRESENTATIVE STEVENS asked, "So you take it back to the voting official and that's when they sign it, after the voter has completed it?" MS. FENUMIAI replied, "Yes, and the ballot is sealed in that envelope. It does not go through the precinct tabulator until it has been reviewed by the [election] board. Number 1888 REPRESENTATIVE CRAWFORD recalled that in the election in 1996, before the Accu-Vote System, in one of his precincts, the number of questioned ballots that were put out and the numbers that were received didn't match. "We never did find out exactly why that was, and I lost my first election by 18 votes, and I was really concerned. Can you give me an idea what might [have happened] to those questioned ballots?" MS. FENUMIAI offered her "best guess," saying that a ballot instead of being returned to the election official to be put in the envelope may [instead] have been put directly into the ballot box. She said that happens on rare occasions, and might have happened in 1996. Number 1992 CHAIR COGHILL wondered if with the new Accu-Vote System, that "would put a money wrench in the works" by [the ballot] not going into the Accu-Vote machine. MS. FENUMIAI said the ballot could still go into the machine because [those people voting questioned ballots] vote on the same kind of ballot as a person who sign the precinct register. The election officials are sitting there and they try to watch who takes a questioned ballot and tell the voter to come back to the table to put the [questioned] ballot inside [the envelope], and then the envelope is sealed. Number 2000 CHAIR COGHILL asked how many people voted in the last general election. MS. FENUMIAI estimated about 227,000. CHAIR COGHILL asked, "We had three mishaps?" MS. FENUMIAI replied, "Yes." CHAIR COGHILL said he was not trying to change the world, but just trying to give the benefit [of doubt to the voter on] that very, very rare occasion [when a volunteer election official makes a mistake]. MS. FENUMIAI said statewide, there were 61,000 people who voted [absentee], and two ballots were rejected for that reason. CHAIR COGHILL said if he'd lost by one vote, and known that his vote, "was the one that wasn't counted but would have made the difference ...[laughter] .... That's where we're trying to get." Number 2068 REPRESENTATIVE JAMES moved to report HB 109 out of committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being no objection, HB 109 was passed out of the House State Affairs Standing Committee.
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