Bill Text: NC H455 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Voting Improvement Act
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 19-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-28 - Ref To Com On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House [H455 Detail]
Download: North_Carolina-2013-H455-Amended.html
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2013
H 1
HOUSE BILL 455
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Short Title: Voting Improvement Act. |
(Public) |
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Sponsors: |
Representatives Pierce, L. Hall, Michaux, and McManus (Primary Sponsors). For a complete list of Sponsors, refer to the North Carolina General Assembly Web Site. |
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Referred to: |
Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House. |
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March 28, 2013
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to improve voting in north carolina.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
EARLY VOTING IMPROVEMENTS
SECTION 1.1. G.S. 163‑227.2(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b) Not earlier than the third Thursday before an election, in which absentee ballots are authorized, in which a voter seeks to vote and not later than 1:00 P.M. on the last Saturday before that election, the voter shall appear in person only at the office of the county board of elections, except as provided in subsection (g) of this section. A county board of elections shall conduct one‑stop voting on the last Saturday before the election until 1:00 P.M. and may conduct it until 5:00 P.M. on that Saturday. One‑stop voting shall also be conducted on election day but only at the office of the county board of elections, or if the board chose under subsection (g) of this section not to offer one‑stop voting at the board of elections, then at the one site reasonably proximate to the county board of elections office that was approved under that subsection. That voter shall enter the voting enclosure at the board office through the appropriate entrance and shall at once state his or her name and place of residence to an authorized member or employee of the board. In a primary election, the voter shall also state the political party with which the voter affiliates and in whose primary the voter desires to vote, or if the voter is an unaffiliated voter permitted to vote in the primary of a particular party under G.S. 163‑119, the voter shall state the name of the authorizing political party in whose primary he wishes to vote. The board member or employee to whom the voter gives this information shall announce the name and residence of the voter in a distinct tone of voice. After examining the registration records, an employee of the board shall state whether the person seeking to vote is duly registered. If the voter is found to be registered that voter may request that the authorized member or employee of the board furnish the voter with an application form as specified in G.S. 163‑227. The voter shall complete the application in the presence of the authorized member or employee of the board, and shall deliver the application to that person."
SECTION 1.2. G.S. 163‑227.2(b) and (f) read as rewritten:
"(b) Not earlier than the third Thursday before an
election, in which absentee ballots are authorized, in which a voter seeks to
vote and not later than 1:00 P.M. on the last Saturday before that election,
the voter shall appear in person only at the office of the county board of
elections, except as provided in subsection (g) of this section. A county board
of elections shall conduct one‑stop voting on the last Saturday before
the election until 1:00 P.M. and may conduct it until 5:00 P.M. on that Saturday.Saturday,
except that during each of the first primary and general elections in even‑numbered
years the county board of elections shall conduct at least 20 hours of one‑stop
voting in total between Saturdays and Sundays, with not less than six nor more
than eight of those 20 hours on the final Saturday. That voter shall enter
the voting enclosure at the board office through the appropriate entrance and
shall at once state his or her name and place of residence to an authorized
member or employee of the board. In a primary election, the voter shall also
state the political party with which the voter affiliates and in whose primary
the voter desires to vote, or if the voter is an unaffiliated voter permitted
to vote in the primary of a particular party under G.S. 163‑119, the
voter shall state the name of the authorizing political party in whose primary
he wishes to vote. The board member or employee to whom the voter gives this
information shall announce the name and residence of the voter in a distinct
tone of voice. After examining the registration records, an employee of the
board shall state whether the person seeking to vote is duly registered. If the
voter is found to be registered that voter may request that the authorized
member or employee of the board furnish the voter with an application form as
specified in G.S. 163‑227. The voter shall complete the application
in the presence of the authorized member or employee of the board, and shall
deliver the application to that person.
…
(f) Notwithstanding the exception specified in G.S. 163‑36,
counties which operate a modified full‑time office shall remain open five
days each week during regular business hours consistent with daily hours
presently observed by the county board of elections, commencing with the date
prescribed in G.S. 163‑227.2(b) and continuing until 5:00 P.M. on
the Friday prior to that election and shall also be open on the last Saturday
before the election. election, and during each of the first primary
and general elections in even‑numbered years the county board of
elections shall conduct at least 20 hours of one‑stop voting in total
between Saturdays and Sundays, with not less than six nor more than eight of
those 20 hours on the final Saturday. A county board may conduct one‑stop
absentee voting during evenings or on weekends, as long as the hours are part
of a plan submitted and approved according to subsection (g) of this section.
The boards of county commissioners shall provide necessary funds for the
additional operation of the office during that time."
SECTION 1.3. G.S. 163‑227.2(g) reads as rewritten:
"(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of this
section, a county board of elections by unanimous vote of all its members may
provide for one or more sites in that county for absentee ballots to be applied
for and cast under this section. section, except that in any
incorporated municipality with a population of 15,000 or over that has a public
or private college campus, in addition to the required site at the board of
elections office if applicable, there shall be at least one site in that
municipality for the general election in even‑numbered years. Every
individual staffing any of those sites shall be a member or full‑time
employee of the county board of elections or an employee of the county board of
elections whom the board has given training equivalent to that given a full‑time
employee. Those sites must be approved by the State Board of Elections as part
of a Plan for Implementation approved by both the county board of elections and
by the State Board of Elections which shall also provide adequate security of
the ballots and provisions to avoid allowing persons to vote who have already
voted. The Plan for Implementation shall include a provision for the presence
of political party observers at each one‑stop site equivalent to the
provisions in G.S. 163‑45 for party observers at voting places on
election day. A county board of elections may propose in its Plan not to offer
one‑stop voting at the county board of elections office; the State Board
may approve that proposal in a Plan only if the Plan includes at least one site
reasonably proximate to the county board of elections office and the State
Board finds that the sites in the Plan as a whole provide adequate coverage of
the county's electorate. If a county board of elections has considered a
proposed Plan or Plans for Implementation and has been unable to reach
unanimity in favor of a Plan, a member or members of that county board of
elections may petition the State Board of Elections to adopt a plan for it. If
petitioned, the State Board may also receive and consider alternative petitions
from another member or members of that county board. The State Board of
Elections may adopt a Plan for that county. The State Board, in that plan,
shall take into consideration factors including geographic, demographic, and
partisan interests of that county."
STATE EMPLOYEES LEAVE DAY TO SERVE AS ELECTION OFFICIALS/VACATION DAY FOR GENERAL ELECTION
SECTION 2.1. G.S. 126‑4 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(5b) A policy allowing employees to take 24 hours per year of paid leave for election service. For purposes of this section, "election service" means service as a precinct official as provided in G.S. 163‑42 on election day. In the policy, the Commission shall provide for leave with full pay for any hours of election service for which the employee is not compensated by a board of elections. The Commission shall provide that the leave shall be in addition to any vacation leave or sick leave to which the employee is already entitled. Employees must receive approval from their supervisor to use leave under this subdivision. The agency may require proof that leave is taken within the purpose of this subdivision. The Commission may satisfy the requirements of this subdivision by including paid leave for election service as an option within another paid leave policy for community service. If it does so, the Commission may limit to 24 hours per year the paid leave for all forms of service under that policy an employee takes."
SECTION 2.2. G.S. 163‑46 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163‑46. Compensation of precinct officials and assistants.
The precinct chief judge shall be paid the state minimum wage for his services on the day of a primary, special or general election. Judges of election shall each be paid the state minimum wage for their services on the day of a primary, special or general election. Assistants, appointed pursuant to G.S. 163‑42, shall each be paid the state minimum wage for their services on the day of a primary, special or general election. Ballot counters appointed pursuant to G.S. 163‑43 shall be paid a minimum of five dollars ($5.00) for their services on the day of a primary, general or special election. If an election official is being paid an hourly wage or daily fee on an election day and the official is performing additional election duties away from the assigned precinct voting place, the official shall not be entitled to any additional monies for those services, except for reimbursable expenses in performing the services.
If the county board of elections requests the presence of a chief judge or judge at the county canvass, the chief judge shall be paid the sum of twenty dollars ($20.00) per day and judges shall be paid the sum of fifteen dollars ($15.00) per day. If the county board of elections requests a precinct official, including chief judge or judge, to personally deliver official ballots or other official materials to the county board of elections, the precinct official shall be paid the sum of twenty dollars ($20.00) per day and judges shall be paid the sum of fifteen dollars ($15.00) per day.
The chairman of the county board of elections, along with the director of elections, shall conduct an instructional meeting prior to each primary and general election which shall be attended by each chief judge and judge of election, unless excused by the chairman, and such precinct election officials shall be paid the sum of fifteen dollars ($15.00) for attending the instructional meetings required by this section.
In its discretion, the board of county commissioners of any county may provide funds with which the county board of elections may pay chief judges, judges, assistants, and ballot counters in addition to the amounts specified in this section. Observers shall be paid no compensation for their services.
A person appointed to serve as chief judge, or judge of election when a previously appointed chief judge or judge fails to appear at the voting place or leaves his post on the day of an election or primary shall be paid the same compensation as the chief judge or judge appointed prior to that date.
For the purpose of this section, the phrase "the State minimum wage", means the amount set by G.S. 95‑25.3(a). For the purpose of this section, no other provision of Article 2A of Chapter 95 of the General Statutes shall apply.
The county board of elections shall not compensate a precinct official for any hours worked for which the precinct official takes paid leave subject to a policy adopted pursuant to G.S. 126‑4(5b)."
SECTION 2.3. G.S. 126‑4(5) reads as rewritten:
"§ 126‑4. Powers and duties of State Personnel Commission.
Subject to the approval of the Governor, the State Personnel Commission shall establish policies and rules governing each of the following:
…
(5) Hours and days of work, holidays, vacation, sick
leave, and other matters pertaining to the conditions of employment. The legal
public holidays established by the Commission as paid holidays for State
employees shall include the date of the general election (the Tuesday after
the first Monday of November in even‑numbered years), Martin Luther
King, Jr.'s Birthday, and Veterans Day. The Other than the date of
the general election, the Commission shall not provide for more than 11
paid holidays per year except that in those years in which Christmas Day falls
on a Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, the Commission shall not provide for more
than 12 paid holidays.
…."
SECTION 2.4. G.S. 115C‑84.2(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b) Limitations. – The following limitations apply when developing the school calendar:
(1) The total number of teacher workdays for teachers employed for a 10 month term shall not exceed 195 days.
(2) The calendar shall include at least 42 consecutive days when teacher attendance is not required unless: (i) the school is a year‑round school; or (ii) the teacher is employed for a term in excess of 10 months. At the request of the local board of education or of the principal of a school, a teacher may elect to work on one of the 42 days when teacher attendance is not required in lieu of another scheduled workday.
(3) School shall not be held on Sundays.
(4) The date of the general election (the Tuesday after the first Monday of November in even‑numbered years) and Veterans Day shall be a holiday for all public school personnel and for all students enrolled in the public schools."
RESTORE HAVA FUNDS
SECTION 3.1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the State Board of Elections the sum of three hundred ninety thousand eight hundred seventy‑one dollars ($390,871) for the 2013‑2014 fiscal year to meet federal Help America Vote Act (HAVA) Title II Maintenance of Effort requirements. Those funds may be expended for purposes authorized by the Help America Vote Act to improve elections in North Carolina.
VOTER REGISTRATION IMPROVEMENTS
SECTION 4.1. The State Board of Elections shall create an online system for registering to vote and reporting changes in address and affiliation, with access available at public libraries, community colleges, and Employment Security (Job Link) locations.
SECTION 4.2. G.S. 163‑82.19(a) reads as rewritten:
"(a) Voter Registration at Drivers License Offices. – The Division of Motor Vehicles shall, pursuant to the rules adopted by the State Board of Elections, modify its forms so that any eligible person who applies for original issuance, renewal or correction of a drivers license, or special identification card issued under G.S. 20‑37.7 may, on a part of the form, complete an application to register to vote, or to update the voter's registration if the voter has changed his or her address or moved from one precinct to another or from one county to another, or to preregister to vote. The person taking the application shall ask if the applicant is a citizen of the United States. If the applicant states that the applicant is not a citizen of the United States, or declines to answer the question, the person taking the application shall inform the applicant that it is a felony for a person who is not a citizen of the United States to apply to register to vote. If the applicant states that the applicant is a citizen of the United States and is of age to register to vote, the person taking the application shall affirmatively inform the applicant of the opportunity provided by this subsection to register to vote or update the voter's registration. Any person who willfully and knowingly and with fraudulent intent gives false information on the application is guilty of a Class I felony. The application shall state in clear language the penalty for violation of this section. The necessary forms shall be prescribed by the State Board of Elections. The form must ask for the previous voter registration address of the voter, if any. If a previous address is listed, and it is not in the county of residence of the applicant, the appropriate county board of elections shall treat the application as an authorization to cancel the previous registration and also process it as such under the procedures of G.S. 163‑82.9. If a previous address is listed and that address is in the county where the voter applies to register, the application shall be processed as if it had been submitted under G.S. 163‑82.9.
Registration shall become effective as provided in G.S. 163‑82.7. Applications to register to vote accepted at a drivers license office under this section until the deadline established in G.S. 163‑82.6(c)(2) shall be treated as timely made for an election, and no person who completes an application at that drivers license office shall be denied the vote in that election for failure to apply earlier than that deadline.
All applications shall be forwarded by the Department of Transportation to the appropriate board of elections not later than five business days after the date of acceptance, according to rules which shall be promulgated by the State Board of Elections. Those rules shall provide for a paperless, instant, electronic transfer of applications to the appropriate board of elections. Applications for preregistration to vote shall be forwarded to the State Board of Elections."
SECTION 4.3. G.S. 163‑82.20(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b) Duties of Voter Registration Agencies. – A voter registration agency described in subsection (a) of this section shall, unless the applicant declines, in writing, to register or preregister to vote:
(1) Distribute with each application for service or assistance, and with each recertification, renewal, or change of address relating to such service or assistance:
a. The voter registration application form described in G.S. 163‑82.3(a) or (b); or
b. The voter registration agency's own form, if it is substantially equivalent to the form described in G.S. 163‑82.3(a) or (b) and has been approved by the State Board of Elections, provided that the agency's own form may be a detachable part of the agency's paper application or may be a paperless computer process, as long as the applicant is required to sign an attestation as part of the application to register or preregister.
(1a) Affirmatively inform each applicant of the opportunity to register to vote if the applicant is eligible.
(2) Provide a form that contains the elements required by section 7(a)(6)(B) of the National Voter Registration Act; and
(3) Provide to each applicant who does not decline to register or preregister to vote the same degree of assistance with regard to the completion of the registration application as is provided by the office with regard to the completion of its own forms."
ELECTION EDUCATION IMPROVEMENTS
SECTION 5.1. G.S. 163‑41 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
"(a1) All chief justices and judges must be certified as knowledgeable on election laws and procedures related to voting. Certification shall be provided online, through community college curricula, or by on‑site training by the county board of elections."
SECTION 5.2. The State Board of Elections shall publish in conjunction with the "Judicial Voter Guide" under G.S. 163‑278.69 and the "Voter Guide" under G.S. 163‑278.99E a voter guide in regional editions covering all State legislative races and statewide races not covered in those two guides.
SECTION 5.3. G.S. 115C–81(g)(1) reads as rewritten:
"(g) Civic Literacy. –
(1) Local boards of education shall require during the high school years the teaching of a semester course "American History I – The Founding Principles," to include at least the following:
a. The Creator‑endowed inalienable rights of the people.
b. Structure of government, separation of powers with checks and balances.
c. Frequent and free elections in a representative government.
government, specifically including the process of voting and registering to
vote.
d. Rule of law.
e. Equal justice under the law.
f. Private property rights.
g. Federalism.
h. Due process.
i. Individual rights as set forth in the Bill of Rights.
j. Individual responsibility.
A passing grade in the course shall be required for graduation from high school."
VOTER INTIMIDATION
SECTION 6.1 G.S. 163‑275 is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"§ 163‑275. Certain acts declared felonies.
Any person who shall, in connection with any primary, general or special election held in this State, do any of the acts or things declared in this section to be unlawful, shall be guilty of a Class I felony. It shall be unlawful:
…
(19) For any person, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote or aiding another person in registering to vote in any election. Any person who attempts to commit any offense described in this subdivision shall be subject to the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense that the person attempted to commit."
SECTION 6.2. There is established jointly within the offices of the State Board of Elections and the Department of Justice a voter intimidation registry to track the location of persons who are convicted of a violation of G.S. 163‑275(19).
SECTION 7. This act becomes effective January 1, 2014.
