early voting; identification; emergency voting

SB1229 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
early voting; identification; emergency voting

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1229

Introduced by

Senator
Fernandez

AN
ACT

amending sections 16-246, 16-542, 16-550,
16-552, 16-572 and 16-579, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to elections.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 16-246, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-246.

Early balloting; satellite locations; additional procedures

A. Within ninety-three days before the
presidential preference election and not later than 5:00 p.m. on the eleventh
day preceding the election, any elector who is eligible to vote in the
presidential preference election may make a verbal or signed, written request
for an official early ballot to the county recorder or other officer in charge
of elections for the county in which the elector is registered to
vote. If the request is verbal, the requesting elector shall provide
the date of birth and birthplace or other information that if compared to the
voter registration records for that elector would confirm the identity of the
elector.

B. Absent uniformed services voters or overseas
voters who are otherwise eligible to vote in the election may vote as
prescribed by sections 16-543 and 16-543.02.

C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections may establish on-site early voting locations at the office of
the county recorder or at other locations in the county deemed necessary or
appropriate by the recorder. Early voting shall begin within the
time limits prescribed in section 16-542 unless otherwise prescribed by
this section.

D. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall send by nonforwardable mail that is marked with the statement
required by the postmaster to receive an address correction notification any
early ballots that are requested pursuant to subsections A and B of this
section and shall include a preaddressed envelope for the elector to return the
completed ballot.

E. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall provide to each election board an appropriate alphabetized list
of voters who have requested and have been sent an early ballot. Any
person who is on that list of voters and who was sent an early ballot shall not
vote at the polling place for that election precinct except as prescribed by
section 16-579, subsection B.

F. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections may provide for
any of the following

special election boards
in the same manner prescribed by law
for other elections
.
:

1. Special election boards.

2. Emergency balloting for persons who
experience an emergency after 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the
presidential preference election and before 5:00 p.m. on the Monday immediately
preceding the presidential preference election. Before receiving a
ballot pursuant to this paragraph, a person who experiences an emergency shall
provide identification as prescribed in section 16-579 and shall sign a
statement under penalty of perjury that states that the person is experiencing
or experienced an emergency after 5:00 p.m. on the Friday immediately preceding
the election and before 5:00 p.m. on the Monday immediately preceding the
election that would prevent the person from voting at the
polls. Signed statements received pursuant to this subsection are
not subject to inspection pursuant to title 39, chapter 1, article 2.

G. Notwithstanding section 16-579,
subsection A, paragraph 2, for emergency balloting pursuant to subsection F,
paragraph 2 of this section, the county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections may allow a qualified elector to update the elector's voter
registration information as provided for in the secretary of state's
instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452.

H.

G.
Sections
16-550, 16-551 and 16-552 govern the use of early balloting
for the presidential preference election.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 16-542, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-542.

Request for ballot; civil penalties; violation; classification

A. Within ninety-three days before any
election called pursuant to the laws of this state, an elector may make a
verbal or signed request to the county recorder, or other officer in charge of
elections for the applicable political subdivision of this state in whose jurisdiction
the elector is registered to vote, for an official early ballot.� In addition
to name and address, the requesting elector shall provide the date of birth and
state or country of birth or other information that if compared to the voter
registration information on file would confirm the identity of the
elector. If the request indicates that the elector needs a primary
election ballot and a general election ballot, the county recorder or other
officer in charge of elections shall honor the request.� For any partisan
primary election, if the elector is not registered as a member of a political
party that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot pursuant to
section 16-804, the elector shall designate the ballot of only one of the
political parties that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot
and the elector may receive and vote the ballot of only that one political
party, which also shall include any nonpartisan offices and ballot questions,
or the elector shall designate the ballot for nonpartisan offices and ballot
questions only and the elector may receive and vote the ballot that contains
only nonpartisan offices and ballot questions. The county recorder
or other officer in charge of elections shall process any request for an early
ballot for a municipal election pursuant to this subsection. The
county recorder
may

shall
establish
on-site early voting locations at the recorder's office, which shall be
open and available for use beginning the same day that a county begins to send
out the early ballots.�
The early voting locations, including
the locations at the county recorder's offices, shall be open until 7:00 p.m.
on the Saturday and Sunday immediately preceding election day. On
the Monday immediately preceding election day, the early voting locations,
including the locations at the county recorder's offices, shall be open until
at least 3:00 p.m. and may be open until 7:00 p.m., as determined by the county
recorder.
The county recorder may also establish any other
early voting locations in the county the recorder deems
necessary. Any on-site early voting location or other early voting
location shall require each elector to present identification as prescribed in
section 16-579 before receiving a ballot.� Notwithstanding section 16-579,
subsection A, paragraph 2, at any on-site early voting location or other early
voting location the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections may
provide for a qualified elector to update the elector's voter registration
information as provided for in the secretary of state's instructions and
procedures manual adopted pursuant to section 16-452.

B. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, a
request for an official early ballot from an absent uniformed services voter or
overseas voter as defined in the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee
voting act (P.L. 99-410; 52 United States Code section 20310) or a voter
whose information is protected pursuant to section 16-153 that is
received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections more
than ninety-three days before the election is valid. If
requested by the absent uniformed services or overseas voter, or a voter whose
information is protected pursuant to section 16-153, the county recorder
or other officer in charge of elections shall provide to the requesting voter
early ballot materials through the next regularly scheduled general election
for federal office immediately following receipt of the request unless a different
period of time, which does not exceed the next two regularly scheduled general
elections for federal office, is designated by the voter.

C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall mail the early ballot and the envelope for its return postage
prepaid to the address provided by the requesting elector within five days
after receipt of the official early ballots from the officer charged by law
with the duty of preparing ballots pursuant to section 16-545, except
that early ballot distribution shall not begin more than twenty-seven days
before the election. If an early ballot request is received on or
before the thirty-first day before the election, the early ballot shall
be distributed not earlier than the twenty-seventh day before the election and
not later than the twenty-fourth day before the election.

D. Only the elector
may be in possession of that elector's unvoted early ballot. If a
complete and correct request is made by the elector within twenty-seven
days before the election, the mailing must be made within forty-eight
hours after receipt of the request. Saturdays, Sundays and other
legal holidays are excluded from the computation of the forty-eight-hour
period prescribed by this subsection.� If a complete and correct request is
made by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter before the
election, the regular early ballot shall be transmitted by mail, by fax or by
other electronic format approved by the secretary of state within twenty-four
hours after the early ballots are delivered pursuant to section 16-545,
subsection B, excluding Sundays.

E. In order to be complete and correct and to
receive an early ballot by mail, an elector's request that an early ballot be
mailed to the elector's residence or temporary address must include all of the information
prescribed by subsection A of this section and must be received by the county
recorder or other officer in charge of elections not later than 5:00 p.m. on
the eleventh day preceding the election. An elector who appears
personally not later than 7:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election at an
on-site early voting location that is established by the county recorder
or other officer in charge of elections shall be given a ballot after
presenting identification as prescribed in section 16-579 and shall be
allowed to vote at the on-site location.� Notwithstanding section 16-579,
subsection A, paragraph 2, at any on-site early voting location the county
recorder or other officer in charge of elections may provide for a qualified
elector to update the elector's voter registration information as provided for
in the secretary of state's instructions and procedures manual adopted pursuant
to section 16-452. If an elector's request to receive an early
ballot is not complete and correct but complies with all other requirements of
this section, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall
attempt to notify the elector of the deficiency of the request.

F. Unless an elector specifies that the address to
which an early ballot is to be sent is a temporary address, the recorder may
use the information from an early ballot request form to update voter
registration records.

G. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
early balloting shall provide an alphabetized list of all voters in the
precinct who have requested and have been sent an early ballot to the election
board of the precinct in which the voter is registered not later than the day
before the election.

H. As a result of experiencing an
emergency between 7:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election and 5:00 p.m.
on the Monday preceding the election, qualified electors may request to vote in
the manner prescribed by the board of supervisors of their respective
county. Before voting pursuant to this subsection, an elector who
experiences an emergency shall provide identification as prescribed in section
16-579 and shall sign a statement under penalty of perjury that states
that the person is experiencing or experienced an emergency after 7:00 p.m. on
the Friday immediately preceding the election and before 5:00 p.m. on the
Monday immediately preceding the election that would prevent the person from
voting at the polls.� Signed statements received pursuant to this subsection
are not subject to inspection pursuant to title 39, chapter 1, article 2.� For
the purposes of this subsection, "emergency" means any unforeseen
circumstances that would prevent the elector from voting at the polls.

I. Notwithstanding section 16-579,
subsection A, paragraph 2, for any voting pursuant to subsection H of this
section, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections may allow
a qualified elector to update the elector's voter registration information as
provided for in the secretary of state's instructions and procedures manual
adopted pursuant to section 16-452.

J.

h.
A
candidate, political committee or other organization may distribute early
ballot request forms to voters. If the early ballot request forms
include a printed address for return, the addressee shall be the political
subdivision that will conduct the election.� Failure to use the political
subdivision as the return addressee is punishable by a civil penalty of up to
three times the cost of the production and distribution of the request.

K.

i.
All
original and completed early ballot request forms that are received by a
candidate, political committee or other organization shall be submitted within
six business days after receipt by a candidate, political committee or other
organization or eleven days before the election day, whichever is earlier, to
the political subdivision that will conduct the election. Any
person, political committee or other organization that fails to submit a
completed early ballot request form within the prescribed time is subject to a
civil penalty of up to $25 per day for each completed form withheld from
submittal. Any person who knowingly fails to submit a completed
early ballot request form before the submission deadline for the election
immediately following the completion of the form is guilty of a class 6 felony.

L.

j.
Except
for a voter who is on the active early voting list prescribed by section 16-544,
a voter who requests a onetime early ballot pursuant to this section or for an
election conducted pursuant to section 16-409 or article 8.1 of this
chapter, a county recorder, city or town clerk or other election officer may
not deliver or mail an early ballot to a person who has not requested an early
ballot for that election.� An election officer who knowingly violates this
subsection is guilty of a class 5 felony.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 3. Section 16-550, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-550.

Receipt of voter's ballot; cure period; tracking system

A. Except for early ballots tabulated as prescribed
in section 16-579.02 or
, beginning in 2026,
received

or issued
at a voting location after a voter's
identification is confirmed as prescribed by section 16-579, subsection
A, paragraph 4, on receipt of the envelope containing the early ballot and the
mail affidavit, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections
shall compare the signature on the envelope with the signature of the elector
on the elector's registration record as prescribed by section 16-550.01. If
the signature is inconsistent with the elector's signature on the elector's
registration record, the county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall make reasonable efforts to contact the voter, advise the voter
of the inconsistent signature and allow the voter to correct or the county to
confirm the inconsistent signature. The county recorder or other
officer in charge of elections shall allow signatures to be corrected not later
than the fifth business day after a primary, general or special election that
includes a federal office or the third business day after any other
election. If the election is a primary, general or special election
that includes a federal office and there are outstanding ballots that require
identification or ballot signatures to be corrected or confirmed, in addition
to the office's regular business hours, the county recorder's and any city or
town clerks' offices that have an agreement with a county to be used as
locations at which a voter may submit proof of identification shall be open
during regular business hours to allow for curing signatures during the Friday
and weekend before and the Friday and weekend after the election.� Regular
business hours include at a minimum 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. If
there are no ballots remaining that require identification or signatures to be
cured, the county recorder and city and town clerks are not required to be open
during the weekend. If the signature is missing, the county recorder
or other officer in charge of elections shall make reasonable efforts to
contact the elector, advise the elector of the missing signature and allow the
elector to add the elector's signature not later than 7:00 p.m. on election
day. If satisfied that the signatures correspond, the recorder or
other officer in charge of elections shall hold the envelope containing the
early ballot and the completed mail affidavit unopened in accordance with the
rules of the secretary of state.� Signatures that cannot be verified pursuant
to section 16-550.01 or cured pursuant to this section shall be
rejected. If the ballot is a conditional provisional ballot, the
voter shall provide proof of identification to the county recorder or other
officer in charge of elections not later than the fifth business day after a
primary, general or special election that includes a federal office or the
third business day after any other election. Beginning with the
first missing or mismatched signature that is identified after the period of early
voting begins through the Monday immediately preceding the election, the county
recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall submit daily to the
political parties that are qualified for continued representation on the state
ballot an updated list of all voters whose signatures are missing or
inconsistent with the voter's signature on the voter's registration
record. Beginning on the Wednesday immediately following the
election through the end of the signature cure period after a primary, general
or special election that includes a federal office, or the third business day
after the election for any other election, the county recorder or other officer
in charge of elections shall submit daily to the political parties that are
qualified for continued representation on the state ballot an updated list of
all voters whose signatures are inconsistent with the voter's signature on the
voter's registration record and all voters who voted with a conditional
provisional ballot.� This list of voters whose signatures require curing shall
include for those voters all voter information that is provided to the
political parties that are qualified for continued representation on the state
ballot as prescribed by section 16-168.

B. The recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall thereafter safely keep the mail affidavits and early ballots in
the recorder's or other officer's office and may deliver them for tallying
pursuant to section 16-551.

C. Processing and tabulation of individual ballots
may begin immediately after the envelope and completed mail affidavit are
processed pursuant to this section and delivered to the early election board
and shall continue without delay until completed.� Until election day, the
early election board and the county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall:

1. Not access an aggregated complete results file of
early voting and vote by mail ballots that were processed and tabulated by the
end of the early voting period.

2. Not produce for internal or external use an
aggregated results report or associated files of complete results.

3. Only produce a partial results report or
associated files if it is part of the internal preparation for the hand count
pursuant to section 16-602 or for the logic and accuracy testing required
pursuant to section 16-449.

4. Not publicly release complete or partial results,
whether for internal or external use, until all precincts have reported or one
hour after the closing of the polls on election day, whichever is earlier.

D. The county
recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall post on its website
within forty-eight hours after all ballot tabulation is complete all system log
files and other similar files from the election management system that verify
compliance with subsection C of this section.

E. The county recorder shall send a list of all
voters who were issued early ballots to the election board of the precinct in
which the voter is registered.

F. For a county that uses early ballots, the county
recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall provide an early ballot
tracking system that indicates whether the voter's early ballot has been
received and whether the early ballot has been verified and sent to be
tabulated or rejected.� The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections shall provide voters with access to the early ballot tracking system
on the county's website.

G. This section does not apply to:

1. A special taxing district that is authorized
pursuant to section 16-191 to conduct its own elections.

2. A special district mail ballot election that is
conducted pursuant to article 8.1 of this chapter.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 4. Section 16-552, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-552.

Early ballots; processing; challenges

A. In a jurisdiction that uses optical scan ballots,
the officer in charge of elections may use the procedure prescribed by this
section or may request approval from the secretary of state for a different
method for processing early ballots. The request shall be made in
writing at least ninety days before the election for which the procedure is
intended to be used.� After the election official has confirmed with the
secretary of state that all election equipment passes the logic and accuracy
test, the election official may begin to count early ballots.�
No

Early ballot results may
not
be released except as
prescribed by section 16-551.

B.
Except for an early ballot that is
issued and verified as prescribed by section 16-579, subsection A, paragraph 4
or that is mailed, presented by the voter at a voting location and verified as
prescribed by section 16-579, subsection A, paragraph 4,
the early
election board shall check the voter's mail
ballot

affidavit on the envelope containing the early ballot. If it is
found to be sufficient, the vote shall be allowed. If the mail
ballot
affidavit is insufficient, the vote shall not be
allowed. Beginning in 2026, for an early ballot that is received and
verified as prescribed by section 16-579, subsection A, paragraph 4,
additional signature verification is not required.

C. The county
chairman of each political party represented on the ballot, by written
appointment addressed to the early election board, may designate party
representatives and alternates to act as early ballot challengers for the
party.
No

a
party may
not
have more than the number of such representatives or
alternates that were mutually agreed on by each political party to be present
at one time. If such agreement cannot be reached, the number of
representatives shall be limited to one for each political party.

D. An early ballot may be challenged on any grounds
set forth in section 16-591. All challenges shall be made in
writing with a brief statement of the grounds before the early ballot is placed
in the ballot box. A record of all challenges and resulting
proceedings shall be kept in substantially the same manner as provided in
section 16-594. If an early ballot is challenged, it shall be
set aside and retained in the possession of the early election board or other
officer in charge of early ballot processing until a time that the early
election board sets for determination of the challenge, subject to the
procedure in subsection E of this section, at which time the
early election board shall hear the grounds for the challenge and
shall decide what disposition shall be made of the early ballot by majority
vote. If the early ballot is not allowed, it shall be handled
pursuant to subsection G of this section.

E. Within twenty-four hours
of
receipt of

after RECEIVING
a challenge, the early
election board or other officer in charge of early ballot processing shall
mail, by first class mail, a notice of the challenge including a copy of the
written challenge, and also including the time and place at which the voter may
appear to defend the challenge, to the voter at the mailing address shown on
the request for an early ballot or, if none was provided, to the mailing
address shown on the registration rolls.� Notice shall also be mailed to the
challenger at the address listed on the written challenge and provided to the
county chairman of each political party represented on the
ballot. The board shall meet to determine the challenge at the time
specified by the notice but, in any event, not earlier than ninety-six
hours after the notice is mailed, or forty-eight hours if the notifying
party chooses to deliver the notice by overnight or hand delivery, and not
later than 5:00 p.m. on the Monday following the election. The board
shall provide the voter with an informal opportunity to make, or to submit,
brief statements regarding the challenge. The board may decline to
permit
allow
comments, either in person or
in writing, by anyone other than the voter, the challenger and the party
representatives. The burden of proof is on the challenger to show
why the voter should not be
permitted

allowed
to vote. The fact that the voter fails to appear
shall not be deemed to be an admission of the validity of the
challenge. The early election board or other officer in charge of
early ballot processing is not required to provide the notices described in
this subsection if the written challenge fails to set forth at least one of the
grounds listed in section 16-591 as a basis for the
challenge. In that event, the challenge will be summarily rejected
at the meeting of the board.� Except for election contests pursuant to section
16-672, the board's decision is final and may not be appealed.

F. If the vote is allowed, the board shall open the
envelope containing the ballot in such a manner that the mail
ballot

affidavit
thereon
on the envelope
is
not destroyed, take out the ballot without unfolding it or
permitting
allowing
it to be opened or examined and show by the records
of the election that the elector has voted.

G. If the vote is not allowed, the mail
ballot
affidavit envelope containing the early ballot shall not
be opened and the board shall mark across the face of such envelope the grounds
for rejection. The mail
ballot
affidavit
envelope and its contents shall then be deposited with the opened mail
ballot
affidavit envelopes and shall be preserved with official
returns.� If the voter does not enter an appearance, the board shall send the
voter a notice stating whether the early ballot was disallowed and, if disallowed,
providing the grounds for the determination. The notice shall be
mailed by first class mail to the voter's mailing address as shown on the
registration rolls within three days after the board's determination.

H. Party representatives and alternates may be
appointed as provided in subsection C of this section to be present and to
challenge the verification of questioned ballots pursuant to section 16-584
on any grounds allowed by this section. Questioned ballots that are
challenged shall be presented to the early election board for decision under
the provisions of this section.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 5. Section 16-572, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-572.

Delivery and custody of ballots at polling place

A. On opening the polls, the inspector shall produce
the sealed package of official ballots and publicly open it and deliver one
book or block of ballots therein contained to the judges. The
inspector shall retain the
other blocks or books of ballots, if
any,
shall be retained by the inspector
until called for
by the judges and required for voting.

B. One of the judges of election shall keep the
ballots within the polling place in plain view of the public and deliver them
only to qualified voters.

C. A person shall not take or remove a ballot from
the polling place before the polls are closed
, except that early
ballots that are returned at voting locations on election day after a voter's
identification is confirmed as prescribed by section 16-579, subsection a,
paragraph 4 may be removed by two authorized election workers who must each be
a member of a different one of the two largest political parties, who have
completed a chain of custody log maintained at the voting location that
includes the total count of the early ballots being transported and who deliver
the ballots to a designated receiving site that is an official elections
facility and not a third party vendor. The chain of custody log for
early ballots returned at voting locations on election day shall be available
for inspection by the public, the political parties, committees representing
any ballot measures on the ballot and the candidates on the ballot within
forty-eight hours after election day
.
END_STATUTE

Sec. 6. Section 16-579, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
16-579.

Procedure for obtaining ballot by elector

A. Every qualified elector, before receiving a
ballot, shall announce the elector's name and place of residence in a clear,
audible tone of voice to the election official in charge of the signature
roster or present the elector's name and residence in writing. The
election official in charge of the signature roster shall comply with the
following and the qualified elector shall be allowed within the voting area
:

1. The elector shall present any of the following:

(a) A valid form of identification that bears the
photograph, name and address of the elector that reasonably appear to be the
same as the name and address in the precinct register, including an Arizona
driver license, an Arizona nonoperating identification license, a tribal
enrollment card or other form of tribal identification or a United States
federal, state or local government issued identification.� Identification is
deemed valid unless it can be determined on its face that it has expired.

(b) Two different items that contain the name and
address of the elector that reasonably appear to be the same as the name and
address in the precinct register, including a utility bill, a bank or credit
union statement that is dated within ninety days of the date of the election, a
valid Arizona vehicle registration, an Arizona vehicle insurance card, an
Indian census card, tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal
identification, a property tax statement, a recorder's certificate, a voter
registration card, a valid United States federal, state or local government
issued identification or any mailing that is labeled as "official election
material". Identification is deemed valid unless it can be
determined on its face that it has expired.

(c) A valid form of identification that bears the
photograph, name and address of the elector except that if the address on the
identification does not reasonably appear to be the same as the address in the
precinct register or the identification is a valid United States military
identification card or a valid United States passport and does not bear an
address, the identification must be accompanied by one of the items listed in
subdivision (b) of this paragraph.

2. If the elector
does not present identification that complies with paragraph 1 of this subsection,
the elector is only eligible to vote a provisional ballot as prescribed by
section 16-584 or a conditional provisional ballot as provided for in the
secretary of state's instruction and procedures manual adopted pursuant to
section 16-452.

3.
Through 2025

until the effective date of this amendment to this section
, if the voter
surrenders the early ballot to the precinct inspector and the voter is not
otherwise required to be issued a provisional ballot, the voter shall be issued
a standard ballot after presenting identification pursuant to this
subsection. The precinct inspector shall retain the surrendered
early ballot, unopened in its
mail
affidavit envelope.

4. Beginning
in 2026
on the effective date of this amendment to this section
, at
any voting location
during the period of early voting and on
election day,
the voter may choose to provide identification when
presenting the voter's mailed early ballot
or when the voter is
issued an early ballot
, and if so the election official shall:

(a) Require the voter to present identification that
complies with paragraph 1 of this subsection.

(b) Confirm that the name and address on the
identification reasonably appear to be the same name and address shown on the
voter's registration record.

(c) Stamp the signed
mail

affidavit with a stamp that reads "ID verified" and place the
stamped
mail
affidavit that contains the early ballot in
a secured ballot box that is labeled for early ballots. The stamped
mail

affidavit envelope is not
required to be reviewed at the voting location, the voter's early ballot is
deemed ready for tabulating and additional signature verification of the
completed
mail
affidavit envelope as prescribed by
section 16-550 is not required.

(d) Maintain a tally of the number of ballots that
have been deposited in the secured ballot box and sign an affidavit that
includes the election official's name, the polling location, the time and date,
the number of early ballots deposited according to the tally maintained by the
election official and a statement sufficient to record and maintain the chain
of custody for those ballots.

B. Any qualified elector who is listed as having
applied for an early ballot but who states that the elector has not voted and
will not vote an early ballot for this election or surrenders the early ballot
to the precinct inspector on election day shall be allowed to vote pursuant to
the procedure set forth in section 16-584, except that for elections
conducted using an electronic pollbook or similar system with continuous voter
usage updates, the following apply:

1. If the electronic pollbook or other system
indicates that the voter's early ballot has not been returned or accepted by
the county recorder and the voter is not otherwise required to be issued a
provisional ballot, the voter may be issued a standard ballot after presenting
identification pursuant to subsection A of this section.

2. If the electronic pollbook or other system
indicates that the voter's early ballot has been received or accepted by the
county recorder, the voter may not be issued a standard ballot and may only be
issued a provisional ballot as prescribed in section 16-584.

C. Each qualified elector's name shall be numbered
consecutively by the clerks and in the order of applications for ballots.� The
judge shall give the qualified elector only one ballot and a ballot privacy
folder, and the elector's name shall be immediately checked on the precinct
register.� Notwithstanding any provision of this subsection, an elector shall
not be required to accept or use a ballot privacy folder.

D. For precincts in which a paper signature roster
is used, each qualified elector shall sign the elector's name in the signature
roster before receiving a ballot, but an inspector or judge may sign the roster
for an elector who is unable to sign because of physical disability, and in
that event the name of the elector shall be written with red ink, and no
attestation or other proof shall be necessary. The provisions of
this subsection relating to signing the signature roster do not apply to
electors casting a ballot using early voting procedures.

E. For precincts in which an electronic poll book
system is used, each qualified elector shall sign the elector's name as
prescribed in the instructions and procedures manual adopted by the secretary
of state pursuant to section 16-452 before receiving a ballot, but an
inspector or judge may sign the roster for an elector who is unable to sign
because of physical disability, and in that event the name of the elector shall
be written with the inspector's or judge's attestation on the same signature
line.

F. A person offering to vote at a special district
election for which no special district register has been supplied shall sign an
affidavit stating the person's address and that the person resides within the
district boundaries or proposed district boundaries and swearing that the
person is a qualified elector and has not already voted at the election being
held.
END_STATUTE