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SB1569 - 572R - S Ver
Senate Engrossed
special election
boards; voter registration
State of Arizona
Senate
Fifty-seventh Legislature
Second Regular Session
2026
SENATE BILL 1569
AN
ACT
amending section 16-549, Arizona Revised Statutes;
relating to the conduct of elections.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it
enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 16-549, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:
START_STATUTE
16-549.
Special election boards; expenses; voting procedure for ill
electors or electors with disabilities
A. The county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections, for the purpose of making it possible for qualified electors who are
ill or have a disability to vote, may appoint such number of special election
boards as needed. In a partisan election, each such board shall
consist of two members, one from each of the two political parties that cast
the highest number of votes in the state in the last preceding general
election. The county chairman of each such party shall furnish,
within sixty days before the election day, the county recorder or other officer
in charge of elections with a list of names of qualified electors within the
chairman's political party, and such additional lists as may be required, from
which the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall appoint
members to such special election boards. The county recorder or
other officer in charge of elections may refuse for cause to appoint or may for
cause remove a member of this board. A person who is a candidate for
an office other than precinct committeeman is not eligible to serve on the
special election board for that election.
B. Members of special election boards appointed
under this section shall be reimbursed for travel expenses in the manner
provided by law and shall also receive such compensation as the board of
supervisors or the governing body prescribes, all of which shall be paid by the
county or other political subdivision.
C. In lieu of the mailed early ballot procedure, any
qualified elector who is confined as the result of a continuing illness or physical
disability and is, therefore, not able to go to the polls on the day of the
next election and who does not wish to vote by the mailed early ballot
procedure
,
may make a verbal or a signed written
request to the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to have
a ballot personally delivered to the elector by the special election board at
the elector's place of confinement within the county or other political
subdivision. The ballot shall be delivered to the elector in person
by a special election board as provided in this section. Such
requests must be made by 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday before the election.
D. Qualified electors who become ill or become a
person with a disability after the second Friday before the election may
nevertheless request personal ballot delivery pursuant to this section, and the
county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall when possible
honor such requests up to and including the last day before the election.
Qualified electors who are admitted to a hospital after 5:00 p.m. on the second
Friday preceding the election and before 5:00 p.m. on election day may request the
county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to provide a special
election board with a ballot at the elector's place of
confinement. If the county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections is able to accommodate the request, the voted ballot of the elector
shall be sealed in an envelope and shall be processed as a provisional ballot
pursuant to section 16-584. Before receiving a ballot pursuant to this
subsection, a qualified elector 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 second Friday 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.
E. The manner and procedure of voting shall be as
provided in section 16-548, except that the marked ballot in the sealed
envelope shall be handed by the elector to the special election board and shall
be delivered by the board to the county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections.
F.
In order to
ensure that a qualified elector's voter registration information is correct and
that the qualified elector RECEIVES the correct ballot, A special election
board member
may update any necessary voter registration
INFORMATION for the QUALIFIED electors that the special election board is
assigned to assist. A special election board member shall not
collect, process or otherwise facilitate a
new voter
registration
or change an existing voter registration for
any other person at that facility or location while acting for or on behalf of
the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections.
END_STATUTE