SB273: Absentee voting; verification by social security number or unique identifier.

Legislative Summary

Elections; absentee voting; verification by social security number or unique identifier in lieu of witness signature. Requires the State Board of Elections to promulgate regulations for providing a unique identifier to any qualified voter who lacks a social security number and provides that such unique identifier can be accepted in place of a social security number for the purposes of voting absentee. The bill makes optional the current absentee ballot witness signature requirement by giving the voter the option to provide the last four digits of the voter's social security number and the voter's date of birth in lieu of a witness signature. The bill clarifies that verification of the required voter affirmation on absentee ballots by the general registrar includes matching any date of birth and last four digits of the social security number or assigned unique identifier provided as part of the voter affirmation against the information in the voter's registration record. Elections; absentee voting; verification by social security number or unique identifier in lieu of witness signature. Requires the State Board of Elections to promulgate regulations for providing a unique identifier to any qualified voter who lacks a social security number and provides that such unique identifier can be accepted in place of a social security number for the purposes of voting absentee. The bill makes optional the current absentee ballot witness signature requirement by giving the voter the option to provide the last four digits of the voter's social security number and the voter's date of birth in lieu of a witness signature. The bill clarifies that verification of the required voter affirmation on absentee ballots by the general registrar includes matching any date of birth and last four digits of the social security number or assigned unique identifier provided as part of the voter affirmation against the information in the voter's registration record.