GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

SESSION 1991

H	2 

HOUSE BILL 106
Committee Substitute Favorable 4/22/91

Short Title:  Mail-In Voter Registr.	(Public)
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Sponsors:
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Referred to:  
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February 20, 1991

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO ALLOW VOTER REGISTRATION BY MAIL.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  Chapter 163 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 163-72.4. Registration by mail.
(a)	In addition to any other procedure provided by this Article, a person may apply by mail to register to vote as provided by this section.
(b)	The State Board of Elections shall develop a registration by mail form, which shall request sufficient information to enable officials of the county where registration is desired to satisfactorily process the application.  The State Board of Elections shall print sufficient copies of the form so that they may be publicly distributed.  Registration forms shall be available from the State Board of Elections and county boards of elections, and may be distributed by any person.
(c)	In order to be valid, the registration form shall be signed by the applicant and by two persons who witnessed the signing of the application form by the applicant.  To be valid for an election, the form must be postmarked at least 30 days before the election.  The application form shall request the applicant's telephone number to assist the appropriate board of elections in contacting the voter if needed in processing the application.  The application shall require the voter to state if the voter is currently registered to vote anywhere, and at what address, so that any prior registration can be cancelled.  If 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. 163-72.2.
(d)	The application shall ask for political party affiliation and briefly explain the law relating to party affiliation with respect to voting in primary elections.
(e)	The application made under this section shall be under oath, and any person who wilfully and knowingly and with fraudulent intent gives false information under oath shall be guilty of a Class I felony.
(f)	Upon receipt of an application under this section, the county board of elections shall send, by nonforwardable first-class mail, a notice of registration at the postal address on the registration form, including an assignment of precinct and polling place.  If the notice is returned as undeliverable, a second nonforwardable first-class mailing shall be sent.  If that notice is returned as undeliverable, the registration shall be cancelled if it has been approved and shall be rejected if it has not yet been approved.
(g)	If a registration form is a duplicate of one already made, the applicant shall be so notified.  The reminder shall include the voter's precinct and polling place.
(h)	If the voter has listed a previous registration not in that county, the county board of elections shall treat it as an authorization to cancel the previous registration and also process it as such under the procedures of G.S. 163-72.1(c) through (e).
(i)	The application shall require that the applicant pay the full postage required by federal law, except that if federal law provides that it may be carried without postage, the application shall contain the appropriate franking language to allow it to be carried without postage."
Sec. 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the State Board of Elections the sum of $77,500 for the 1991-92 fiscal year and the sum of $38,500 for the 1992-93 fiscal year to implement the mail registration provisions of Section 1 of this act.
Sec. 3.  This act becomes effective January 1, 1992.