GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA

EXTRA SESSION 1994

H	1 

HOUSE BILL 116

Short Title:  Mail Registration.	(Public)
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Sponsors: Representatives Luebke; and Mosley.
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Referred to:  Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.
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February 14, 1994

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF A "MAIL-IN" VOTER REGISTRATION FORM IF IT IS SUBMITTED IN PERSON OR IF IT LACKS A READABLE POSTMARK; AND TO CHANGE THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION TO AVOID ITS FALLING ON A SUNDAY.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
Section 1.  G.S. 163-72.4 reads as rewritten:
"§ 163-72.4.  Registration by 'mail'.
	(a)	In addition to any other procedure provided by this Article, a person may apply by mail under this section to do any or all of the following:
(1)	Register to vote;
(2)	Change party affiliation or unaffiliated status;
(3)	Report a change of address within a county;
(4)	Report a change of name.
(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 a person resides to satisfactorily process the application for any purpose permitted under subsection (a) of this section. 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. The single form shall permit all of the purposes listed under subsection (a) of this section to be carried out by filling in the appropriate information and marking boxes to indicate the action requested. An applicant to register may submit the form by mail or in person. The applicant may delegate the submission of the form to another person.
	(c)	In order to be valid, the registration form shall be signed by the applicant. To be valid for an election, the form:
(1)	If submitted by mail, must be postmarked at least 29 days before the election, except that any mailed application on which the postmark is missing or unclear is validly submitted if received in the mail not later than 25 days before the election.
(2)	If submitted in person (by the applicant or another person), must be received at least 29 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)	Reports received under this section of:
(1)	Change in party affiliation shall be processed as if made under G.S. 163-74(b);
(2)	Change of address within a county shall be processed as if made under G.S. 163-72.2(c); and
(3)	Change of name shall be processed as if made under G.S. 163-69.1;
except for the different deadline imposed under subsection (c) of this section.
(f)	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 subsection.
(g)	Upon receipt of any or all of the following:
(1)	An application to register;
(2)	A change of party affiliation;
(3)	A report of address change;
(4)	A report of change of name
under this section, the county board of elections shall send to the postal address on the registration form a notice of registration, or a notice of change of party affiliation, address, or name. The notice shall include an assignment of precinct and polling place, or a reminder of precinct and polling place if the voter is reporting only a change of party affiliation or name. The county board of elections shall send the notice by nonforwardable first-class mail. If the notice is returned as undeliverable, the county board of elections shall send a second nonforwardable first-class mailing. If that notice is returned as undeliverable, the county board of elections shall cancel the registration if it has been approved and shall reject it if it has not yet been approved.
(h)	If a registration form is a duplicate of a registration already made, it shall not be processed, and the applicant shall be so notified. The notification shall include the voter's precinct and polling place.
(i)	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).
(j)	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. This act becomes effective upon ratification. This act validates any voter registration applications that were accepted pursuant to G.S. 163-72.4 before the ratification of this act if:
(1)	The only thing preventing those applications from being valid was that they were not mailed; and
(2)	Those applications were submitted in a way that would comply with the provisions of Section 1 of this act.