Section 1.  Registration by election judges; procedures.  Before registering a person on election day, an election judge must review the list of individuals ineligible to vote provided by the secretary of state. If the individual is on this list, the election judge must inform the individual of his or her ineligibility to vote. If the individual maintains that he or she is eligible, the election judge must permit the person to register with a “challenged” status. The person may cast a ballot as provided in section 5.

Section 2.  Record of attempted registrations.  The election judge responsible for election day registration must keep a record of the identity of each individual who registers with a challenged status. This record must be forwarded to the county auditor, who forwards the information to the canvassing board.

Section 3.  Public information lists.  The voter public information list must include registered voters with an inactive status. The list must also include the history of each change in status for each voter. The county auditor must also maintain a list that includes each individual who was removed from the statewide voter registration system and the reason for the removal. This list may be part of the public information list or a separate public list.

Section 4.  Duties of ballot board; absentee ballots. The absentee ballot board must ensure that the voter’s eligibility to vote has been verified against the information on challenged voters provided by the secretary of state before the ballot return envelope may be accepted.

Section 5.  Procedure for challenged voters. This section only applies to election day registrants that are challenged as provided in section 1. Before providing a ballot to the challenged voter, the election judge must write “challenged” and the voter’s identification number on the back of the ballot. The voter then completes the ballot and deposits it into the ballot box. The canvassing board must review any ballots that are noted as “challenged” to determine the voter’s eligibility based on information provided by the county auditor, the secretary of state, or other relevant information. If the canvassing board determines that the voter was eligible, the vote is included in the results of the election. If the voter is determined to be ineligible, the canvassing board must exclude that vote from the results. The board must also notify the county auditor of the determination of ineligibility and forward all information related to the determination of ineligibility to the county attorney.

Section 6.  Effective date.  This act is effective the day following final enactment. Information on status changes collected prior to the effective date must not be included on a public information list.

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