HB233 - Voter registration, procedures to maintain voter registration database revised, Sec. 17-4-30 am'd.
Sponsor(s): Holmes, Mooney, Fincher, Dismukes, Wingo, Hanes, Sorrell and Whorton
Synopsis and Analysis: Under existing law, the boards of registrars periodically mail a notice to all registered voters seeking address confirmation. If a voter does not return the address confirmation card, the board of registrars places the voter on the inactive list of registered voters. This bill would revise the procedures for boards of registrars to periodically update the statewide voter registration database, and would authorize the Secretary of State to adopt rules to implement this section. Secretary of State shall use change-of-address information supplied by the United States Postal Service or other reliable sources as determined by the Secretary of State to identify registered voters whose addresses may have changed. Under the database maintenance plan for change of address outlined in this bill, cards will no longer be sent out every four years to every voter on the rolls as under the current state law. Instead, cards will be sent only to voters, when using USPS data or other “reliable sources”, it is determined that the voter may have moved. The bill does not provide any criteria as to what constitutes a "reliable" source. A voter who fails to respond to the notice after 90 days is put on a “confirm” list. Similar to the current law, if the voter does not update his or her voter registration record and does not vote in an election during a defined period that includes two federal general elections, the voter will be removed from the list of eligible voters.
League Action and Justification: Monitor. The League has identified several focus areas as essential to protecting the votes of all citizens and improving election administration overall, including improving the administration of statewide database systems. However, neither LWVUS or LWVAL have adopted a policy outlining the specific criteria/best practices to be applied to ensure the legislation and regulations governing database maintenance contain adequate safeguards to protect eligible voters from being erroneously removed from the rolls.
Bill Progress in Legislature
Go here to get more information about the bill and changes in the bill as it progresses through the legislature.
| Calendar Date | Body | Amd/Sub | Matter | Committee | Nay | Yea | Abstain | Vote |
| 03/20/2019 | H | Read for the first time and referred to the House of Representatives committee on Constitution, Campaigns and Elections | CC&E | | | | | |
04/11/2019 | H | Read for the second time and placed on the calendar | | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | Third Reading Carried Over | | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | 199773-1 | Gray Amendment Offered | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | Holmes motion to Table adopted Roll Call 305 | | | | | Roll 305 | |
04/23/2019 | H | 199780-1 | Rogers Amendment Offered | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | | Alexander Amendment Offered | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | Third Reading Passed | | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | Holmes motion to Carry Over to the Call of the Chair adopted Voice Vote | | | | | ||
04/23/2019 | H | Holmes motion to Table adopted Roll Call 343 | | | | | Roll 343 | |
04/23/2019 | H | Motion to Adopt adopted Roll Call 340 | | | | | Roll 340 | |
04/23/2019 | H | Gray motion to remove his amendment from the table adopted Roll Call 341 | | | | | Roll 341 | |
04/23/2019 | H | Motion to Read a Third Time and Pass adopted Roll Call 344 | | | | | Roll 344 | |
04/23/2019 | H | South intended to vote "Yea" | | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | Motion to Adopt Gray's amendment adopted Roll Call 342 | | | | | Roll 342 | |
04/23/2019 | H | 199777-1 | Alexander Amendment again taken up | | | | | |
04/23/2019 | H | Engrossed | | | | | | |
04/25/2019 | S | Read for the first time and referred to the Senate committee on Governmental Affairs | GA | | | | |
HB233 was on Senate GA Committee for Tuesday, 05/14/2019, 1:00 PM, Room 825. No public hearing was scheduled.
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