16-153. Voter registration; confidentiality; definition

1. Justices of the supreme court, judges of the court of appeals, judges or commissioners of the superior court, municipal court judges, peace officers or victims of domestic violence may request that the general public be prohibited from accessing the residential address, telephone number and voting precinct number contained in their voter registration record.

2. Justices, judges, commissioners or officers may request this action by filing an affidavit which states all of the following:
   1. The person's name.

   2. The position the person currently holds and a description of the person's duties.

   3. The reasons for reasonably believing that the person's life or safety or that of another person is in danger and that sealing the residential address, telephone number and voting precinct number of the person's voting record will serve to reduce the danger.

3. The affidavit shall be filed with the presiding judge of the superior court in the county in which the affiant resides. To prevent a multiplicity of filings, peace officers shall deliver the affidavit to their commanding officer, who shall file the affidavits at one time. In the absence of an affidavit that contains a request for immediate action and is supported by facts justifying an earlier presentation, the commanding officer shall not file affidavits of peace officers presented to the commanding officer more often than quarterly.

4. Upon receipt of an affidavit or affidavits, the presiding judge of the superior court shall file with the clerk of the superior court a petition on behalf of all requesting justices, judges, commissioners and peace officers. The petition shall have attached each affidavit presented. In the absence of an affidavit that contains a request for immediate action and is supported by facts justifying an earlier consideration, the presiding judge may accumulate affidavits and file a petition at the end of each quarter.

5. The presiding judge of the superior court shall review the petition and each attached affidavit to determine whether the action requested by each justice, judge, commissioner or officer should be granted. The presiding judge of the superior court shall order the sealing of the information contained in the voter record of the justice, judge, commissioner or officer if the presiding judge concludes that this action will reduce a danger to the life or safety of the affiant.

6. Upon entry of the court order, the clerk of the superior court shall file the court order with the county recorder. Upon receipt of the court order the county recorder shall seal the voter registration of the justices, judges, commissioners or officers listed in the court order no later than one hundred fifty days from the date of receipt of the court order. The information in the registration shall not be disclosed and is not a public record.

7. If the court denies an affiant's requested sealing of the voter registration record, the affiant may request a court hearing. The hearing shall be conducted by the court where the petition was filed.

8. Upon request by a domestic violence victim and presentation of an order of protection issued pursuant to section 13-3602, an injunction against harassment issued pursuant to section 12-1809 or an order of protection or injunction against harassment issued by a court in another state, the county recorder shall seal the voter registration record of the domestic violence victim. The record shall be sealed no later than one hundred fifty days from the date of receipt of the court order. The information in the registration shall not be disclosed and is not a public record.

9. For the purposes of this section, "domestic violence" has the same meaning as prescribed by section 20-448.

WARNING - The above text was curent June 2003, but may be outdated now.