16-542. Request for ballot

  1. Within ninety days next preceding the Saturday before any election called pursuant to the laws of this state, an elector may make a verbal or signed request to the county recorder, or other officer in charge of elections for the applicable political subdivision of this state in whose jurisdiction the elector is registered to vote, for an official early ballot. In addition to name and address, the requesting elector shall provide the date of birth and state or country of birth or other information that if compared to the voter registration information on file would confirm the identity of the elector. If the request indicates that the elector needs a primary election ballot and a general election ballot, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall honor the request. For any partisan primary election, if the elector is not registered as a member of a political party that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot pursuant to section 16-804, the elector shall designate the ballot of only one of the political parties that is entitled to continued representation on the ballot and the elector may receive and vote the ballot of only that one political party. The county recorder may establish on-site early voting locations at the recorder's office or any other locations in the county the recorder deems necessary.

  2. Notwithstanding subsection A of this section, a request for an official early ballot from an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter as defined in the uniformed and overseas citizens absentee voting act of 1986 (P.L. P#L#99-410); 42 United States Code section 1973) that is received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections more than ninety days next preceding the Saturday before the election is valid.

  3. The recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall mail postage prepaid to the address provided by the requesting elector, which address shall be the elector's residence address or the location where the elector is temporarily residing while absent from the precinct, the early ballot and the envelope for its return within five days after receipt of the official early ballots from the officer charged by law with the duty of preparing ballots pursuant to section 16-545. Only the elector may be in possession of that elector's unvoted early ballot. If the request is made by the elector within thirty days next preceding the Saturday before the election, such mailing must be made within forty-eight hours after receipt of the request. Saturdays, Sundays and other legal holidays are excluded from the computation of the forty-eight hour period prescribed by this subsection. If the request is made by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter more than ninety days next preceding the Saturday before the election, the mailing shall be made within twenty-four hours after the early ballots are delivered pursuant to section 16-545, subsection B, excluding Sundays.

  4. In order to receive an early ballot by mail, an elector's request that an early ballot be mailed to the elector's residence or temporary address must be received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections no later than 5:00 p.m. on the eleventh day preceding the election. An elector who appears personally no later than 5:00 p.m. on the Friday preceding the election at an on-site early voting location that is established by the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall be given a ballot and permitted to vote at the on-site location.

  5. The county recorder or other officer in charge of early balloting shall provide an alphabetized list of all voters in the precinct who have requested and have been sent an early ballot to the election board of the precinct in which the voter is registered not later than the day prior to the election.

  6. As a result of an emergency occurring between 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday preceding the election and 5:00 p.m. on the Monday preceding the election, qualified electors may request to vote early in the manner prescribed by the county recorder of their respective county. For purposes of this subsection, "emergency" means any unforeseen circumstances which would prevent the elector from voting at the polls.

  7. A candidate or political committee may distribute early ballot request forms to voters. If the early ballot request forms include a printed address for return to an addressee other than a political subdivision, the addressee shall be the candidate or political committee that paid for the printing and distribution of the request forms. All early ballot request forms that are received by a candidate or political committee shall be transmitted as soon as practicable to the political subdivision that will conduct the election.


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