Missouri 2024 Regular Session

Missouri Senate Bill SB1243 Compare Versions

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22 EXPLANATION-Matter enclosed in bold-faced brackets [thus] in this bill is not enacted
33 and is intended to be omitted in the law.
44 SECOND REGULAR SESSION
55 SENATE BILL NO. 1243
66 102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY
77 INTRODUCED BY SENATOR WASHINGTON.
88 3578S.01I KRISTINA MARTIN, Secretary
99 AN ACT
1010 To repeal sections 115.158 and 115.221, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof two new sections
1111 relating to voter registration, with an existing penalty provision.
1212
1313 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
1414 Section A. Sections 115.158 and 115.221, RSMo, are 1
1515 repealed and two new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be 2
1616 known as sections 115.158 and 115.221, to read as follows:3
1717 115.158. 1. The secretary of state shall implement a 1
1818 centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter 2
1919 registration list. This computerized list shall be known as 3
2020 the "Missouri Voter Registra tion System". The system shall 4
2121 be implemented by January 1, 2004, unless a waiver is 5
2222 obtained pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 2002. If 6
2323 a waiver is obtained, the system shall be implemented by 7
2424 January 1, 2006. The system shall be maintained and 8
2525 administered by the secretary of state and contain the name 9
2626 and registration information of every legally registered 10
2727 voter in Missouri. In addition, the system shall: 11
2828 (1) Assign a unique identifier to each legally 12
2929 registered voter in Missour i; 13
3030 (2) Serve as the single system for storing and 14
3131 managing the official list of registered voters throughout 15
3232 Missouri; 16
3333 (3) Be coordinated with other agency databases in 17
3434 Missouri; 18 SB 1243 2
3535 (4) Allow any election official in Missouri, including 19
3636 local election authorities, immediate electronic access to 20
3737 the information contained in the system; 21
3838 (5) Allow all voter registration information obtained 22
3939 by any local election official in Missouri to be 23
4040 electronically entered into the system on an expedited basis 24
4141 at the time the information is provided to the local 25
4242 official. The secretary of state, as the chief state 26
4343 election official, shall provide such support as may be 27
4444 required so that local election officials are able to enter 28
4545 the registration information; and 29
4646 (6) Serve as the official voter registration list for 30
4747 the conduct of all elections in Missouri. 31
4848 2. Except as provided for in subsection 10 of this 32
4949 section, the secretary of state and local election 33
5050 authorities shall pe rform system maintenance on a regular 34
5151 basis, which shall include: 35
5252 (1) Removing names in accordance with the provisions 36
5353 and procedures of the National Voter Registration Act of 37
5454 1993 and coordinating system maintenance activities with 38
5555 state agency records on death and felony status; 39
5656 (2) Requiring the name of each registered voter to 40
5757 appear in the system; 41
5858 (3) Removing only voters who are not registered or who 42
5959 are not eligible to vote; and 43
6060 (4) Eliminating duplicate names from the s ystem. 44
6161 3. The secretary of state shall provide adequate 45
6262 technological security measures to prevent the unauthorized 46
6363 access to the system established pursuant to this section. 47
6464 4. The secretary of state shall develop procedures to 48
6565 ensure that voter registration records within the system are 49 SB 1243 3
6666 accurate and updated regularly. At a minimum, the 50
6767 procedures shall include: 51
6868 (1) A system of file maintenance that makes a 52
6969 reasonable effort to remove registrants who are ineligible 53
7070 to vote. Consistent with the National Voter Registration 54
7171 Act of 1993, registrants who have not responded to a notice 55
7272 and who have not voted in two consecutive general elections 56
7373 for federal office shall be removed from the official list 57
7474 of eligible voters, except tha t no registrant may be removed 58
7575 solely by reason of a failure to vote; and 59
7676 (2) Safeguards to ensure that eligible voters are not 60
7777 removed in error. 61
7878 5. Voter registration information shall be verified in 62
7979 accordance with the Help America Vote Ac t of 2002. 63
8080 (1) Except as provided in subdivision (2) of this 64
8181 subsection, an application for voter registration may not be 65
8282 accepted or processed unless the application includes: 66
8383 (a) In the case of an applicant who has been issued a 67
8484 current and valid driver's license, the applicant's driver's 68
8585 license number; or 69
8686 (b) In the case of any other applicant, other than an 70
8787 applicant to whom subdivision (2) applies, the last four 71
8888 digits of the applicant's Social Security number. 72
8989 (2) If an applicant for voter registration has not 73
9090 been issued a current and valid driver's license or a Social 74
9191 Security number, the applicant shall be assigned a number 75
9292 which will serve to identify the applicant for voter 76
9393 registration purposes. The number assigned under this 77
9494 subdivision shall be used as the unique identifying number 78
9595 within the system. 79
9696 (3) The secretary of state and the director of the 80
9797 department of revenue shall enter into an agreement to match 81 SB 1243 4
9898 information in the database of the voter registration system 82
9999 with information in the database of the motor vehicle system 83
100100 to enable the secretary to verify the accuracy of 84
101101 information provided on applications for voter registration. 85
102102 (4) The director of the department of revenue shall 86
103103 enter into an agreement with the commissioner of Social 87
104104 Security and comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002. 88
105105 6. In addition to using the system for voter 89
106106 registration, the election authorities and secretary of 90
107107 state may use the system for th e collection and 91
108108 dissemination of election results and other pertinent 92
109109 information. Any information contained in any state or 93
110110 local voter registration system, limited to the master voter 94
111111 registration list or any other list generated from the 95
112112 information, subject to chapter 610, shall not be used for 96
113113 commercial purposes; provided, however, that the information 97
114114 may be used for elections, for candidates, or for ballot 98
115115 measures, furnished at a reasonable fee. Violation of this 99
116116 section shall be a clas s B misdemeanor. For purposes of 100
117117 this section, "commercial purposes" means the use of a 101
118118 public record for the purpose of sale or resale or for the 102
119119 purpose of producing a document containing all or part of 103
120120 the copy, printout, or photograph for sale or the obtaining 104
121121 of names and addresses from public records for the purpose 105
122122 of solicitation or the sale of names and addresses to 106
123123 another for the purpose of solicitation or for any purpose 107
124124 in which the purchaser can reasonably anticipate the receipt 108
125125 of monetary gain from the direct or indirect use of the 109
126126 public record. 110
127127 7. The secretary of state shall establish an advisory 111
128128 committee to assist in the establishment and maintenance of 112
129129 the Missouri voter registration system. 113 SB 1243 5
130130 8. The secretary of state may promulgate rules to 114
131131 execute this section. No rule or portion of a rule 115
132132 promulgated pursuant to the authority of this section shall 116
133133 become effective unless it has been promulgated pursuant to 117
134134 chapter 536. 118
135135 9. Election authorities and any agency required under 119
136136 the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to accept voter 120
137137 registration applications shall forward registration and 121
138138 other data in a manner prescribed by the secretary of state 122
139139 to assist with administering and maintaining the Miss ouri 123
140140 voter registration system in accordance with the Help 124
141141 America Vote Act of 2002. 125
142142 10. Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection 2 of 126
143143 this section, the secretary of state shall not remove a 127
144144 registered voter from the system due to inactivity unless it 128
145145 has been more than five calendar years since the registered 129
146146 voter last voted. Before removing voters after five 130
147147 calendar years of inactivity, the secretary of state shall 131
148148 provide written notice to the registered voter with 132
149149 instructions for re-registration. 133
150150 115.221. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law 1
151151 to the contrary, each election authority may have the voting 2
152152 records inspected and may investigate the qualifications of 3
153153 any person who has not voted or transferre d his registration 4
154154 within the [four] five preceding calendar years. 5
155155