16-542

16-542. Request for ballot

A. Within ninety-three days 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, which shall be open and
available for use beginning the same day that a county begins to send out the early
ballots. The county recorder may also establish any other early voting locations in the
county the recorder deems necessary.

B. 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. 99-410; 42 United
States Code section 1973ff-6) or a voter whose information is protected pursuant to
section 16-153 that is received by the county recorder or other officer in charge of
elections more than ninety-three days before the election is valid. If requested by the
absent uniformed services or overseas voter, or a voter whose information is protected
pursuant to section 16-153, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections
shall provide to the requesting voter early ballot materials through the next two
regularly scheduled general elections for federal office immediately following receipt of
the request.

C. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall mail the early
ballot and the envelope for its return postage prepaid to the address provided by the
requesting elector 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,
except that early ballot distribution shall not begin more than twenty-six days before
the election. If an early ballot request is received on or before the thirtieth day
before the election, the early ballot shall be distributed on the twenty-sixth day before
the election.

D. Only the elector may be in possession of that elector's unvoted early ballot.
If a complete and correct request is made by the elector within twenty-six days before
the election, the 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 a complete and correct
request is made by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter before the
election, the regular early ballot shall be transmitted by mail, by fax or by other
electronic format approved by the secretary of state within twenty-four hours after the
early ballots are delivered pursuant to section 16-545, subsection B, excluding Sundays.

E. In order to be complete and correct and 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 include all of the information prescribed by subsection A of this section
and 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. If an elector's request to receive an early ballot is not complete and correct
but complies with all other requirements of this section, the county recorder or other
officer in charge of elections shall attempt to notify the elector of the deficiency of
the request.

F. Unless an elector specifies that the address to which an early ballot is to be
sent is a temporary address, the recorder may use the information from an early ballot
request form to update voter registration records.

G. 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.

H. 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 the purposes of this subsection, "emergency" means any
unforeseen circumstances that would prevent the elector from voting at the polls.

I. 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.