FIRST REGULAR SESSION

[TRULY AGREED TO AND FINALLY PASSED]

HOUSE BILL NO. 280

93RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

1061L.01T                                                                                          2005

AN ACT

To repeal section 115.436, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof one new section relating to physically disabled voters.

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the state of Missouri, as follows:

            Section A. Section 115.436, RSMo, is repealed and one new section enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as section 115.436, to read as follows:

            115.436. 1. In jurisdictions using paper ballots and electronic voting systems, when any physically disabled voter within two hundred feet of a polling place is unable to enter the polling place, two election judges, one of each major political party, shall[, when time permits,] take a ballot, equipment and materials necessary for voting to the voter. The voter shall mark the ballot, and the election judges shall place the ballot in an envelope, seal it and place it in the ballot box.

            2. In jurisdictions using voting machines, when any physically disabled voter within two hundred feet of a polling place is unable to enter the polling place, two election judges, one of each major political party, shall[, when time permits,] take an absentee ballot to the voter. The voter shall mark the ballot, and the election judges shall place the ballot in an envelope, seal it and place it in the ballot box.

            3. Upon request to the election authority, the election authority in any jurisdiction shall designate a polling place accessible to any physically disabled voter other than the polling place to which that voter would normally be assigned to vote, provided that the candidates and issues voted on are consistent for both the designated location and the voting location for the voter's precinct. Upon request, the election authority may also assign members of the physically disabled voter's household and such voter's caregiver to the same voting location as the physically disabled voter. In no event shall a voter be assigned under this section to a designated location apart from the established voting location for the voter's precinct if the voter objects to the assignment to another location.