SECOND REGULAR SESSION
SENATE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 2321
94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Reported from the Committee on Financial and Governmental Organizations and Elections, May 12, 2008, with recommendation that the Senate Committee Substitute do pass.
TERRY L. SPIELER, Secretary.
5371S.04C
AN ACT
To repeal sections 115.631, 116.080, and 116.090, RSMo, and to enact in lieu thereof four new sections relating to elections, with penalty provisions.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri, as follows:
Section A. Sections 115.631, 116.080, and 116.090, RSMo, are repealed and four new sections enacted in lieu thereof, to be known as sections 115.164, 115.631, 116.080, and 116.090, to read as follows:
115.164. 1. The secretary of state's office shall send voter registration application forms to applicants for resident hunting or fishing permits as required in this section. Beginning September 1, 2008, and every first business day of the month thereafter, the secretary of state's office shall request from the department of conservation the point-of-sale database records of all applicants for resident hunting and fishing permits. Upon transfer of the database records as authorized in section 252.228, RSMo, the secretary of state's office shall compare such records with the Missouri voter registration system. Any hunting or fishing permit applicant who is eligible but not registered to vote shall be sent a voter registration application form. Such form shall be mailed to the address of record on such applicant's permit application within five days after the secretary of state's office receives the point-of-sale database records from the department of conservation.
2. Beginning on September 1, 2008, and on September one each year thereafter the board of probation and parole shall provide the secretary of state with a record of each individual released from probation or parole within that year. Upon receipt of the records, the secretary of state's office shall compare such records with the Missouri voter registration system. Any individual who is eligible but not registered to vote shall be sent a voter registration application.
115.631. The following offenses, and any others specifically so described by law, shall be class one election offenses and are deemed felonies connected with the exercise of the right of suffrage. Conviction for any of these offenses shall be punished by imprisonment of not more than five years or by fine of not less than two thousand five hundred dollars but not more than ten thousand dollars or by both such imprisonment and fine:
(1) Willfully and falsely making any certificate, affidavit, or statement required to be made pursuant to any provision of sections 115.001 to 115.641 and sections 51.450 and 51.460, RSMo, including but not limited to statements specifically required to be made "under penalty of perjury"; or in any other manner knowingly furnishing false information to an election authority or election official engaged in any lawful duty or action in such a way as to hinder or mislead the authority or official in the performance of official duties. Any other provision in this section notwithstanding, if an individual willfully and falsely makes any certificate, affidavit, or statement required to be made under section 115.155, including but not limited to statements specifically required to be made "under penalty of perjury", such individual shall be guilty of a class C felony, except that an individual who knowingly signs any name other than his or her own to any voter registration application shall be guilty of a class B felony. Any other provision in this section notwithstanding, if an individual furnishes identification to an election official in order to cast a ballot as required under section 115.427 with the knowledge that such identification is false, such individual shall be guilty of a class B felony;
(2) Voting more than once or voting at any election knowing that the person is not entitled to vote or that the person has already voted on the same day at another location inside or outside the state of Missouri;
(3) Procuring any person to vote knowing the person is not lawfully entitled to vote or knowingly procuring an illegal vote to be cast at any election;
(4) Applying for a ballot in the name of any other person, whether the name be that of a person living or dead or of a fictitious person, or applying for a ballot in his own or any other name after having once voted at the election inside or outside the state of Missouri;
(5) Aiding, abetting or advising another person to vote knowing the person is not legally entitled to vote or knowingly aiding, abetting or advising another person to cast an illegal vote;
(6) An election judge knowingly causing or permitting any ballot to be in the ballot box at the opening of the polls and before the voting commences;
(7) Knowingly furnishing any voter with a false or fraudulent or bogus ballot, or knowingly practicing any fraud upon a voter to induce him to cast a vote which will be rejected, or otherwise defrauding him of his vote;
(8) An election judge knowingly placing or attempting to place or permitting any ballot, or paper having the semblance of a ballot, to be placed in a ballot box at any election unless the ballot is offered by a qualified voter as provided by law;
(9) Knowingly placing or attempting to place or causing to be placed any false or fraudulent or bogus ballot in a ballot box at any election;
(10) Knowingly removing any legal ballot from a ballot box for the purpose of changing the true and lawful count of any election or in any other manner knowingly changing the true and lawful count of any election;
(11) Knowingly altering, defacing, damaging, destroying or concealing any ballot after it has been voted for the purpose of changing the lawful count of any election;
(12) Knowingly altering, defacing, damaging, destroying or concealing any poll list, report, affidavit, return or certificate for the purpose of changing the lawful count of any election;
(13) On the part of any person authorized to receive, tally or count a poll list, tally sheet or election return, receiving, tallying or counting a poll list, tally sheet or election return the person knows is fraudulent, forged or counterfeit, or knowingly making an incorrect account of any election;
(14) On the part of any person whose duty it is to grant certificates of election, or in any manner declare the result of an election, granting a certificate to a person the person knows is not entitled to receive the certificate, or declaring any election result the person knows is based upon fraudulent, fictitious or illegal votes or returns;
(15) Willfully destroying or damaging any official ballots, whether marked or unmarked, after the ballots have been prepared for use at an election and during the time they are required by law to be preserved in the custody of the election judges or the election authority;
(16) Willfully tampering with, disarranging, altering the information on, defacing, impairing or destroying any voting machine or marking device after the machine or marking device has been prepared for use at an election and during the time it is required by law to remain locked and sealed with intent to impair the functioning of the machine or marking device at an election, mislead any voter at the election, or to destroy or change the count or record of votes on such machine;
(17) Registering to vote knowing the person is not legally entitled to register or registering in the name of another person, whether the name be that of a person living or dead or of a fictitious person;
(18) Procuring any other person to register knowing the person is not legally entitled to register, or aiding, abetting or advising another person to register knowing the person is not legally entitled to register;
(19) Knowingly preparing, altering or substituting any computer program or other counting equipment to give an untrue or unlawful result of an election;
(20) On the part of any person assisting a blind or disabled person to vote, knowingly failing to cast such person's vote as such person directs;
(21) On the part of any registration or election official, permitting any person to register to vote or to vote when such official knows the person is not legally entitled to register or not legally entitled to vote;
(22) On the part of a notary public acting in his official capacity, knowingly violating any of the provisions of sections 115.001 to 115.627 or any provision of law pertaining to elections;
(23) Violation of any of the provisions of sections 115.275 to 115.303, or of any provision of law pertaining to absentee voting. Any other provision in this section notwithstanding, if an individual willfully and falsely completes the certificate, affidavit, statement, or ballot of another individual under the provisions of sections 115.283 and 115.284, including but not limited to statements specifically required to be made under penalty of perjury, such individual shall be guilty of a class B felony;
(24) Assisting a person to vote knowing such person is not legally entitled to such assistance, or while assisting a person to vote who is legally entitled to such assistance, in any manner coercing, requesting or suggesting that the voter vote for or against, or refrain from voting on any question, ticket or candidate;
(25) Engaging in any act of violence, destruction of property having a value of five hundred dollars or more, or threatening an act of violence with the intent of denying a person's lawful right to vote or to participate in the election process; and
(26) Knowingly providing false information about election procedures for the purpose of preventing any person from going to the polls.
116.080. 1. Each petition circulator shall be at least eighteen years of age, a Missouri resident, and registered with the secretary of state. No person shall qualify as a petition circulator who has been convicted of, or found guilty of, or pled guilty to an offense involving forgery under the laws of this state, or an offense under the laws of any other jurisdiction if that offense would be considered forgery under the laws of this state. No petition circulator shall be paid on a per signature basis, receive any signature by mail or via the Internet, or circulate more than one petition concurrently. Signatures collected by any circulator who has not registered with the secretary of state pursuant to this chapter on or before 5:00 p.m. on the final day for filing petitions with the secretary of state shall not be counted. Signatures collected by any circulator who has been paid on a per signature basis, received any signature by mail or via the Internet, or circulated more than one petition concurrently shall not be counted.
2. Each petition circulator shall supply the following information to the secretary of state's office:
(1) Name of petition;
(2) Name of circulator;
(3) Residential address, including street number, city, state and zip code;
(4) Proof of Missouri resident status which shall include a valid Missouri driver's license or other identification issued by the state or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that contains the name and address of the circulator;
(5) Mailing address, if different;
[(5) Have you been or] (6) Do you expect to be paid for soliciting signatures for this petition?
□ YES □ NO
[(6)] (7) If the answer to subdivision (5) is yes, then identify the payor;
[(7)] (8) Signature of circulator.
3. The circulator information required in subsection 2 of this section shall be submitted to the secretary of state's office with the following oath and affirmation:
I HEREBY SWEAR OR AFFIRM UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY THAT ALL STATEMENTS MADE BY ME ARE TRUE AND CORRECT, THAT I HAVE NEVER BEEN CONVICTED OF, FOUND GUILTY OF, OR PLED GUILTY TO ANY OFFENSE INVOLVING FORGERY. I HEREBY SWEAR OR AFFIRM UNDER PENALTY OF LAW THAT I AM LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR MY SIGNATURE GATHERING ACTIVITIES AND MAY BE HELD LEGALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR FRAUDULENT OR DECEPTIVE SIGNATURE GATHERING PRACTICES. I HEREBY SWEAR OR AFFIRM UNDER PENALTY OF LAW THAT I HAVE NOT AND WILL NOT BE PAID ON A PER SIGNATURE BASIS FOR THE COLLECTION OF ANY SIGNATURE, RECEIVE ANY SIGNATURE BY MAIL OR VIA THE INTERNET, OR CIRCULATE MORE THAN ONE PETITION CONCURRENTLY.
4. Each petition circulator shall subscribe and swear to the proper affidavit on each petition page such circulator submits before a notary public commissioned in Missouri. When notarizing a circulator's signature, a notary public shall sign his or her official signature and affix his or her official seal to the affidavit only if the circulator personally appears before the notary and subscribes and swears to the affidavit in his or her presence.
5. Any circulator who falsely swears to a circulator's affidavit knowing it to be false, receives payment for collecting signatures on a per signature basis, receives any signature by mail or via the Internet, or circulates more than one petition concurrently is guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of section 560.021, RSMo, to the contrary, for a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars or both.
116.090. 1. Any person who knowingly signs any name other than his or her own to any petition[, or] shall, upon conviction thereof be guilty of a class one election offense, as defined in section 115.631, RSMo.
2. Any person who knowingly signs his or her name more than once for the same measure for the same election, or who knows he or she is not at the time of signing or circulating the same a Missouri registered voter and a resident of this state, shall, upon conviction thereof, be guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of section [560.021] 560.016, to the contrary, for a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars or both.
[2.] 3. Any person who knowingly accepts or offers money or anything of value to another person in exchange for a signature on a petition is guilty of a class A misdemeanor punishable, notwithstanding the provisions of section [560.021] 560.016, RSMo, to the contrary, for a term of imprisonment not to exceed one year in the county jail or a fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars or both.
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