Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§20, as amended by PL 1997, c. 436, §3, is further amended to read:

20. Immediate family. "Immediate family" means a person's spouse, parent, grandparent, child, grandchild, sister, brother, stepparent, stepgrandparent, stepchild, stepgrandchild, stepsister, stepbrother, mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother- in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, guardian or former guardian.

Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §1, sub-§§27-A and 30-A are enacted to read:

27-A.__Official tally tape.__"Official tally tape" means the first tape produced by an electronic tabulating machine that tallies the final vote totals at the conclusion of voting and that is attached to the zero tape produced by the machine prior to the start of voting.

30-A.__Pollwatcher.__"Pollwatcher" means a party worker who remains in the voting place outside the guardrail enclosure for the purpose of viewing the voting process, keeping track of the voters who have voted or challenging voters whose qualifications appear to be in question.

Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §23, sub-§1, as amended by PL 1997, c. 436, §10, is further amended to read:

1. Registration and enrollment applications. The registrar shall keep registration, and enrollment and changes of enrollment applications and requests in the registrar's office permanently and all documentation of changes in registration and enrollment as part of each active or inactive voter's permanent registration record, except that those records must be kept only 5 years for a voter whose name has been removed from the voting lists of the municipality under sections 161 and 162-A.

Sec. 4. 21-A MRSA §122, sub-§5, as enacted by PL 1985, c. 307, §1, is repealed and the following enacted in its place:

5.__Alternative registration schedule for absentee voters.__If the clerk receives a properly completed absentee ballot application that is signed by a person who is not a registered voter in the municipality, a presumption of the person's qualification as a voter is established.__The clerk shall send an absentee ballot to the voter at the address indicated, along with a voter registration application under section 152.__The completed registration application must be returned to the clerk