| HP0029 LD 27 |
First Regular Session - 123rd Legislature - Text: MS-Word, RTF or PDF |
LR 874 Item 2 |
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| Bill Tracking | Chamber Status | ||
Amend the bill by inserting after the title and before the emergency preamble the following:
‘ Mandate preamble. This measure requires one or more local units of government to expand or modify activities so as to necessitate additional expenditures from local revenues but does not provide funding for at least 90% of those expenditures. Pursuant to the Constitution of Maine, Article IX, Section 21, 2/3 of all of the members elected to each House have determined it necessary to enact this measure.’
Amend the bill by striking out everything after the enacting clause and before the emergency clause and inserting the following:
‘Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §503, sub-§1, as repealed and replaced by PL 1995, c. 459, §33, is amended to read:
Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §503, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2003, c. 584, §4, is further amended to read:
All nominations for election clerks must be submitted to the municipal officers no later than April 1st of each general election year. If a municipal committee of a major party fails to submit a list of nominees to serve as election clerks, the municipal officers may appoint registered voters enrolled in that party to serve as election clerks.
If the municipal officers are unable to appoint a sufficient number of election clerks as set forth in paragraphs A, B and C, they may appoint any other registered voter, as long as the balance between major political parties is maintained. The municipal clerk shall complete a form provided by the Secretary of State when a registered voter changes party enrollment status in order to be available to serve as an election clerk and to maintain a balance between the major political parties and that election clerk participates in the counting of ballots. The form must be included with all ballots separated into lots in accordance with section 695, subsection 2 when an election clerk who has changed party enrollment status as described in this subsection made the count for that lot of ballots and with tabulation results submitted to the Secretary of State. By January 15th after a general election, the Secretary of State shall report to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over legal affairs the number of forms required by this subsection that were submitted with tabulation results and whether any election that resulted in a recount included ballots that were counted by an election clerk who changed party enrollment status as described in this subsection.’
SUMMARY
This amendment, which is the minority report of the committee, requires a municipal clerk to notify the chairs of the local and state party committees of the lack of available election clerks necessary to provide a balance among the major political parties. After providing this notice the clerk may appoint election clerks from within the county. This amendment also requires municipal officers to consider persons nominated from the county and state party committees when appointing election clerks. Finally, this amendment requires the municipal clerk to provide a written statement when a registered voter changes party enrollment status in order to be available to serve as an election clerk to maintain a balance between the major political parties and that election clerk participates in the counting of ballots. That form must be filed with tabulation results sent to the Secretary of State and attached to the sorted group of ballots counted by an election clerk who conducted the count on those ballots. This amendment also requires the Secretary of State to report how many forms regarding election clerks who changed party enrollment status were submitted.