Appointing Election Inspectors for November 4 General Election:  City and township election commissions must meet between September 25 and October 14 to appoint the election inspectors needed to administer the polls on November 4.  Not later than two business days following the appointment of the election inspectors, the election commission is required to notify the county chair of each major political party of the "names and political party affiliations of appointed election inspectors and the precincts to which those inspectors were appointed."  The notification must be made by "certified mail, personal service, or electronic transmission capable of determining date of receipt."  Additional reminders associated with the appointment of election inspectors are provided below:

 

·     An election inspector must be a registered voter of the county in which he or she is appointed to serve.  To accommodate jurisdictions that cross county boundaries, Michigan election law provides that an individual registered to vote in a local unit of government that falls in more than one county may be appointed to serve on any precinct board established within the local unit of government.

·     Election inspector appointments must be handled by the local board of election commissioners at least 21 days but not more than 40 days before the election (September 25 through October 14, 2008).  The appointments cannot be made less than five days before the date set for holding an election inspector instructional session.  A city or township that is not handling its election inspector appointments through its election commission is advised to take immediate action to bring its appointment procedures into compliance with the law.

·     At least three election inspectors must be appointed to serve in each precinct; additional inspectors must be appointed if needed to properly conduct the election.  The appointment of more than three election inspectors per precinct will be necessary for the administration of the November 4 general election. 

·     The election commission must designate one of the election inspectors appointed to each board as "chairperson" of the board.  The first three inspectors appointed to serve on a precinct board must be 18 years of age or older; any additional precinct inspectors appointed to the board may be 16 or 17 years of age.  A precinct inspector appointee must be at least 18 years of age to serve as the chairperson of the precinct board.

·     The election commission is required to appoint "at least 1 election inspector for each major political party" (The major political parties are defined in law as the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.)  In addition, the election commission is required to politically balance each precinct board "as nearly as possible."  The election commission may appoint election inspector applicants who have expressed a preference for a minor political party at its discretion.

·     The election commission is prohibited from knowingly appointing an individual to serve as an election inspector if the person has been convicted of a felony or election crime or if any member of the person's "immediate family" is a candidate for nomination or election to any office at the election.  ("Immediate family" is defined as the individual's father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, spouse and any relative residing in the same household with that person.) 

·     An election commission is further prohibited from appointing a person as an election inspector "if that person declares a political party preference for a political party but is a known active advocate of another political party.  A "known active advocate" of another political party is defined to mean a person who 1) is a delegate to the convention or an officer of another party 2) is affiliated with another party through an elected or appointed government position or 3) has made documented public statements (i.e., "statements reported by the news media or written statements with a clear and unambiguous attribution to the applicant") specifically supporting by name another political party or its candidates in the same calendar year as the election for which the appointment is being made.

Handling Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) Forms:  FPCA forms submitted for the 2006 election cycle must be honored for the 2008 election cycle.  See below for further information.

The Federal Post Card Application (FPCA) is a postage-free absent voter ballot application produced and distributed by the federal government.  The following persons are eligible to use an FPCA to request an absent voter ballot:

 

1)     Members of the "uniformed services" and their spouses and dependents.  (Voter can be within the United States or outside of the United States.)

2)     U.S. citizens temporarily living or traveling outside of the territorial limits of the United States.  (Voter must be outside of the United States.)

·     "Uniformed services" includes the U.S. Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard); Merchant Marine; the commissioned corps of the Public Health Service; and the commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

·     A person who is eligible to use an FPCA to obtain an absent voter ballot may register up to 8:00 p.m. on the day of the election; the 30-day registration deadline is waived.  If an individual submitting an FPCA is not registered to vote, the FPCA can be accepted as the voter's registration application.

·     An FPCA may be used by one person only; if a husband and wife or several family members who are eligible to use an FPCA wish to obtain absent voter ballots, each must complete a separate FPCA form.

·     The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) prohibits the imposition of any restriction on the early submission of absentee ballot requests for federal elections by absent uniformed services voters.  As a consequence, city and township clerks are not permitted to reject absent voter ballot requests submitted for federal elections by absent uniformed services voters more than 75 days prior to the election.

·     HAVA requires local election officials to provide return notification in any instance where a voter registration application or absent voter ballot application submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or an overseas voter is rejected.  The notification can be issued by any convenient means (letter, fax or email).

·     An overseas uniformed services voter, a domestic uniformed services voter or an overseas civilian voter who submitted a Federal Post Card Application form (FPCA) for a federal election conducted in 2006 is automatically eligible to receive an absent voter ballot for the November 4, 2008 general election.  This means that all valid FPCA forms which you received anytime after the November 2, 2004 general election must be honored for the November 4, 2008 general election.  This timeframe is tied to the fact that an FPCA form must be honored for every federal election which is conducted "through the next 2 regularly scheduled general elections for federal office."

·     HAVA required the Federal Voting Assistance Program office to prescribe a "standard oath" for use with any document submitted by voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA).  The standard oath prescribed by the Federal Voting Assistance Program Office must be used in place of the oath prescribed under Michigan election law when sending an absent voter ballot to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter.  The wording of the oath is provided below.  The oath can be placed on the absent voter ballot return envelope with a sticker if necessary.

I swear or affirm under penalty of perjury, that I am: o      A member of the Uniformed Services or merchant marine on active duty; or an eligible spouse or dependent of such a member; or, a U.S. citizen temporarily residing outside the U.S.; or, other U.S. citizen residing outside the U.S.; and o      I am a U.S. citizen, at least 18 years of age (or will be by the date of the election), and I am eligible to vote in the requested jurisdiction; and o      I have not been convicted of a felony, or other disqualifying offense, or been adjudicated mentally incompetent, or, if so, my voting rights have been reinstated; and o      I am not registered, requesting a ballot, or voting in any other jurisdiction in the U.S., except the jurisdiction cited in this voting form. In voting, I have marked and sealed my ballot in private and have not allowed any person to observe the marking of the ballot, except for those authorized to assist voters under State or Federal law.  I have not been influenced. My signature and date below indicate when I completed this document. The information on this form is true, accurate, and complete to the best of my knowledge.  I understand that a material misstatement of fact in completion of this document may constitute grounds for a conviction of perjury.  Signed:__________________________________  Date:____________________                                                                                         Month/Day/Year

 

Tips for Mailing APO/FPO Absentee Ballots: To ensure the most efficient handling of absentee ballots mailed to members of the military stationed outside of the United States, the United States Postal Service (USPS) encourages local election officials to separate APO and FPO destined ballots by their respective International Service Center military gateways:  AE 090-099 (New York); AA 340 (Miami); and AP 962-966 (San Francisco) using the templates which accompany this issue of NYCU.

Information on the validity of APO and FPO Zip Codes can be obtained by contacting the Military Postal Service Agency at <MPSA-Vote@conus.army.mil>.

Updated mailing addresses for active duty military voters can be obtained by faxing or emailing the Federal Voting Assistance Program (FVAP) office in Washington, D.C.  Include the military voter's full name and birth date.  Also include the voter's full Social Security Number if available.  Fax:  (703) 696-1352  Email:  vote@fvap.ncr.gov