Senate committee backs overhaul of absentee ballot counting and cure rules

Senator Clark Tucker (state senator, District 14) told the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee that a bill to modernize absentee-ballot handling would protect voters and improve accuracy.

The bill would bar counting absentee ballots before 8:30 a.m. on election day to avoid early results and requires county election boards to begin counting absentee ballots before polls close and to complete that work continuously before tabulating election-day votes. Tucker said the change prevents legitimate votes from being left out when high absentee volume makes on‑the‑day counting impractical.

The measure reorganizes the canvass process into two phases and narrows categories used during initial review: ballots that will be counted and ballots placed into provisional/cure status. It requires county boards to notify voters no later than 48 hours after their ballot is marked provisional and lays out two cure tracks: a secure, in-person cure for missing ID, missing voter statement, address mismatches, or signature mismatches; and a less-secure written cure (for minor errors such as a digit missing from a ZIP code) that can be completed by noon on the Monday following the election.

Tucker also described new chain-of-custody requirements to reduce risk that absentee materials are misplaced, and provisions that preserve all absentee ballot materials for recounts or judicial review. The bill requires county boards to notify all candidates and the local prosecuting attorney if the board suspects fraud on any ballot.

Supporters said the bill is a pragmatic, nonpartisan effort; Tucker noted input over multiple sessions and changes made after review by clerks and election officials. Committee members pressed on details including whether the new language would preserve the existing requirement to finish counting before polls close; Tucker said the bill keeps a continuous-counting requirement but recognizes rare circumstances where finishing might occur after polls close so that no valid absentee ballot is dropped.

The committee approved the bill as amended by voice vote; the transcript records a voice 'aye' but does not include a roll-call tally. The bill was presented with an amendment to clarify preservation of absentee ballot materials and passed on the motion to "pass as amended."