Arizona SB 1556: automatic voter registration; same day

Bill Text

SB1556 - 561R - I Ver 

 REFERENCE TITLE: automatic voter 
 registration; same day

 State of 
 Arizona

 Senate

 Fifty-sixth 
 Legislature

 First Regular 
 Session

 2023

 SB 1556

 Introduced by 

 Senators Mendez: Miranda, Sundareshan

An Act

amending title 
16, chapter 1, article 1, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 16-106; 
amending section 16-112, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to 
qualification and registration of electors.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 16, chapter 1, article 1, 
Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 16-106, to read:

START_STATUTE16-106. Registration on election day and preceding twenty-eight 
days; provisional ballot; qualifying elections

A. Notwithstanding any other law and 
except as provided in subsection B of this section:

1. A person who is otherwise 
qualified to register to vote may register during the twenty-eight days 
immediately preceding an election and is eligible to vote in that election if 
the person has been a resident of the county and the precinct in which the 
person resides for at least twenty-nine days immediately preceding the 
election, and The person completes a registration form as provided in section 
16-152.

2. A person who is otherwise 
qualified to register to vote may register on election day by appearing at the 
polling place for the precinct in which that person maintains the person's 
residence, completing a registration form as provided in section 16-152 and 
providing proof of residence.

3. A person who registers to vote 
pursuant to this section may vote on election day or in the twenty-eight days 
immediately preceding that election only with a provisional ballot as 
prescribed in section 16-584 and may vote as otherwise provided by law 
for any election held at least twenty-nine days after the election day 
for which the person registered.

B. Registration pursuant to this 
section qualifies the person to vote only for candidates for federal offices, 
including presidential electors, statewide and countywide offices and the 
legislature but does not qualify a person to vote in a partisan primary 
election until at least twenty-nine days after that election day.

C. The secretary of state and county 
officers in charge of elections shall promptly implement this section. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Section 16-112, Arizona Revised 
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE16-112. Driver license voter registration

A. Every person who is applying for a driver license 
or renewal, including a nonoperating identification license or 
renewal issued pursuant to title 28, chapter 8, or who is making changes to 
license information and who is otherwise qualified to register to vote, at the same time and place, shall be allowed to 
register to vote registered to vote automatically on 
completing the application for the license or renewal or submitting the changes 
and by providing the information prescribed by section 16-152.� 
The method used to register voters shall require only the minimum information 
necessary to prevent duplicate registrations, to enable elections officials to 
determine voter eligibility and to administer voter registration and election 
laws.� A registration form shall be included for a person who is applying for a 
driver license renewal by mail, including a nonoperating 
identification license, or who is making changes to license information by mail.� 
On completing a form that contains at least the information prescribed by 
section 16-121.01 and that may contain the information prescribed by 
section 16-152, and on receipt 
of that form by the county recorder from the department of transportation as 
prescribed by subsection D of this section and if the person 
does not decline to be registered to vote within twenty-one calendar days 
after issuance of notice of the process to decline, the applicant is 
presumed to be properly registered to vote.� That presumption may be rebutted 
as provided in section 16-121.01.

B. The director of the department of transportation 
and the secretary of state shall consult at least every two years regarding 
voter registration at driver license offices.� The director of the department 
of transportation and the secretary of state, after consultation with all 
county recorders, shall adopt rules to implement a system allowing driver 
license applicants, including nonoperating identification 
license applicants and persons who are making changes to license information, 
to register to vote at the same time and place as they apply for driver 
licenses, including nonoperating identification licenses, and to 
implement the automatic voter registration of applicants.� The system shall 
provide for the county recorder on receipt of the registration information from 
the department of transportation to notify the person of the process to decline 
to register to vote and that if the p