JULY 13, 2005

Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land applauded today’s passage of Senate Bill 513, which continues Michigan’s drive toward an election process that is more convenient, cost effective and reflective of today’s busy lifestyle.

SB 513 will give school districts another opportunity to change their election schedules and hold them in conjunction with other local elections in order to reduce their election costs. It also offers numerous reforms designed to provide more information to the electorate, ease the workload of election clerks and improve the state’s voter registration database.

"SB 513 builds on the enhancements put into place with the passage of Michigan’s consolidated election law," said Land, Michigan’s chief election officer. "It gives schools another chance to boost participation while reducing their election-related costs. I appreciate the Legislature’s help with this issue and look forward to the governor signing the bill into law in the near future."

Specifically, schools may choose from the following election date options: odd year general election, even year general November election, November regular election date (annually) or the odd-year May regular election date (biennially in May).

To give voters more information, petitions allowing school districts to borrow money, increase a millage or establish a bond would also have to include the proposed date of the election, the amount of the millage increase, bond or loan, and the purpose of the request.

Under the bill, election officials will be able to use digitized signatures to verify identity for election-related purposes such as voter registration, ballot question and nominating petitions, affidavits and absent voter ballot applications. In addition, the Department of State will no longer have to submit to local election clerks voter address changes on paper if a voter’s electronic signature is available.

Other technical changes include:

• Outlining a process for school boards seeking a temporary change in the members’ terms of offices.
• Requiring notices of ballot proposals to include a caption or brief description of the proposal, in addition to the location where voters may obtain the complete proposal text.
• Specifying the order in which the nonpartisan section of the ballot must be printed.