4. "Help America Vote Act" - Laserfiche WebLink

· STATEWIDE DATABASE - Voter Registration North Dakota is the only state in the nation without some form of voter registration. It was one of the first states to adopt voter registration prior to 1900, and it was the first state to abolish it in 1951. North Dakota's system of voting and lack of voter registration is rooted in its rural character, illustrated by numerous small precincts, where local election boards know most of the voters who enter the polls to vote on Election Day and may detect those who should not be voting in the precinct. Because of North Dakota's unique election system, which does not require voters to register, the state is exempt from the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, along with several provisions of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA), including but not limited to: 1. The implementation of a centralized voter registration system; 2. The implementation of certain provisional voting requirements; and 3. The voter identification requirements. REQU I RED CHANG ES - LEGISLATIVE CHANGES AND ACTIONS: · HAVA COMPLIANCE The Fifty-eighth Legislative Assembly of North Dakota adopted significant election reform legislation by the passage of Senate Bills 2248, 2394, and 2409, which revised North Dakota's election laws to make them HAVA compliant. Senate Bill 2248 changed existing state law to make it compliant with uniformed and overseas voter sections of HAVA. Further changes will be made by future rule making. Revised state law includes the following initiatives: · Permits a United States citizen who is eighteen years of age of older, who has never lived in the United States and whose parent is a qualified elector of the state, to vote absentee in North Dakota, for federal offices only. · Establishes the Secretary of State's office as the single office in the state for providing information regarding eligible absentee voting by military and overseas citizens. · Directs the Secretary of State to establish uniform procedures for county election officials to follow when transmitting and receiving voting materials to and from military and overseas voters. · Directs the Secretary of State to establish uniform procedures for county election officials to follow when notifying military or overseas voters that their absentee ballot was rejected. Senate Bill 2394 authorized the creation of a centralized electronic voter database linked between the Secretary of State's office and the office's of county election officials. The centralized database will provide a post Election Day tool for preventing and detecting voter fraud, for ensuring efficiency and accuracy, and for generating accurate, up-to-date Election Day poll books. Proposed North Dakota Shdc I tAVA Plan - ["o~' Pt//)/ic Rcvic~' Page 4 ot'21