Signed by Governor Haley Barbour

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that allows curbside voting for voters with disabilities, places tighter restrictions on the handling of absentee ballots and creates an eight-hour training course for poll managers.

Highlights:

- Adds 'Penalties for vote fraud are up to five years in prison and a fine of up to Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00)' to the envelope in which all absentee ballots must be returned (Section 3). - Adds 'physician's assistant' to the list of people who may sign a statement testifying that an applicant for an absentee ballot on grounds of permanent physical disability is sufficiently permanently impaired to be unable to vote in person [Section 4 (1)(a)]. - Requires any person applying for an absentee ballot on grounds of temporary physical disability to provide a statement signed by that person's physician, nurse practitioner or physician's assistant testifying that the person is sufficiently temporarily impaired to be unable to vote in person [Section 4 (2)]. - Requires the creation and implementation of an eight-hour non-compulsory training course for election managers by the executive committee (for primary elections) or the commissioners of election of each county (for all other elections), and requires the Secretary of State to develop a version of this training course that may be taken via the Internet [Section 9 (1)(b)]. - Allows the county executive to appoint a subcommittee on elections to perform its duties regarding canvassing the result of the election and certifying the official vote totals [Section 12 (4)]. - Substitute offered by Senate Committee on Elections on 02/26/2008.

Full Bill Text