Brief ⁽¹⁾

SB 218 requires the county board of canvassers to open and review all provisional ballots at the time of canvassing votes and to include all those ballots, deemed to be valid, in the final canvass of election results. The bill also requires valid provisional ballots to be numbered by the county election officer to correspond to the number on the envelope and to the number of the provisional voter's name in the registration or poll book.

Background

The Secretary of State (SOS) recommended the bill as a response to the election contest in the 8^th District of the Kansas House of Representatives race where there was differences in the way various counties processed their provisional ballots. A representative of the SOS testified that SB 218 would clarify the process.

The fiscal note from the Division of the Budget indicated that the passage of SB 218 would have no fiscal impact on state revenues.

The House Committee amended the bill to require the numbering of the valid provisional ballots, so that they could be accessible if the results of the election were contested.

1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext.cgi