SCS/HCS/HB 2321 - The act requires the Secretary of State, in cooperation with the Department of Conservation and the Department of Corrections, to send voter registration application forms to applicants for resident hunting or fishing permits and those recently released from probation and parole.
Any person who knowingly signs a name other than his or her own to a voter registration application is guilty of a Class B felony. Persons who provide identification to an election official to cast a ballot with the knowledge that the identification is false shall be guilty of a Class B felony. Individuals who willfully and falsely complete any certificate, affidavit or ballot of another individual in relation to absentee ballots are guilty of a Class B felony.
Circulators shall be Missouri residents, shall not be paid on a per signature basis, receive signatures by mail or via the internet, or circulate more than one petition at a time. Circulators shall submit to the Secretary of State, information affirming the fulfillment of all requirements before collecting signatures. Those who have committed forgery are prohibited from circulating petitions.
Currently, persons who sign a name other than their own on a petition are guilty of a class A misdemeanor. Under this act those who knowingly do so are guilty of a class one election offense.
This act is similar to SCR 25 (2007),HB 845 (2007), SB 585 (2008), SB 598 (2007), SB 934 (2008), SB 1003 (2008), HB 1763 (2008), SB 954 (2008), and SB 1083 (2008).
CHRIS HOGERTY