House adopts strike-all expanding in-person absentee access, creates study on early voting

The House adopted a strike-all amendment on a Senate bill that inserts several voting-related provisions: it would let voters casting in-person absentee ballots in circuit clerks’ offices mark their ballots on the same OMR (optical mark recognition) machines used on election day, add a caregiving excuse for absentee voting, and create a study committee to examine early voting.

The floor sponsor told members the strike-all would “insert into this bill the language that passed out of here unanimously regarding in-person absentee voting” and that the change would ‘‘significantly speed up’’ in-person absentee voting in clerks’ offices. He also said the strike-all would add an excuse allowing caregivers of elderly or disabled people, or parents of young children who expect caregiving duties to prevent them from voting on election day, to cast absentee ballots.

The amendment also would create a multi-agency study committee including members of both chambers, the governor’s office, the secretary of state, circuit clerks and election commissioners to examine early voting options.

On the floor, the sponsor warned members the measure did not have the support needed to override a governor’s veto and described it as an incremental step and a forum to study early voting. “At this point, it does not have the support … to override a veto,” he said.

The House adopted the strike-all and then voted to pass the bill on final passage. The clerk reported the roll: 105 yeas, 7 nays, and the bill passed on final passage.

What this means: the bill, as amended, would allow in-person absentee ballots cast at circuit-clerk offices to be processed on the same machines used on election day, add a caregiving absentee excuse, and fund a study on early voting options involving state and local election officials. The sponsor described the study as intended to find consensus on early-voting policy options.