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Senate concurs with House on elections bill tightening absentee deadlines and increasing roll checks
Summary
After extensive floor debate, the Senate concurred in House amendments to Senate Bill 293, shortening absentee ballot receipt deadlines and imposing monthly voter-roll citizenship checks; supporters said the changes boost election integrity while opponents warned the measures risk clerical purges and voter disenfranchisement.
The Senate voted Nov. 18 to concur in House amendments to Senate Bill 293, a package of changes to absentee-ballot deadlines and voter-roll maintenance.
Senator Gavarone described the change as proactive in light of an ongoing federal case that could require ballots be received on election day; she argued acting now would give election officials time to inform voters if the Supreme Court narrows after-election receipt windows.
Opponents, including Senator Tina Mahar and Senator Kent Smith, said the bill’s new monthly data-matching requirement risks false positives and the cancellation of eligible voters’ registrations because databases do not always align. Senator DeMora called the changes "an assault on democracy," warning that routine clerical mismatches would force legitimate voters into provisional voting or removal from the rolls.
The Senate concurred in the House amendments by recorded vote (23–10). The bill requires monthly cross-checks of BMV and federal SAVE data for citizenship verification, tighter rules around deceased-voter identification reporting, and places new obligations on precinct workers and boards of elections for challenge procedures.
