§ 7-5-404 - Applications for ballots. - Arkansas Statutes

7-5-404. Applications for ballots.

(a) (1) Applications for absentee ballots must be signed by the applicant and verified by the county clerk by checking the voter's name, address, date of birth, and signature from the registration records or, if sent by facsimile machine transmitted over telephone lines, the application must bear a verifiable facsimile of the applicant's signature.

(2) Delivery of the request for an absentee ballot to the county clerk may be made in one (1) of the following ways, and in no other manner:

(A) For applications submitted using the form prescribed in 7-5-405:

(i) In person at the office of the county clerk of the county of residence of the voter no later than the time the county clerk's office regularly closes on the day before election day;

(ii) Applications by mail must be received in the office of the county clerk of the county of residence of the voter not later than seven (7) days before the election for which the application was made;

(iii) A designated bearer may deliver the completed application to the office of the county clerk of the county of residence of the applicant not later than the time the county clerk's office regularly closes on the day before the day of the election;

(iv) A person declared as the authorized agent of the applicant may deliver the application to the office of the county clerk of the county of residence of the applicant not later than 1:30 p.m. on the day of the election;

(v) An administrator may deliver the application in person at the office of the county clerk of the county of residence of the voter no later than the time the county clerk's office regularly closes on the day before election day; or

(vi) (a) Delivery by facsimile machine transmission to the county clerk's office of the county of residence of the voter not later than seven (7) days before the election for which the application was made.

(b) The completed facsimile-transmitted application will be accepted only upon verification of the facsimile signature of the applicant by the county clerk.

(c) Once verified as a reasonable likeness of the voter's signature, the signature appearing on a facsimile copy of an application shall be presumed to be authentic until proven otherwise; or

(B) If the applicant does not use the form prescribed in 7-5-405, he or she may make an application for an absentee ballot as follows:

(i) A letter or postcard must be received in the office of the county clerk not later than seven (7) days before the date of the election. The letter or postcard shall contain information sufficient for the county board of election commissioners and the county clerk to accept the letter or postcard in lieu of the application form; or

(ii) An applicant may transmit a written request for an absentee ballot over the telephone lines that shall contain the voter's signature and other information sufficient for acceptance in lieu of the application form.

(b) (1) Any person eligible to vote by absentee ballot may request the county clerk to mail to an address within the continental United States an application for an absentee ballot.

(2) (A) For those persons voting by absentee ballot who reside outside the county in which they are registered to vote, the application shall remain in effect for one (1) year unless revoked by the voter, and the county clerk shall thereafter automatically mail, no later than twenty-five (25) before each election, an absentee ballot for each election.

(B) (i) Except for persons of long-term care or residential facilities licensed by the state or other persons who are voters with disabilities as defined in 7-5-311(d), for those persons voting by absentee ballot who reside within the county in which they are registered to vote, the application shall be valid for only one (1) election cycle.

(ii) The election cycle shall include any one (1) election and the corresponding runoff election.

(c) Citizens of the United States temporarily residing outside the territorial limits of the United States may request the absentee ballot for any one (1) or more elections through the next two (2) regularly scheduled general elections for federal office, including any runoff elections that may occur as a result of the outcome of the general elections, by submitting only one (1) application during that period of time in the manner prescribed by subsection (a) of this section.