HB 177 Summary

• Requires all in-person absentee ballots cast at the registrar's office to use optical mark reading (OMR) equipment instead of being deposited in a sealed ballot box.

• Mandates OMR equipment be sealed each night during absentee voting period, with fallback to paper ballots if equipment becomes inoperable.

• Allows processing of mailed absentee ballots to begin on the Monday before election day, but requires all absentee ballot results to be announced simultaneously with other votes on election night.

• Requires all ballot counting and tallying to be completed on election night with no ballot box sealed until all votes for that precinct have been counted and reported to the tabulation center.

• Changes absentee ballot application and elector certificate printing from envelope format to a single form with application on front and certificate on back for in-person voters.