13-13-214. Mailing ballot to elector. (1) (a) Except as provided in 13-13-213 and in subsection (1)(b) of this section, as soon as the official ballots are printed, the election administrator shall send by mail, postage prepaid, to each elector from whom the election administrator has received a valid application whatever official ballots are necessary. Ballots must be sent immediately to electors submitting valid requests after the official ballots are printed.
     (b) The election administrator may deliver a ballot in person to an individual other than the elector if:
     (i) the elector has designated the individual, either by a signed letter or by making the designation on the application form in a manner prescribed by the secretary of state;
     (ii) the individual taking delivery of the ballot on behalf of the elector verifies, by signature, receipt of the ballot;
     (iii) the election administrator believes that the individual receiving the ballot is the designated person; and
     (iv) the designated person has not previously picked up ballots for four other electors.
     (2) The election administrator shall enclose with the ballots a self-addressed envelope for the return of the ballots. An affirmation in the form prescribed by the secretary of state must be printed on the back of the envelope.
     (3) The election administrator shall stamp the ballots provided to an absentee elector as provided in 13-13-116.
     (4) Both the envelope in which the ballot is mailed to an elector in the United States service and the return envelope must have printed across the face the information and graphics and be of the color prescribed by the secretary of state consistent with the regulations established by the federal election commission, the U.S. postal service, or other federal agency.
     (5) If the ballots sent to the elector are for a primary election, the election administrator shall enclose an extra envelope marked "For Unvoted Party Ballot(s)". This envelope may not be numbered or marked in any way so that it can be identified as being used by any one elector.
     (6) Instructions for voting must be enclosed with the ballots. Instructions for primary elections must include use of the envelope for unvoted ballots. The instructions must include information concerning the type or types of writing instruments that may be used to mark the absentee ballot. The election administrator shall include a voter information pamphlet with the instructions if:
     (a) a statewide ballot issue appears on the ballot mailed to the elector;
     (b) the elector is out of the state or will be out of the state at the time of the election; and
     (c) the elector requests a voter information pamphlet.
     (7) The return envelope must be self-addressed to the election administrator.

     History: En. Sec. 124, Ch. 368, L. 1969; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 246, L. 1971; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 287, L. 1975; R.C.M. 1947, 23-3706; amd. Sec. 121, Ch. 571, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 110, L. 1983; amd. Sec. 1, Ch. 119, L. 1995; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 203, L. 1995.