Sec 16-549. Special election boards; voting procedure for ill electors or electors with disabilities; expenses

A. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections, for the purpose of making it possible for qualified electors who are ill or have a disability to vote, may appoint such number of special election boards as needed. In a partisan election, each such board shall consist of two members, one from each of the two political parties which cast the highest number of votes in the state in the last preceding general election. The county chairman of each such party shall furnish, within sixty days prior to the election day, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections with a list of names of qualified electors within the chairman's political party, and such additional lists as may be required, from which the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall appoint members to such special election boards. The county recorder or other officer in charge of elections may refuse for cause to appoint or may for cause remove a member of this board. A person who is a candidate for an office other than precinct committeeman is not eligible to serve on the special election board for that election.

B. Members of special election boards appointed under the provisions of this section shall be reimbursed for travel expenses in the manner provided by law and shall also receive such compensation as the board of supervisors or the governing body prescribes, all of which shall be paid by the county or other political subdivision.

C. In lieu of the mailed early ballot procedure, any qualified elector who is confined as the result of a continuing illness or physical disability and is, therefore, not able to go to the polls on the day of the next election and who does not wish to vote by the mailed early ballot procedure, may make a verbal or a signed written request to the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to have a ballot personally delivered to the elector by the special election board at the elector's place of confinement within the county or other political subdivision. The ballot shall be delivered to the elector in person by a special election board as provided in this section. Such requests must be made by 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday before the election.

D. Qualified electors who become ill or become a person with a disability after the second Friday before the election may nevertheless request personal ballot delivery pursuant to this section, and the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections shall when possible honor such requests up to and including the last day before the election. Qualified electors who are admitted to a hospital after 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday preceding the election and before 5:00 p.m. on election day may request the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to provide a special election board with a ballot at the elector's place of confinement. If the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections is able to accommodate the request, the voted ballot of the elector shall be sealed in an envelope and shall be processed as a provisional ballot pursuant to section 16-584.

E. The manner and procedure of voting shall be as provided in section 16-548, except that the marked ballot in the sealed envelope shall be handed by the elector to the special election board and shall be delivered by the board to the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections.