2-6-401 - Emergency absentee ballots.
2-6-401. Emergency absentee ballots.
(a) (1) The county election commission may designate emergency registrars who shall have the responsibility of supplying ballots to and receiving ballots from persons who have been hospitalized in their county of residence within twenty (20) days of an election when such persons will be unable to vote in person on election day.
(2) The county election commission may appoint the hospital administrator to act as an emergency registrar for any person who is a patient in that hospital due to an emergency; provided, that no such appointment shall be made more than fifteen (15) days before the election.
(3) Any ballots cast in accordance with this section shall be witnessed by a voter registered in the county and by a notary public.
(b) A registered voter eligible to request the services of an emergency registrar shall make such a request not more than twenty (20) days before the election and no later than the opening of the polls on election day. Upon receiving a bona fide request for the services of an emergency registrar, the county election commission shall direct an emergency registrar to provide the following materials to such person:
(1) An application;
(2) A paper ballot or ballots;
(3) A duplicate of the person's permanent voter registration; and
(4) An envelope in which to seal the ballot.
(c) In addition to those persons or that category of persons otherwise authorized to vote absentee under this chapter, a voter shall upon a showing of reasonable proof to the administrator of elections or the administrator's deputy be eligible to vote absentee by personal appearance at the commission office, not more than five (5) days nor later than the day prior to the election if:
(1) Due to the death of a relative of a voter which would result in the voter's absence from the state or county on election day; or
(2) If the voter receives a subpoena or service of process requiring the voter's presence on election day.
(d) The procedure for voting shall substantially follow the provisions for voting absentee by personal appearance set out in §§ 2-6-102 and 2-6-109.
[Acts 1977, ch. 306, § 1; T.C.A., § 2-629; Acts 1981, ch. 478, §§ 14, 15; 1983, ch. 230, § 1; T.C.A., § 2-6-129; Acts 1994, ch. 859, § 5.]