Amends TCA Title 2.

This bill makes the following changes to the election law:<br /> <br /> (1) DESIGNATING POLITICAL PARTY AFFILIATION. This bill provides that, at the time of initial registration, each qualified voter may select on the registration application an affiliation with a statewide political party or recognized minor party qualified to participate in elections, or may select to be designated as "unaffiliated." The county election commission must record the party affiliation or unaffiliated designation as part of the voter's permanent registration record. If a voter fails or refuses to make a selection, the county election commission must enter on the permanent registration records that the voter is unaffiliated;<br /> <br /> (2) VOTER REGISTRATION FORM. This bill adds to the permanent registration record an inquiry regarding a voter's statewide political party or recognized minor party affiliation, with a notice that a voter choosing not to select a statewide political party or recognized minor party affiliation will be registered as "unaffiliated" and will remain eligible to vote in a primary election;<br /> <br /> (3) EXISTING REGISTERED VOTERS. This bill provides that, in order to provide a voter who is already registered to vote and who remains a registered voter with an opportunity to select a party affiliation or to select an unaffiliated status, the voter must make such a declaration to be recorded on the voter's permanent registration record at either the first primary in which the voter participates on or after the effective date of this act or the county election commission office during the registration periods provided in law;<br /> <br /> (4) ALTERATIONS TO DESIGNATIONS. Present law provides that a qualified voter may register or have the voter's registration altered at the commission office at any time the office is open, except that applications for registration must not be processed for 29 days before an election, except when the 30th day before an election falls on a weekend or legal holiday, and that a qualified voter may file a mail registration form by postmarking the registration form or submitting the registration form 30 days before an election. This bill clarifies that alterations to a political party affiliation or an unaffiliated status must adhere to the same requirements as provided in this (3); <br /> <br /> (5) PRIMARY ELECTIONS. Present law provides that a registered voter is entitled to vote in a primary election for offices for which the voter is qualified to vote at the polling place where the voter is registered if the voter is a bona fide member of and affiliated with the political party in whose primary the voter seeks to vote; or at the time the voter seeks to vote, the voter declares allegiance to the political party in whose primary the voter seeks to vote and states that the voter intends to affiliate with that party. This bill rewrites this provision to provide, instead, that a registered voter may vote in a primary election for offices for which the voter is qualified to vote at the polling place where the voter is registered if the following requirements are met:<br /> <br /> (A) The voter is a bona fide member of, and is recorded on the voter's permanent registration record as being affiliated with, the political party in whose primary the voter seeks to vote;<br /> <br /> (B) The voter is designated on the voter's permanent registration record as "unaffiliated"; or<br /> <br /> (C) The primary election is the first primary election the voter has participated in on or after the effective date of this act and the voter affiliates with a political party or is designated as "unaffiliated". Such affiliation or designation must then be added to the voter's permanent registration record; and<br /> <br /> (6) ALTERATIONS TO DESIGNATIONS THROUGH WEBSITE. This bill requires the coordinator of elections to establish a website that permits an applicant to affiliate with, or change a registered voter's affiliation with, a statewide political party or recognized minor party, or be designated as "unaffiliated" as long as the change in affiliation or designation complies with the registration periods prescribed under law.<br />