Senator MASSEY proposed the following amendment (JUD4919.017):

Amend the bill, as and if amended, by striking Section 7-15-320 and inserting:

/ "Section 7-15-320.(A) Qualified electors in any of the following categories who are unable to vote during early voting hours for the duration of the early voting period, and during the hours the polls are open on election day, must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in all elections an election when they are absent from their county of residence on election day during the hours the polls are open , to an extent that it prevents them from voting in person:

(1) persons with employment obligations who present written certification of the obligations to the county board of voter registration and elections students, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;

(2) persons who will be attending sick or physically disabled persons serving with the American Red Cross or with the United Service Organizations (USO) who are attached to and serving with the Armed Forces of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them;

(3) persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial governmental employees, their spouses, and dependents residing with them; or

(4) persons who are going to be absent from their county of residence on vacation (who by virtue of vacation plans will be absent from their county of residence on election day); or

(5) overseas citizens.

(B) Qualified electors in the following categories must be permitted to vote by absentee ballot in an election, regardless of whether the elector is able to vote during early voting hours for the duration of the early voting period, and during the hours the polls are open all elections, whether or not they are absent from their county of residence on election day:

(1) physically disabled persons;

(2) persons whose employment obligations require that they be at their place of employment during the hours that the polls are open and present written certification of that obligation to the county board of voter registration and elections;

(3) members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them certified poll watchers, poll managers, county board of voter registration and elections members and staff, county and state election commission members and staff working on election day; or

(4) attending sick or physically disabled persons;

(5)(3)persons admitted to hospitals as emergency patients on the day of an election or within a four-day period before the election, as provided in Section 7-15-330;

(6) persons with a death or funeral in the family within a three-day period before the election;

(7) persons who will be serving as jurors in a state or federal court on election day;

(8) persons sixty-five years of age or older;

(9) persons confined to a jail or pretrial facility pending disposition of arrest or trial; or

(10)members of the Armed Forces and Merchant Marines of the United States, their spouses, and dependents residing with them ." /