Absentee voting; mandatory processing of returned absentee ballots before election day.

Absentee voting; mandatory processing of returned absentee ballots before election day; central absentee voter precinct in the office of the general registrar. Requires certain actions to be taken to process absentee ballots that are returned by mail before election day. The general registrar is required to (i) examine the ballot envelopes to verify completion of the required voter affirmation; (ii) mark the pollbook, or the absentee voter applicant list if the pollbook is not available, that the voter has voted; and (iii) direct the officers of election at a central absentee precinct to open the sealed ballot envelopes and insert the ballots in optical scan counting equipment or other secure ballot container without initiating any ballot count totals. Under current law, the general registrar is required to conduct preprocessing of absentee ballots before election day only as needed. To facilitate preprocessing as provided in the bill, the bill requires a central absentee voter precinct to be established and maintained in each locality. Additional central absentee voter precincts may be established at the discretion of the governing body.