Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §753-A, sub-§4, as amended by PL 2003, c. 447, §29, is further amended to read:

4. Application by telephone. A voter may make a telephone application for the voter's own ballot. In this case, the voter may not designate an immediate family member or a 3rd person to deliver the ballot on the voter's behalf. The clerk shall ask the voter for the information required and complete the application, with the exception of the voter's signature, and shall write "telephone request" on the application. The clerk shall also obtain the voter's birth date and write it on the application. The clerk shall verify that it is the voter who is requesting the ballot by confirming the voter's residence address and birth date with the information in the voter's record. A telephone application must be accepted by the clerk if it contains the voter's name, the voter's date of birth, the voter's residence address or other address sufficient to identify the voter and, if applicable, a different address to which the applicant requests the ballot be sent or delivered.

Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §753-B, as amended by PL 2003, c. 447, §§30 and 31, is further amended to read:

§753-B. Procedure for issuing absentee ballot

1. Application or written request received. Upon receipt of an application, written request or telephone application for an absentee ballot that is accepted pursuant to section 753-A, the clerk shall immediately issue an absentee ballot and return envelope by mail or in person to the applicant or to the immediate family member or to a 3rd person designated in a written application or request made by the voter. The clerk shall type or write in ink the name and the residence address of the voter in the designated section of the return envelope.

2. Restrictions on issuing ballot. The clerk may not deliver an absentee ballot to any 3rd person who is a candidate or a member of a candidate's immediate family. The clerk may not deliver to an immediate family member or to a 3rd person any absentee ballot requested by telephone. The clerk may not issue more than 5 absentee ballots to any 3rd person designated in applications or written requests at any time.