The bill would amend the Election Code by changing the punishment for the offense of unlawful assistance from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony of the third degree.  The punishment for offenses related to the method of returning a marked ballot would also be enhanced from a Class B misdemeanor to a Class A misdemeanor if the person possesses fewer than three ballots, from a state jail felony to a felony of the third degree if the person possesses the ballots or carrier envelopes without the consent of the voters, from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony of the third degree if the person possesses ballots or carrier envelopes during an election cycle, and from a felony of the third degree to a felony of the second degree if the person possesses ballots or carrier envelopes during an election cycle without the consent of the voters.  The bill would also enhance violations relating to assisting voters from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony of the third degree, and from a state jail felony to a felony of the second degree, depending on whether the offender is also convicted of providing unlawful assistance to the same voter. 
 
A Class A misdemeanor is punishable by confinement in county jail for a term not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $4,000, or both fine and imprisonment.
 
A state jail felony is punishable by confinement in a state jail for any term of not more than two years or less than 180 days, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.
 
A third degree felony is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than ten years or less than two years, or, in addition to imprisonment, a fine not to exceed $10,000.

A second degree felony is punishable by imprisonment in the institutional division for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years, or, in addition to confinement, a fine not to exceed $10,000.

Increasing the penalty for any criminal offense is expected to result in increased demands upon the correctional resources of counties or of the State due to longer terms of probation, or, longer terms of confinement in county jails or prison. When an offense is changed from a misdemeanor to a felony, there is a transfer of the burden of confinement of convicted offenders from the counties to the State. The impact of the bill on correctional populations would depend on how many persons would be prosecuted under the provisions of the bill, and the extent to which punishment would be enhanced under the proposed statute compared to existing statute.  For this analysis it is assumed that the number of offenders convicted under this statute would not result in a significant impact on the programs and workload of state corrections agencies or on the demand for resources and services of those agencies.