Relating to elections; prohibiting the secretary of state from participating in recounts or election contests for an office sought by the secretary of state, requiring the governor to appoint an uninterested person to perform the duties of the secretary of state in the recounts or contests; requiring soil and water conservation supervisors to reside in the supervisor district of election; clarifying petition requirements for ballot questions; eliminating certain obsolete provisions relating to development and implementation of the statewide voter registration system; requiring the inspection and copying of voter rosters at precincts on election day to be conducted in the same manner as the inspection and copying of public information lists; specifying certain county auditor notice requirements relating to local elections; expanding the prohibition against conducting meetings after or between certain times on precinct caucus or election days; excluding elections conducted by mail from the absentee ballot application procedure; providing for the use of unofficial absentee ballots under certain conditions; requiring the secretary of state to conduct a study of procedures to ensure privacy for voters in health care facilities; excluding candidates for president or vice president from certain affidavit of candidacy form requirements and candidates for presidential elector nominated by major political parties from certain presidential elector nominating petition requirements; clarifying a certain provision providing for the signing and filing of affidavits of candidacy; specifying certain requirements of presidential and gubernatorial candidates filing write-in requests; requiring head election judge service for the entire election day; increasing precinct ballot availability requirements; applying the deadline for the designation of new or different polling places to mail elections and to the designation of combined polling places; eliminating certain references to the presidential primary; clarifying certain municipal election procedures and the compliance of congressional candidates with certain campaign financial report filing requirements; granting students eligible to vote time off school to vote during the morning of an election day without being considered truant; exempting legal advisors of town officials from the requirement to approve instructions for the layout of the ballot before sending to the printer; requiring the secretary of state to supply county auditors and town clerks with example ballots, requiring auditor distribution of copies to municipal and school district clerks, requiring the official ballot to conform to the example ballot; eliminating the separate filing period for affidavits of candidacy for town offices to be elected in March; requiring the secretary of state to license a touch sensitive direct recording electronic voting system for experimental use at an election before approval for general use, authorizing restrictions; authorizing the secretary of state to designate to employees the power to administer oaths; prescribing certain town office vacancy appointment procedures (ra)