§3-4A-22. Assistance to illiterate and disabled voters.

(a) Any duly registered voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability, advanced age or inability to read and write may be given assistance by one of the following means:

(1) By a person of the voter's choice: Provided, That the assistance may not be given by the voter's present or former employer or agent of that employer or by an officer or agent of a labor union of which the voter is a past or present member or a candidate on the ballot or official write-in candidate; or

(2) If no person of the voter's choice be present at the polling place, the voter may request assistance from the poll clerks or ballot commissioners present at the polling place, whereupon assistance may be given by any two of the election officers of opposite political party affiliation to whom the voter shall thereupon declare his or her choice of candidates and his or her position on public questions appearing on the ballot. The election officers, in the presence of the voter and in the presence of each other, shall thereupon cause the voter's declared choices to be recorded on the ballot or a vote recording device, as may be appropriate, as votes.

(b) A person other than an election officer who assists a voter in voting under the provisions of this section shall sign a written oath or affirmation before assisting the voter, stating that he or she will not override the actual preference of the voter being assisted or mislead the voter into voting for someone other than the candidate of the voter's choice. The person assisting the voter shall also swear or affirm that he or she believes that the voter is voting free of intimidation or manipulation.