The bill amends the Michigan election law, specifically section 794a, to enhance the regulations surrounding electronic voting systems. It introduces new provisions that allow the appropriate board of election commissioners to maintain control over the creation of their own test deck processes, ensuring that they are not restricted by the Secretary of State from utilizing various sources for predetermined results. Additionally, the bill prohibits the Secretary of State from entering into exclusive agreements with any single vendor for creating test decks and mandates that the procedures for preparing test decks and conducting accuracy tests must be transparent and replicable without reliance on proprietary information.

Furthermore, the bill modifies the requirements for using new electronic voting systems in elections. It removes the previous stipulation that a new system must be acquired six months prior to a general election and instead emphasizes the need for accuracy testing of electronic voting systems. The Secretary of State is granted the authority to randomly select and test these systems for accuracy before elections, using test decks prepared by the appropriate board of election commissioners. The bill also stipulates that an electronic voting system that fails an accuracy test cannot be used until necessary corrections are made and it passes a subsequent test.

Statutes affected:
House Introduced Bill: 168.794