SPONSOR: Toalson Reisch
This bill requires election authorities to create a report of all election-related expenses within six months after the date of an election. This report will be considered a public record.
The bill adds voting methods, including if the voter voted absentee, in-person, mail-in, or overseas voting, to the list of electronic data that election authorities or the Secretary of State must maintain.
Currently an election authority is required to furnish, for a fee, electronic media or a printout showing specified information. This bill adds the date the voter registered, whether the voter has an active or inactive status, voting method used, and voting history to the information that election authorities must furnish upon request.
The bill requires election authorities to archive voter registration information on a weekly basis. This archived information will be considered a public record.
This bill requires each election authority in a county with more than 40,000 registered voters to conduct a cyber security review of their office by the Secretary of State, the State Auditor, or the county auditor, by an entity that specializes in cyber security reviews. The results of this review must be published by the election authority. All software used by election authorities will be subject to review.
New voting equipment must not be purchased or utilized within six months of an election. All new voting equipment must be individually certified prior to its initial use.
The bill prohibits any device connected to the electronic voter identification system from being connected to the internet on election day. All signatures provided by voters are required to be manual signatures, not electronic.
This bill prohibits the use of any voting machine unless it has log files, auditing file, and cast vote record functions permanently turned on.
Currently, election authorities are required to maintain ballots, ballot cards, processed ballot materials, applications, statements, certificates, affidavits, and computer programs relating to each election for 22 months after the date of the election, at which point these records may be destroyed. This bill adds cast vote records to this list of election material that must be maintained, and provides that after 22 months from the date of the election, the records will become open records. They must then be maintained for an additional 24 months, after which they may be destroyed by the election authority.
Finally, the bill adds the use of an unauthorized voting machine to the list of class III election offenses.
Statutes affected: