The bill SB1342 amends the procedures for hand count audits in Arizona elections, specifically modifying the requirements for political party designees and the timelines for providing lists of hand count board workers. Under the current law, the county chair of each political party is responsible for designating election board members for the hand count, and they must provide a sufficient number of workers by 5:00 p.m. on the Thursday before the election. The new bill requires the county chairperson to also provide this information to the state party chairperson and extends the deadlines for providing additional lists of qualified electors to the second Tuesday and second Thursday before the election, respectively.

Additionally, the bill introduces a hierarchy for designating hand count workers if the county chairperson fails to provide enough designees, allowing the state party chairperson or the highest-ranking statewide official of each political party to step in. It also mandates that the results of hand count audits be made available on the county's website, in addition to being reported to the Secretary of State. Overall, the bill aims to streamline the hand count process and ensure adequate representation from political parties while enhancing transparency through public access to audit results.

Statutes affected:
Introduced Version: 16-602
Senate Engrossed Version: 16-602
Chaptered Version: 16-602