SESSION OF 2022
SUPPLEMENTAL NOTE ON SENATE BILL NO. 389
As Amended by Senate Committee on Federal
and State Affairs

Brief*
SB 389, as amended, would require all voting systems
in Kansas to use a paper ballot with a distinctive watermark
as established by the Secretary of State (Secretary), for
elections on and after January 1, 2024.
The bill would require the ballot to be:
● Marked by the voter, or person assisting the voter
as permitted by law, by hand or by use of a voting
machine that is a non-tabulating paper ballot
marking or printing device;
● Subject to inspection and verification by the voter
after marking and before the vote is cast and
counted; and
● Canvassed by hand or by vote-tabulating
equipment.
The bill would require a sample hand-counted audit of
the paper ballots conducted for each precinct if the paper
ballots are read by vote-tabulating equipment.
The bill would require the voting system to provide the
voter an opportunity to correct any error on the paper ballot
before it is secured and preserved.

____________________
*Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research
Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental
note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at
http://www.kslegislature.org
 The bill would prohibit a voting system from preserving
paper ballots in a manner that would associate a voter with
the record of their vote without the voter’s consent.
The bill would require the paper ballot to be preserved
and constitute the official ballot for audit and recount
purposes. The bill would require each paper ballot be counted
by hand in a recount unless the recount requestor elects not
to have the ballots counted by hand. In the event of any
inconsistencies in vote tallies, the vote tallies of the paper
ballots counted by hand would be the true and correct record
of votes cast.
The bill would require a sample hand-counted audit of
paper ballots to be conducted by the election board if paper
ballots are read and tabulated by vote-tabulating equipment.
The audit would consist of an examination of voter markings
on randomly selected paper ballots in comparison to the
results of the voting system’s tabulation. The bill would
require the audit to conform to rules and regulations to be
adopted by the Secretary, and the audit results would be
reported to the county election officer, the canvassing board,
and the Secretary.
The bill would prohibit the use of poll books not requiring
a hand-written signature.
The bill would require the Secretary to adopt rules and
regulations to implement the bill by January 1, 2023.

Background
The bill was introduced by Senator Hilderbrand.

Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs
In the Senate Committee hearing, Senator Hilderbrand
and a private citizen provided proponent testimony, stating

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that the bill would increase public trust in the validity of
elections. Written-only proponent testimony was provided by
a representative of Opportunity Solutions Project and four
private citizens.
Representatives of the Secretary and the Kansas
Association of Counties provided neutral testimony, indicating
technical concerns with the bill. Written-only neutral testimony
was provided by a private citizen.
Opponent testimony on the bill was provided by
representatives of the Disability Rights Center of Kansas and
Loud Light Civic Action, indicating concerns for individuals
with disabilities and the cost to county election offices.
Written-only opponent testimony was provided by Senator
Sykes, representatives of the Kansas County Clerks and
Election Officials Association and Wichita NAACP, and a
private citizen.
The Senate Committee amended the bill to require the
Secretary to adopt rules and regulations by January 1, 2023,
and to delay implementation of the watermark requirement
until January 1, 2024.

Fiscal Information
According to the fiscal note prepared by the Division of
the Budget on the bill as introduced, the Office of the
Secretary of State indicates it would incur costs for staff time,
but these costs could be absorbed within existing resources.
Both the Office of the Secretary of State and the Kansas
Association of Counties indicate enactment of the bill would
significantly increase expenditures for counties and local
county election offices related to:
● Equipment upgrades for voting machine vendors
and ballot printing vendors to have the capability to
produce watermarked ballots;
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 ● Hand recounts; and
● Additional wages paid to election board workers
who would be required to conduct sample random
audits.
The exact impact for each county would depend on the
county’s population and equipment replacement needs. Any
fiscal effect associated with enactment of the bill is not
reflected in The FY 2023 Governor’s Budget Report.


Elections; voting systems; watermark; election audits


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