Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                                   SB 481.1
  1                                                   SENATE BILL NO. 481
  2                                                INTRODUCED BY C. GLIMM
  3                  BY REQUEST OF THE (S) JOINT SELECT COMMITTEE ON ELECTION SECURITY
  4
  5    A BILL FOR AN ACT ENTITLED: “AN ACT REQUIRING CAST VOTE RECORDS FOR ALL ELECTIONS;
  6    PROVIDING DEFINITIONS; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE.”
  7
  8    BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
  9
 10            NEW SECTION. Section 1.          Cast vote record requirement -- availability -- retention. (1) The cast
 11    vote record function must be activated in all voting systems at all times.
 12            (2)      The cast vote records generated during an election
 13            (a)      must be saved and must be retained in a secure manner for 7 years;
 14            (b)      must be retained for legitimate purposes; and
 15            (c)      are not public records.
 16            (3)      For the purpose of this section, the following definitions apply:
 17            (a)      "Cast vote record" means a tally of the votes cast on an individual ballot. The term does not
 18    include an image of an individual ballot.
 19            (b)      "Cast vote record function" means the feature in a voting system that allows the cast vote
 20    record to be generated.
 21            (c)      "Legitimate purposes" means a court finding that there is probable cause to believe a violation
 22    of Title 13, chapter 35, parts 1 and 2, has occurred and that the cast vote record is relevant to the determination
 23    of whether the violation occurred.
 24
 25            NEW SECTION. Section 2.          Codification instruction. [Section 1] is intended to be codified as an
 26    integral part of Title 13, chapter 13, part 1, and the provisions of Title 13, chapter 13, part 1, apply to [section 1].
 27
 28            NEW SECTION. Section 3.          Severability. If a part of [this act] is invalid, all valid parts that are
                                                                 -1-                        Authorized Print Version – SB 481
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68th Legislature 2023                                                                                                 SB 481.1
  1    severable from the invalid part remain in effect. If a part of [this act] is invalid in one or more of its applications,
  2    the part remains in effect in all valid applications that are severable from the invalid applications.
  3
  4            NEW SECTION. Section 4.          Effective date. [This act] is effective July 1, 2023.
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                                                                 -2-                       Authorized Print Version – SB 481