Legislative Session number- 84

Bill Name: SF0290

2E Relating to elections; requiring secretary of state consultation with local
election officials in developing the statewide voter registration system;
defining or redefining certain terms for electronic voting systems regulation
purposes; requiring the secretary of state to examine electronic ballot marking
and assistive technologies intended to be used with the system; delaying the
deadline for the use of voting systems for disabled voters in county, municipal
and school district elections; specifying certain candidate order requirements
for electronic ballots; expanding certain electronic voting system requirements;
requiring the secretary of state in cooperation with the commissioner of
administration to establish state voting systems contracts, specifying certain
contract requirements and requiring secretary of state appointment of an
advisory committee to assist the commissioner of administration in reviewing and
evaluating the merits of proposals submitted from voting equipment vendors for
the contracts, authorizing counties and municipalities to purchase or lease
voting systems and services from the contracts; requiring the contracts to
require voting system vendors to provide copies of source codes for the voting
systems to independent third party evaluators for examination and certification
purposes, protecting trade secret information; providing for secretary of state
certification in lieu of approval of electronic voting systems for experimental
use and for use of electronic ballot markers and audio ballot readers, modifying
certain requirements for testing the voting systems and certain provisions
regulating optical scan voting systems; appropriating money from the help
America vote act (HAVA) account to the secretary of state for grants to counties
to purchase certain electronic voting systems and optical scan voting equipment
and to defray the operating costs of assistive voting equipment and for grants
to counties and municipalities to improve access to polling places for
individuals with disabilities and to the commissioner of administration and the
secretary of state to establish the state voting systems contract; requiring
county auditors to convene working groups of city and town election officials to
create local equipment plans, specifying certain plan requirements and imposing
a completion deadline; requiring counties receiving grants to report to the
secretary of state by a certain date the amount spent for purchase of electronic
voting systems and for operating costs
(mk, ja)