| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to electronic voting system paper records; |
| 3 | providing a short title; amending s. 101.295, F.S.; |
| 4 | providing that removal of a paper record from polling |
| 5 | places in certain circumstances is a felony; providing |
| 6 | penalties; amending s. 101.5606, F.S.; requiring |
| 7 | electronic voting systems to produce a voter-verifiable |
| 8 | paper record; providing minimum requirements for |
| 9 | electronic voting systems producing paper records; |
| 10 | amending s. 102.141, F.S.; revising a provision relating |
| 11 | to discrepancies between overall election returns and |
| 12 | counters of the precinct tabulators involving touchscreen |
| 13 | ballots; requiring each county canvassing board to conduct |
| 14 | a random audit of electronic voting system results; |
| 15 | providing an effective date. |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Section 1. This act may be cited as the "Trust in |
| 20 | Elections Act". |
| 21 | Section 2. Subsection (3) is added to section 101.295, |
| 22 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 23 | 101.295 Penalties for violation.-- |
| 24 | (3) Any unauthorized person who removes from a polling |
| 25 | place a paper record produced by an electronic voting device |
| 26 | commits a felony of the third degree, punishable as provided in |
| 27 | s. 775.082, s. 775.083, or s. 775.084. |
| 28 | Section 3. Subsection (16) is added to section 101.5606, |
| 29 | Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 30 | 101.5606 Requirements for approval of systems.--No |
| 31 | electronic or electromechanical voting system shall be approved |
| 32 | by the Department of State unless it is so constructed that: |
| 33 | (16) It produces a voter-verifiable paper record that is |
| 34 | suitable for a manual audit and is equivalent or superior to the |
| 35 | paper record of a paper ballot box system such that the voting |
| 36 | system, at minimum: |
| 37 | (a) Produces a permanent paper record, each individual |
| 38 | paper record of which is made available for inspection and |
| 39 | verification by the voter at the time the vote is cast and |
| 40 | preserved within the polling place in the manner in which all |
| 41 | other paper ballots are preserved within the polling place on |
| 42 | election day for later use in any manual audit. |
| 43 | (b) Provides the voter with an opportunity to correct any |
| 44 | error made by the system before the permanent record is |
| 45 | preserved for use in any manual audit. |
| 46 |
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| 47 | The voter-verified paper record produced under this subsection |
| 48 | shall be available as an official public record pursuant to |
| 49 | chapter 119 and shall be the official record used for any |
| 50 | recount conducted with respect to any election in which the |
| 51 | system is used. |
| 52 | Section 4. Paragraph (b) of subsection (6) of section |
| 53 | 102.141, Florida Statutes, is amended, and paragraph (e) is |
| 54 | added to that subsection, to read: |
| 55 | 102.141 County canvassing board; duties.-- |
| 56 | (6) If the unofficial returns reflect that a candidate for |
| 57 | any office was defeated or eliminated by one-half of a percent |
| 58 | or less of the votes cast for such office, that a candidate for |
| 59 | retention to a judicial office was retained or not retained by |
| 60 | one-half of a percent or less of the votes cast on the question |
| 61 | of retention, or that a measure appearing on the ballot was |
| 62 | approved or rejected by one-half of a percent or less of the |
| 63 | votes cast on such measure, the board responsible for certifying |
| 64 | the results of the vote on such race or measure shall order a |
| 65 | recount of the votes cast with respect to such office or |
| 66 | measure. The Elections Canvassing Commission is the board |
| 67 | responsible for ordering federal, state, and multicounty |
| 68 | recounts. A recount need not be ordered with respect to the |
| 69 | returns for any office, however, if the candidate or candidates |
| 70 | defeated or eliminated from contention for such office by one- |
| 71 | half of a percent or less of the votes cast for such office |
| 72 | request in writing that a recount not be made. |
| 73 | (b) Each canvassing board responsible for conducting a |
| 74 | recount where touchscreen ballots were used shall examine the |
| 75 | counters on the precinct tabulators to ensure that the total of |
| 76 | the returns on the precinct tabulators equals the overall |
| 77 | election return. If there is a discrepancy between the overall |
| 78 | election return and the counters of the precinct tabulators, the |
| 79 | voter-verified paper records required under s. 101.5606(16) |
| 80 | counters of the precinct tabulators shall be used and presumed |
| 81 | correct and such votes shall be canvassed accordingly. |
| 82 | (e) Prior to certification of the official results of each |
| 83 | election to the Department of State, each county canvassing |
| 84 | board shall conduct an audit of results of votes cast on |
| 85 | electronic voting systems used in the county. This audit must |
| 86 | be conducted by randomly selecting by lot at least 4 percent and |
| 87 | not more than 6 percent of the electronic voting devices used in |
| 88 | that county, and, for each device, comparing the results |
| 89 | recorded electronically with the results from the official paper |
| 90 | records. The result of this comparison by manual audit must be |
| 91 | released as a public record by the county canvassing board |
| 92 | before the certification of the official results to the |
| 93 | Department of State. |
| 94 | Section 5. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |