HB 138 – AS INTRODUCED
2007 SESSION
03/04
HOUSE BILL 138
This bill requires public disclosure of certain information pertaining to voting machines.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
07-0545
03/04
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Seven
AN ACT relative to disclosure of voting machine information.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Section; Public Disclosure of Voting Machine Information. Amend RSA 656 by inserting after section 44 the following new section:
656:45 Public Disclosure of Voting Machine Information.
I. In this section:
(a) “COTS component” means common off-the-shelf component that is manufactured in large quantities and is widely available.
(b) “General purpose COTS component” means a COTS component intended for use in a variety of non-voting systems.
(c) “Source code” means computer instructions written by programmers.
(d) “Vendor” means a person described in RSA 656:42, III.
(e) “Voting specific hardware” means a component manufactured specifically for use in a voting system.
II. The ballot law commission shall not approve a voting machine until all details of the inner workings of the system are publicly disclosed.
III. No vendor shall offer for lease or purchase any voting machine unless the vendor has included in the lease or purchase agreement an implied or express provision granting to any and all residents of the state the right to inspect and test such voting machine, to retain test materials and test results, and to publish freely the same. The vendor shall promise to refrain from exerting any copyright, trade secret, or other rights that it may have to hinder any resident of the state from exercising the right to inspect, test, or publish. The vendor may require reasonable notice of public testing and may require that the tests be performed in a manner that does not burden the vendor with significant costs beyond those of making the voting machine available.
IV. The vendor shall make freely available to the public:
(a) All voting-machine-specific source code.
(b) Detailed instructions for building the software, including any compiler used, compilation scripts, and checksums.
(c) For voting specific hardware, complete specifications, drawings, and schematics.
(d) Detailed descriptions of general purpose COTS components, including versions and dates of manufacture.
V. The secretary of state shall establish and maintain a page on the Internet to provide the following:
(a) Free download of materials pertaining to each voting machine approved or under consideration for approval.
(b) A system for acquiring and processing input from the public.
(c) A reporting system to inform the public on findings, problems reported, problem resolution, and comments from the secretary of state, the public, and vendors.
(d) Standards used by the ballot law commission for evaluating voting machines, including test plans and specific test cases employed.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.