Revision: Sept. 26, 2023, 10:22 a.m.
2024 SESSION
24-2163.0
08/05
HOUSE BILL [bill number]
AN ACT relative to digital images of ballots.
SPONSORS: [sponsors]
COMMITTEE: [committee]
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ANALYSIS
This bill enables the viewing of digital images of ballots under certain circumstances.
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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Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
24-2163.0
08/05
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Twenty Four
AN ACT relative to digital images of ballots.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 Electronic Digital Images of Ballots. RSA 656:42, IX is repealed and reenacted to read as follows:
IX. Any electronic digital image of a marked ballot made by a ballot counting device stored on a removable memory device shall be available for public inspection as provided in this section. This shall include the record of how the ballot counting device recorded the votes on each ballot.
(a) A voter or a small group of voters, registered in New Hampshire, shall be permitted to examine the digital images of ballots created on an electronic ballot counting device that uses digital image technology. In this paragraph, the voter or group of voters are referred to as “observers".
(b) The purpose of examining such digital images is to allow for verifying the accuracy of the device and to check for evidence that the device may have programming errors, tampering or malicious programming installed and thus providing reassurance to all the voters of the integrity of the devices used to tabulate election votes.
(c) The examination of ballot images shall be under the supervision of the secretary of state and may use state provided computers and displays to provide access to the removable memory devices that contain the digital images.
(d) The secretary of state shall:
(1) Schedule access for the observers and for arranging for the removable memory devices to be acquired from a municipality.
(2) Provide the location of equipment and viewing area and limitations to the number of observers in the viewing area.
(3) Verify eligibility.
(4) Prevent any observers from making any connection to the computer.
(5) Be the only person to handle the original removable memory devices and or make copies thereof.
(e) The secretary of state may:
(1) Declare any observers who fail to comply with the provisions in this section to be ineligible to further participate in this process.
(2) Require non-disclosure agreements regarding personally identifying marks that may occur on a ballot image.
(3) Take any other measures to protect the integrity of the election data and the privacy of the voters.
(f) Access to ballot images shall not be available to observers until after all recounts and any subsequent appeals are completed. However, access to ballot images shall be available to those persons involved in election recounts, appeals or audits.
(g) Any observers that examine ballot images shall have standing to provide a report to the ballot law commission and request an investigation by the attorney general of discrepancies they find. Any request for an investigation and the results of any such investigation shall be made public.
(1) Such investigations shall not result in the overturning of an election unless directed by a court of competent jurisdiction.
(2) As a result of such investigation, the ballot law commission may disqualify that electronic ballot counting device for use in New Hampshire or may disqualify the entity that programmed the device as a vendor.
(h) The secretary of state may determine if copies of the removable memory devices or the digital data on the memory device may be provided to the observers that are examining the digital images. This includes electronic data as well as hard-copy printouts. Alternatively, the secretary of state may allow visual viewing access only on a state owned computer. Any information gathered from the visual examination of such ballot images shall be kept on the observer’s own paper, computer, etc. and not downloaded or electronically copied from the source computer.
2 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.