SB 362 - This act modifies various provisions relating to procedures applicable to election administration. PRECINCT CODES (Sections 115.008 and 115.283)
The act requires the Secretary of State (SOS) to establish a unique identification coding system for all precincts in the state resulting in unique identification codes for each precinct in the state. Such system shall be based upon the Federal Information Processing Standards codes issued by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Election authorities shall be responsible for implementing the unique identification coding system for all precincts within its jurisdiction in compliance with the format set out by the SOS. Additionally, all statements that are attached to an absentee ballot envelope shall contain the precinct code that corresponds to the voter's voting address.
VOTER REGISTRATION LIST PUBLISHED (Section 115.157)
The act requires the SOS to publish a voter registration list on the Secretary's website containing only the following information for each person registered to vote as of the 4th Wednesday prior to the election: unique voter identification numbers, voters' names, year of birth, addresses, townships or wards, and precincts. Such list shall be published not later than the 3rd Wednesday prior to the election.
ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEM STANDARDS (Section 115.225)
The act modifies the standards for electronic voting systems to be approved by the SOS. Specifically, electronic voting systems must be developed, owned, and maintained by a business entity registered in the United States and owned by United States citizens. If the business entity is publicly held, the board of directors and the majority stockholders shall be United States citizens. The business entity shall not be a subsidiary of any multinational firm and shall have its principal place of business located within the United States.
Additionally, any software, or hardware containing software or firmware, used in an electronic voting system in this state shall have the full corresponding source code, as that term is defined in the act, of the software or firmware made publicly available by the SOS at no cost, upon request of any resident or citizen of this state. The full corresponding source code provided shall exactly match the code necessary to recreate any object code currently being used or deployed by the state or any of its political subdivisions for election tabulation purposes. Additionally, the full corresponding source code for any software or firmware used for election tabulation purposes in prior elections shall be retained by the SOS and made available upon request for a period of 10 years after the certification of the results of the relevant election.
These provisions are effective January 1, 2030.
These provisions are similar to SB 816 (2024).
DELIVERY OF VOTE ABSTRACTS (Section 115.507)
Current law requires verification boards to deliver to the Secretary of State the abstract of votes given in its jurisdiction by polling place or precinct for each primary and general election. This act requires the abstract to include both regular votes and absentee votes aggregated together and additionally requires reporting to be based solely by precinct.
SCOTT SVAGERA