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SB 1438 Passes California Legislature, Now onto Ahnold!

elections

SB 1438, if signed by the terminator, will set into stone regulations that the California Secretary of State, Kevin Shelley, has promulgated in the last year.

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

SECTION 1. Article 4 (commencing with Section 19250) is added to Chapter 3 of Division 19 of the Elections Code, to read:

Article 4. Direct Recording Electronic Voting Systems

19250. (a) On and after January 1, 2005, the Secretary of State may not approve a direct recording electronic voting system unless the system has received federal qualification and includes an accessible voter verified paper audit trail.

(b) On and after January 1, 2006, a city or county may not contract for or purchase a direct recording electronic voting system unless the system has received federal qualification and includes an accessible voter verified paper audit trail.

(c) As of January 1, 2006, all direct recording electronic voting systems in use on that date, regardless of when contracted for or purchased, shall have received federal qualification and include an accessible voter verified paper audit trail. If the direct recording electronic voting system does not already include an accessible voter verified paper audit trail, the system shall be replaced or modified to include an accessible voter verified paper audit trail.

Note that DRE is defined as follows in SB 1438:

19251. (b) "Direct recording electronic voting system" means a voting system that records a vote electronically and does not require or permit the voter to record his or her vote directly onto a tangible ballot.

I bet I know a few people that would take issue with this definition... but it's a hell of a lot better than what we had before:

19251. (b) "Direct electronic voting system," also known as a touch screen voting system, means a voting system that does all of the following:

  1. Records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical or electro-optical components that can be actuated by the voter.
  2. Processes the data by means of a computer program.
  3. Records voting data and ballot images in internal or external memory components.
  4. Produces a tabulation of the voting data stored in a removable memory component and in printed copy.

That definition threw AVVPAT equipment (Mercuri systems) onto all sorts of non-DRE voting systems like those made by Vogue's AutoMark (marketed exclusively by ES&S), Populex and AccuPoll. Sometimes sausage is made well!