Relating to elections; requiring secretary of state consultation with local election officials in developing the statewide voter registration system; expanding authorized combined polling places to noncontiguous precincts located in one or more counties, requiring local and secretary of state approval and authorizing location outside the noncontiguous precincts; defining or redefining certain terms for electronic voting systems regulation purposes; requiring the secretary of state to examine electronic ballot marking and assistive technologies intended to be used with the system; delaying the deadline for the use of voting systems for disabled voters in county, municipal and school district elections, authorizing the secretary of state to certify the voting systems on an experimental basis pending completion of federal standards, requiring review or reexamination of the voting systems after election assistance commission issuance of standards for the systems for federal standards conformity purposes; specifying certain candidate order requirements for electronic ballots; modifying the time limit for remaining inside voting booths; expanding certain electronic voting system requirements; requiring the secretary of state with the assistance of the commissioner of administration to establish state voting systems contracts, specifying certain contract requirements and requiring secretary of state appointment of an advisory committee for advice on reviewing and evaluating the merits of proposals submitted from voting equipment vendors for the contracts, authorizing counties and municipalities to purchase or lease voting systems and services from the contracts; requiring the contracts to require voting system vendors to provide copies of source codes for the voting systems to independent third party evaluators for examination and certification purposes, protecting trade secret information; providing for secretary of state certification in lieu of approval of electronic voting systems for experimental use and for use of electronic ballot markers and audio ballot readers, clarifying the requirement for preparation of electronic voting system plans and modifying certain requirements for testing the voting systems and certain provisions regulating optical scan voting systems; requiring and providing for security of ballot recording and tabulating or counting systems; appropriating money from the help America vote act (HAVA) account to the secretary of state for grants to counties to purchase certain electronic voting systems and optical scan voting equipment and to defray the operating costs of assistive voting equipment, for grants to counties and municipalities to improve access to polling places for individuals with disabilities, for certain statewide voter registration and electronic voting systems administrative costs; requiring county auditors to convene working groups of city, town and school district election officials to create local equipment plans, specifying certain plan requirements and imposing a completion deadline; requiring counties receiving grants to report to the secretary of state by a certain date the amount spent for purchase of electronic voting systems and for operating costs for certain compilation and reporting purposes
(Ch. 162, 2005)