Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a House resolution that requires legislative committees to audit ballots cast in the 2020 general election.

Highlights:

• Requires the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to coordinate and manage a risk-limiting audit of the 2020 general election (Pg 2).

• Requires the committee to issue a report to accompany that audit that includes, but is not limited to (Pg 2-6):

• The number of applications of absentee ballots and mail-in-ballots which were received, approved, and canvassed, respectively;

• The number of qualified electors voting by provisional ballot;

• The number of provisional ballots which were canvassed;

• The number of applications for a mail-in ballot by an individual who was not a registered elector at the time of the application and for whom a voter registration was timely received;

• The number of voter registration applications which were received fewer than 30 days and fewer than 15 days before the 2020 general election, respectively;

• The date and time that the county board of elections began pre-canvassing absentee and mail-in ballots;

• The number of incidents known to the Department of State relating to an absentee ballot or main-in ballot which was sent to the wrong individual or address, voted by an individual other than the one who applied for the ballot, or returned to the county board of elections by a means other than that which is permissible by law;

• A review of any action taken in response to the aforementioned incidents;

• A review of issues or incidents encountered with an electronic voting system;

• A review of any inconsistent treatment of mail-in ballots received by counties after 8:00 pm on November 3, 2020;

• A review of any inconsistencies in the matter in which countries processed deficient ballots;

• A review of the access given to poll watchers and authorized representatives;

• A review of issues, incidents, or inconsistencies regarding the usage and monitoring of drop boxes by counties; and

• A review of issues, incidents, or inconsistencies of the review process of absentee, mail-in, in-person, and provisional ballots to determine the eligibility of voters or ballots by counties.

• Requires the audit to include statistically significant samples chosen from each county in the state (Pg 2).

• Requires county boards of elections or registration commissions to comply with the request of submission of data no later than 45 days after the 2020 election unless granted an extension of no more than 30 days by the committee (Pg 7).

• Authorizes the committee to contract with an outside agency or firm to conduct the audit (Pg 2).

• Authorizes the Department of State to assist the committee in collecting the data required to be included in the report (Pg 6).

• Requires the committee to issue the audit and final report of findings no later than 60 days after the 2020 general election (Pg 7).

• Requires a copy of the report to be made available on the committee’s and Department of State’s publicly accessible website (Pg 7).

Full Bill Text