Bill > S252

Introduced Session

This bill requires election infrastructure vendors to disclose any financial ties for approval by the Secretary of State. Currently, voting system vendors must meet a number of requirements prior to approval and certification of voting systems in the State. However, the vendors are not required to disclose financial and investment ties. In addition, vendors of other election services are not required to disclose financial and investment ties. The bill defines election infrastructure to mean storage facilities, polling places, and centralized vote tabulation locations used to support the administration of elections for public office, as well as related information and communications technology, including electronic voting systems, voter registration databases, voting machines, electronic mail and other communications systems, and other systems used to manage the election process and to report and display election results on behalf of a county board of elections or the New Jersey Division of Elections in the Department of State. This bill also defines election infrastructure vendor to mean and include any individual, firm, joint venture, partnership, corporation, or company proposing to assist or assisting the State or a political subdivision of the State by providing, maintaining, and supporting election infrastructure. This bill would require all election infrastructure vendors to disclose any owners or shareholders with a five percent or greater interest or share in the company, in any subsidiary companies, or in the vendor's parent company. This bill would also require approved election infrastructure vendors to obtain additional approval with the Secretary of State any time ownership stake in the vendor changes above the five percent or greater interest or share threshold. An election infrastructure vendor will not suspend business in the State while seeking this additional approval. Failure to disclose ownership stake changes that are five percent or greater would result in a civil penalty for the vendor. For the first offense, the vendor would be subject to a fine not less than $10,000. For the second and subsequent offense, the vendor would be subject to a fine not less than $20,000. This bill is a response to the recent elections security issues. Several states have taken steps to address potential security risks. In Maryland, the state moved to require voting system vendors to disclose its investment ties following the revelation that a former First Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, owned the firm that financed the buyout of Maryland's voting system vendor. In June of 2019, North Carolina's State Board of Elections voted unanimously for each voting system vendor seeking certification in the state to disclose any owners or shareholders with a five percent or greater interest or share in the company, in any subsidiary companies or in the vendor's parent company. This bill draws on the actions of these states and expands the vendors to include all election infrastructure vendors to ensure the security of the elections of the State of New Jersey. This bill also requires election infrastructure vendors to report any known or suspected security incidents involving election systems to the Division of Elections in the Department of State no later than 10 days after the vendor first knows or suspects that the incident occurred.

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Troy Singleton (D)*, 

Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate State Government, Wagering, Tourism & Historic Preservation Committee (on 01/14/2020)