Bill > SB1028

This bill introduces comprehensive changes to Tennessee's election procedures, primarily focusing on ballot security and transparency. It mandates that all voting machine ballots and paper ballots, including absentee ballots, must include a visible secure watermark as a security feature, which will be defined and approved by the coordinator of elections. The bill requires ballot scanners to base their official tabulation count only on the text or machine mark portion of a ballot, explicitly prohibiting the use of QR codes or barcodes for vote counting. Additionally, the legislation establishes new requirements for scanning and storing paper ballots, including creating high-resolution digital images of all ballots that must be scanned at 600 dots per square inch and subsequently posted on the secretary of state's website within five days after an election. The bill also creates a statewide program for auditing paper ballot images using optical character recognition technology, with the goal of verifying ballot text without relying on machine-readable codes. These new election procedures will be implemented starting July 1, 2025, and are designed to enhance voter confidence and election integrity by providing more transparent and verifiable voting processes.

Government Affairs

https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/Billinfo/default.aspx?BillNumber=SB1028&ga=114