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AR HB1693

AR HB1693
To Amend The Law Concerning Damaged Or Defective Ballots; And To Allow The State Board Of Election Commissioners To Promulgate Rules Regarding The Duplication Of Damaged Or Defective Ballots.


summary

Introduced
03/05/2025
In Committee
03/20/2025
Crossed Over
03/17/2025
Passed
04/01/2025
Dead
Signed/Enacted/Adopted
04/03/2025

Introduced Session

95th General Assembly (2025 Regular)

Bill Summary

AN ACT TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DAMAGED OR DEFECTIVE BALLOTS; TO ALLOW THE STATE BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS TO PROMULGATE RULES REGARDING THE DUPLICATION OF DAMAGED OR DEFECTIVE BALLOTS; AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.

AI Summary

This bill amends Arkansas election law to provide clearer guidelines for handling damaged or defective ballots. The legislation specifies that when a ballot cannot be properly counted by an electronic vote tabulating device, election officials must create a duplicate ballot in the presence of another election official and designated poll watchers. The process requires officials to reproduce the voter's original selections on a new ballot of the same style, stamp the new ballot as "duplicate" and the original ballot as "original", and assign matching unique serial numbers to both ballots. The bill also requires election officials to maintain a recorded count of damaged ballots and provide this report to the county board of election commissioners. Additionally, the legislation empowers the State Board of Election Commissioners to create rules governing ballot duplication. A related change requires county election commissioners to report the number of ballots requiring duplication when declaring preliminary election results on election night. These modifications aim to standardize and provide transparency in the process of handling and duplicating damaged or defective ballots to ensure every voter's intent is accurately recorded.

Committee Categories

Government Affairs

Sponsors (2)

Last Action

Notification that HB1693 is now Act 458 (on 04/03/2025)

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