Bill > A4960

Introduced Session

This bill requires the Secretary of State, in consultation with the county clerk, county board of elections, and superintendent of elections in each county, to establish a mobile voting pilot program for municipal elections. Under the pilot program, municipalities may conduct municipal elections through the use of a qualified electronic transmission system. The qualified electronic transmission system will enable a qualified voter to receive, mark, and return a ballot electronically, and will maintain reasonable data security and voter integrity protections including, but not limited to: (1) security auditability; (2) end-to-end encryption; (3) end-to-end verifiability; (4) multifactor authentication; (5) air-gapping; (6) a process for printing decrypted ballots to create a paper record; and (7) biometric or equivalent digital identity verification technology. The mobile voting option would be in addition to providing mail-in ballots and in-person voting as currently offered. A qualified electronic ballot transmission system will provide accessibility to voters with disabilities, including compatibility with commonly used assistive technologies and compliance with applicable digital accessibility standards for federal, State, and local governments. The Secretary of State will procure a qualified, experienced vendor to develop and implement the electronic transmission system and all the necessary supporting software and hardware systems, capable of performing by electronic means all of the same functions to enable a voter to cast a vote during the conduct of an election. The municipal clerk in a participating municipality will establish and implement a system to notify voters of their opportunity to participate in the pilot program. The municipal clerk in a participating municipality will arrange for contingencies to ensure that voters participating in the pilot program can exercise their right to vote if the mobile voting technology fails. The municipal clerk will keep a detailed description of procedures and requirements for the training of election officials and staff on the use of the selected mobile voting technology, protections to ensure the electronic and physical security of the mobile voting technology, and the voter information the technology contains, and planning for any other potential contingencies. The electronic transmission system used will collect only the minimum personal identifying information necessary. Any electronic data generated by a voter using a qualified electronic transmission system will be confidential and will not be used for any purpose other than voter participation statistics, election administration, security, and compliance. Any electronic transmission system used will be operated in a manner that strictly prohibits the sale, transfer, licensing, or disclosure of voter data to any third party for commercial, political, or non-administrative purposes. No vendor, contractor, subcontractor, or governmental entity involved in the administration of electronic transmission system may sell, monetize, trade, or otherwise exploit any voter data collected or generated through the system. The Secretary of State will finalize preparations for the implementation of the mobile voting pilot program no later than six months after the effective date of the bill. The program will be implemented at municipal elections in participating municipalities for eight years thereafter. The pilot program will terminate after the submission of the report by the Secretary of State, unless extended by law. Within 120 days after the certification of the municipal election for which the mobile voting pilot program is implemented, the municipal clerk and the county clerk will submit a report to the Secretary of State describing all elements of the implementation of the pilot program in the municipality and evaluating its effectiveness. Upon receipt of each report, the secretary will post each report on the official website of the Division of Elections. Within 120 days after the certification of the last municipal election for which the mobile voting pilot program is implemented, the secretary will submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature evaluating the effectiveness of the pilot program across the various participating municipalities. The report will also recommend whether the pilot program should be continued, expanded, revised, or discontinued.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Gabriel Rodriguez (D)*,  Larry Wainstein (D)*, 

Introduced, Referred to Assembly State and Local Government Committee (on 05/07/2026)

Official Document