Prohibits the chief election officer, as of 01/01/06 from approving a direct recording electronic voting system that does not meet federal qualifications and include an accessible voter verified paper audit trail. Establishes requirements for purchase and use of voting systems as of 01/01/07.

A BILL FOR AN ACT

SECTION 1. Part IV, Chapter 16, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§16- Direct recording electronic voting system. (a) Effective January 1, 2006, the chief election officer shall not approve a direct recording electronic voting system unless the system has received federal qualification and includes an accessible voter verified paper audit trail.

(b) Effective January 1, 2007, the State shall not contract for or purchase a direct recording electronic voting system unless the system has received federal qualification and includes an accessible voter verified paper audit trail.

(c) Effective January 1, 2007, all direct recording electronic voting systems in use on that date, regardless of when contracted for or purchased, shall have received federal qualification and include an accessible voter paper audit trail. If the direct recording electronic voting system does not already include an accessible voter verified paper audit trail, the system shall be replaced or modified to include an accessible voter verified paper audit trail."

SECTION 2. Section 16-41, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding five new definitions to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Accessible" means that the information provided on the paper record copy from the voter verified paper audit trail mechanism is provided or conveyed to voters via both a visual and a nonvisual method, such as through an audio component.

"Direct recording electronic voting system" means a voting system that records a vote electronically and does not require or permit the voter to record the vote directly onto a tangible ballot.

"Federal qualification" means the system has been certified, if applicable, by means of qualification testing by a nationally recognized test laboratory and has met or exceeded the minimum requirements set forth in the performance and text standards for punch card, mark sense, and direct recording electronic voting systems, or in any successor voluntary standard document, developed and promulgated by the Federal Election Commission, the Election Assistance Commission, or the national Institute of Standards and Technology.

"Paper record copy" means an auditable document printed by a voter verified paper audit trail component that corresponds to the voter's electronic vote and lists the contests on the ballot and the voter's selections for those contests. A paper record copy is not a ballot.

"Voter verified paper audit trail" means a component of a direct recording electronic voting system that prints a contemporaneous paper record copy of each electronic ballot and allows each voter to confirm the voter's selections before the voter casts the voter's ballot."

SECTION 3. There is appropriated out of the general revenues of the State of Hawaii the sum of $ , or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2005-2006, and the same sum, or so much thereof as may be necessary for fiscal year 2006-2007, for the purpose of establishing a direct recording electronic voting system that produces a permanent paper record with an audit capacity.

The sums appropriated shall be expended by the office of elections for the purposes of this Act.

SECTION 4. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005.