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New Mexico passes a VVPAT/manual count audit bill
New Mexico passed a bill, supported by united voters of new mexico,
with VVPATs and automatic audits, and some interesting language on the
timing.
I can't find a final version of the bill, as passed by the house and
senate. I've Cc'd info@xxxxxxxxxxx and hopefully they can help us,
and give insight into the politics of the final manual count language,
which is pretty watered down, but still helps. E.g. "if the vote
totals for the voting system and the voter verifiable and auditable
paper trail differ by more than one and one-half percent" they do a
recount. But 1.5% is a HUGE discrepancy of what should be within a
small fraction of a percent based on the Washington hand count, etc.
I've included some short excerpts of several pages here.
Neal McBurnett http://bcn.boulder.co.us/~neal/
Signed and/or sealed mail encouraged. GPG/PGP Keyid: 2C9EBA60
http://uvotenm.org/leg-b.html
General Election Reform ...
SRC Substitute SB 678, THIRD-PARTY ELECTION REGISTATION AGENTS
(LOPEZ). STATUS: The SJC Substitute for SB 678 passed the Senate 24
to 17. Passed HVEC, supplanting HB 1063 and with at least one good
amendment. Passed the House on March 18, and the Senate again, as
amended, near midnight. Headed for the Governor, who has said he will
sign it. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO WORKED TO GET THIS BILL THROUGH
THE LEGISLATURE!!! DESCRIPTION: The SRC substitute replaced SB 718,
SB 678, SB 680, and SB 735. The SJC substitute made further important
amendments, cleaning up much of the language and accepting many of
the recommendations of United Voters of New Mexico, notably adding
automatic audits.
The latest full version of the bill seems to be
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE RULES COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILLS 678, 680, 718 & 735
http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0678JUS.html
and then there are several amendments listed at
http://legis.state.nm.us/lcs/_session.asp?chamber=S&type=++&number=678&Submit=Search&year=05
SB678 THIRD-PARTY ELECTION REGISTRATION AGENTS - Sponsor: Linda M. Lopez
This is my best guess for the final language, though I haven't
figured all the amendments out.
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE RULES COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR SENATE BILLS 678, 680, 718 & 735
http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0678JUS.html
Section 55. A new section of Chapter 1, Article 9 NMSA 1978 is
enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] VOTING SYSTEM--VOTER VERIFIABLE PAPER TRAIL.--
A. All voting systems used in elections covered by the Election Code
shall have a voter verifiable and auditable paper trail; provided,
however, that voting systems owned or used by a county on the
effective date of this 2005 act that do not have a voter verifiable
and auditable paper trail may be used until the first occurrence of
the following:
(1) sufficient federal, state or local funds are available to replace
the voting system; or
(2) December 31, 2006.
http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0678VE1.html
"Section 75. A new section of Chapter 1, Article 14 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] POST-ELECTION DUTIES--RANDOM VOTING SYSTEM CHECK--RECOUNT.
A. The secretary of state shall direct the county clerks to compare
the total votes tallied in the general election for the office of
president or governor from two percent of the voting systems in the
state with total votes tallied by hand from the voter verifiable and
auditable paper trail from those voting systems. The check of the
voting systems shall occur within five days of the completion of the
county canvass. Canvass observers shall be allowed to observe the
audit under the same conditions and restrictions as for observing the
county canvass. In the event that one of the randomly selected voting
machines is used for absentee voting, then the prescribed
certification procedure shall be used to verify the accuracy of that
machine's vote total.
B. For voting machines not used for absentee voting, if the vote
totals for the voting system and the voter verifiable and auditable
paper trail differ by more than one and one-half percent, the
secretary of state shall have a recount conducted for the office in
the precincts of the legislative district in which the discrepancy
occurred. For voting machines used for absentee voting, if the
results of the re-certification process produce an error rate that
exceeds one and one-half percent or the error threshold approved for
that machine, whichever is more restrictive, the ballots counted on
that machine shall be recounted."".
Here is recount language from an older, better, overridden version?
http://legis.state.nm.us/Sessions/05%20Regular/bills/senate/SB0678JUS.html
Section 73. A new section of Chapter 1, Article 14 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:
"[NEW MATERIAL] POST-ELECTION DUTIES--RANDOM VOTING SYSTEM
CHECK--RECOUNT.--
A. The secretary of state shall select a random sample of one voting
system from each of the state's legislative house of representatives
districts following the general election to compare by hand the voter
verifiable and auditable paper trail totals with the voting system
totals. In addition, in counties other than class A counties, the
county clerk shall select a random sample of one absentee voting
system in each absent voter precinct and compare the voting system
totals with the totals of a hand recount of the paper ballots from
that voting system. In a class A county the county clerk shall
designate one voting system as the auditable voting system and the
lesser of three percent or five hundred absentee ballots cast in the
absent voter precinct shall be chosen at random to be registered and
counted on that voting system. The paper ballots registered on that
voting system shall be hand counted and the totals compared with the
voting system totals. The check of voting systems shall occur within
three days of the completion of the county canvass.
B. If the totals from the voting system and the paper trail are not
equal for an office, the county clerk of the county in which the
audited voting system is located shall conduct a hand recount for
that office in the precincts of the legislative district in which the
discrepancy occurred."
See also:
http://www.verifiedvoting.org/article.php?id=5660