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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Sixth Legislature, First Regular Session
VETOED
elections; ballot chain of custody
Purpose
Requires the county board of supervisors (county BOS) to provide a chain of custody record, that includes the time and signature of an elections supervisor, for every ballot that begins at the printing location and continues through the transportation, storage and delivery to the county recorder and voting location. Requires ballot boxes to be locked with a tamper evident seal.
Background
The county BOS must prepare and provide ballots for an election and have the ballots printed and ready for inspection at least 10 days before a general election (A.R.S. § 16-503). Statute outlines the procedures relating to the transmission of ballots. If any damaged or defective ballot cannot be counted by the automatic tabulating equipment, a true duplicate copy of the damaged or defective ballot must be made in the presence of witnesses. All duplicate ballots must be clearly labeled "duplicate" and bear the serial number that must be recorded on the damaged or defective ballot. In any statewide, county or legislative election, the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections must provide for a live video recording of the custody of all ballots while the ballots are present in a tabulation room in the counting center. A county recorder or other officer in charge of elections must maintain records that record the chain of custody for all election equipment and ballots during early voting through the completion of provisional voting tabulation (A.R.S. § 16-621).
Before receiving any ballots, an election board must open, exhibit and lock a ballot box. A ballot box may not be removed from a polling place or the presence of bystanders until all ballots are counted. If practicable and available, a law enforcement officer must aid in the transfer of the locked ballot box. If a ballot box can no longer accommodate additional ballots, the election board members may remove a sufficient number of ballots from the ballot box. The removed ballots must be placed into a case that will be used for the transfer of the ballots to the officer in charge of elections. An immediate count of the ballots removed must be made by the election board members. A sheet indicating a count of the removed ballots must be signed by the election board members supervising the count. The sheet must be placed in the transfer case with the removed ballots and be kept sealed for the remainder of the election day. Once the removed ballots are sealed in the transfer case, the original ballot box must be relocked, and voting may continue. If a ballot box has been transferred to a new polling place or a ballot box has been opened, a report detailing those events and other pertinent information must be made by the officer in charge of elections to the chairpersons of all recognized political parties in the county (A.R.S. § 16-564). When the polls close, the members of an election board must prepare a report in duplicate of the number of voters who have voted and place the report in a ballot box or metal container where the votes have been placed. The ballot box or metal container must be sealed with a numbered seal and delivered to the central counting place. The person who receives the ballots must give a numbered receipt acknowledging the receipt of the ballots to the person who delivers the ballots (A.R.S. § 16-608).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires, for every ballot printed for elections administered by a county, the county BOS to provide a chain of custody record that begins at the printing location and continues through transportation, storage and delivery to the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections and to any voting location.
3. Requires ballot boxes to be locked with a tamper evident seal.
4. Requires a law enforcement officer to aid in the transfer of a locked and sealed ballot box, rather than only if practicable and available.
5. Requires, for a ballot box that has been transferred to a new polling place or opened, the report detailing those events to include the date, time and name of any election officer that witnessed the transfer or opening of the ballot box.
6. Requires the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to prepare a chain of custody record for the transportation and delivery of all voted ballots.
7. Requires the chain of custody record to include the time and signature for each point of contact, including:
a) the signature of the voting location supervisor when the election board members leave with the voted ballots;
b) the signature of each election board member delivering the voted ballots; and
c) the signature of the supervisor at the receiving site who receives the voted ballots.
8. Requires all damaged and defective ballots that are replaced with a duplicate ballot to be included in a chain of custody record.
9. Requires the live video recording of the custody of ballots to include each stage of signature verification, including each signature verification work station and provide for the full visibility of the ballots.
10. Requires the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to maintain a record of all voting irregularities that occur during early voting, emergency voting and election day voting and requires the record to include:
a) a description of the irregularity;
b) the location where it occurred;
c) the location where it was discovered;
d) the persons who were present when the irregularity occurred;
e) when it was discovered; and
f) any response to the irregularity from election officials.
11. Requires the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections, within 30 days after election day, to provide the record of voting irregularities to the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives.
12. Requires the county recorder or other officer in charge of elections to provide a copy of the record of voting irregularities to the Secretary of State.
13. Makes technical and conforming changes.
14. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Governor's Veto Message
The Governor indicates in her veto message that H.B. 2691 does not advance her previously stated goal of working with the Legislature to advance legislation that strengthens elections.
House Action Senate Action
MOE 2/15/23 DPA 6-3-0-1 ELEC 3/27/23 DP 5-3-0
3rd Read 3/1/23 31-28-1 3rd Read 4/12/23 16-13-1
Vetoed by the Governor on 4/18/23
Prepared by Senate Research
April 19, 2023
AN/CS/slp