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Minutes for SB438 - Committee on Federal and State Affairs
Short Title
Requiring audits of any federal, statewide or state legislative race that is within 1% of the total votes cast and requiring randomized audits of elections procedures used in four counties in even-numbered years.
Minutes Content for Mon, Feb 21, 2022
The Chairman opened the hearing and called upon Jason Long for a Revisor overview of the bill.
The Chairman called for testimony on the bill.
Proponent Clay Barker indicated that the proposed bill is intended to provide more transparency and confidence to voters in the election system. Mr. Barker discussed aspects of what he termed "forensic audits." Mr. Barker suggested that bill encourages close election audits, procedural audits and sliding scale audits. (Attachment 12)
Committee discussion ensued. A specific request was made as to whether the Secretary of State would entertain prolonging the period in order to be able to do an audit. Mr. Barker answered a committee question confirming that there is no voter verification at the state level.
Written-Only Opponent:
Melissa McAllister, Self
Neutral Davis Hammet expressed that verification standards for accurate results are good especially regarding the accounting of provisional ballots. Mr. Hammet emphasized that the advance definition of standards is good for counties to know what procedures and elements they will be audit for or graded on. (Attachment 15)
Neutral Missy Leavitt cautioned that the intended level of audits recommended by the Secretary of State in this bill falls short of what should be done to regain the public confidence in the election process. (Attachment 16)
Written-Only Neutral:
Rick Piepho, Harvey County Election Clerk (Attachment 17)
Seeing no additional testimony the Chairman closed the hearing on the bill.
