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AN ACT relating to elections. 1
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky: 2
Section 1. KRS 117.001 is amended to read as follows: 3
As used in this chapter[, unless the context otherwise requires]: 4
(1) "Audit log" means a detailed record of all actions and events that have occurred on 5
the voting system, including: 6
(a) Log-in attempts with username and time stamp; 7
(b) Election definition and setup; 8
(c) Ballot preparation and results processing; 9
(d) Diagnostics of any type; and 10
(e) Error and warning messages and operator response; 11
(2) "Automatic tabulating equipment" means apparatus necessary to automatically 12
examine and count votes as designated on ballots and data processing machines 13
which can be used for counting ballots and tabulating results; 14
(3) "Ballot" or "official ballot" means the official presentation of offices and candidates 15
to be voted for, including write-in candidates, and all public questions submitted for 16
determination, and shall include a voting machine ballot, a paper ballot, an absentee 17
ballot, a federal provisional ballot, a federal provisional absentee ballot, or a 18
supplemental paper ballot which has been authorized for the use of voters in any 19
primary, regular election, or special election by the Secretary of State or the county 20
clerk; 21
(4) "Ballot box" means any box, bag, or other container that can be locked, sealed, or 22
otherwise rendered tamper-resistant, for receiving ballots; 23
(5) "Ballot marking device" means any approved device for marking a ballot which 24
will enable the ballot to be tabulated manually or by means of automatic tabulating 25
equipment; 26
(6) "Election" or "elections" means any primary, regular election, or special election; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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(7) "Election officer" has the same meaning as in KRS 118.015; 1
(8) (a) "Electioneering communication" means any communication broadcast by 2
cable, internet, television, or radio, printed in a newspaper or on a billboard, 3
directly mailed or delivered by hand to personal residences, or in telephone 4
calls made to personal residences, or otherwise distributed that: 5
1. Unambiguously refers to any candidate for any state, county, city, or 6
district office, or to any ballot measure; 7
2. Is broadcast, printed, mailed, delivered, made, or distributed within 8
thirty (30) days before a primary election or sixty (60) days before a 9
general election; and 10
3. Is broadcast to, printed in a newspaper, distributed to, mailed to or 11
delivered by hand to, in telephone calls made to, or otherwise 12
distributed to an audience that includes members of the electorate for 13
such public office or the electorate associated with the ballot 14
containing the ballot measure. 15
(b) "Electioneering communication" does not include: 16
1. Any news articles, editorial endorsements, opinions or commentary, 17
writings, or letters to the editor printed in a newspaper, magazine, or 18
other periodical not owned or controlled by a candidate, committee, or 19
political party; 20
2. Any editorial endorsements or opinions aired by a broadcast facility 21
not owned or controlled by a candidate, committee, or political party; 22
3. Any communication by persons made in the regular course and scope 23
of their business or any communication made by a membership 24
organization solely to members of such an organization and their 25
families; 26
4. Any communication that refers to any candidate only as part of the 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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popular name of a bill or statute; or 1
5. A communication that constitutes a contribution or independent 2
expenditure as defined in KRS 336.180; 3
(9) "E-poll book" means an electronic device capable of holding a file of voter data and 4
related information for use in identifying registered voters prior to a voter's 5
receiving or casting a ballot, and allowing a voter to electronically sign in on an 6
electronic registered voter roster in lieu of signing a paper registered voter roster; 7
(10)[(9)] "Federal provisional voter" means a person: 8
(a) Who does not appear to be registered to vote; 9
(b) Whose name does not appear on the precinct roster; 10
(c) Who has not provided proof of identification to the precinct election officer 11
before voting in a federal election; and 12
(d) Who elects to proceed with voting a federal provisional ballot under KRS 13
117.229; 14
(11)[(10)] "Federal provisional ballot" or "federal provisional absentee ballot" means 15
ballots which have been authorized by the Secretary of State or the county clerk to 16
be used by federal provisional voters in any federal primary or election; 17
(12)[(11)] "Information content provider" means any person or entity that is 18
responsible, in whole or in part, for the creation or development of information 19
provided through the internet or any other interactive computer service; 20
(13) "Inner envelope" or "secrecy envelope" means the envelope provided to the voter 21
with a ballot into which the voter shall place his or her voted ballot; 22
(14) "Interactive computer service" means any information service, system, or access 23
software provider that provides or enables computer access by multiple users to a 24
computer server, including specifically a service or system that provides access to 25
the internet and such services offered or systems operated by libraries or 26
educational institutions; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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(15)[(12)] "Political group" has the same meaning as in KRS 118.015; 1
(16)[(13)] "Political organization" has the same meaning as in KRS 118.015; 2
(17)[(14)] "Precinct ballot counter" means an automatic tabulating device used at the 3
precinct to tabulate and process ballots; 4
(18)[(15)] "Proof of identification" means a document that was issued by: 5
(a) The United States or the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the document 6
contains: 7
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and 8
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued; 9
(b) The United States Department of Defense, a branch of the uniformed services, 10
the Merchant Marine, or the Kentucky National Guard, and the document 11
contains: 12
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and 13
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued; 14
(c) A public or private college, university, or postgraduate technical or 15
professional school located within the United States, and the document 16
contains: 17
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and 18
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued; or 19
(d) Any city government, county government, urban-county government, charter 20
county government, consolidated local government, or unified local 21
government, which is located within this state, and the document contains: 22
1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and 23
2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued; 24
(19)[(16)] "Risk-limiting audit" means an audit protocol that makes use of statistical 25
principles and methods and is designed to limit to acceptable levels the risk of 26
certifying a preliminary election outcome that constitutes an incorrect outcome; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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(20) "Sponsor" means the person or entity paying for the electioneering 1
communication. If a person or entity acts as an agent for another or is 2
reimbursed by another for the payment, the original source of the payment is the 3
sponsor; 4
(21) (a) "Synthetic media" means an image, audio recording, or video recording of 5
an individual's appearance, action, or speech that has been intentionally 6
manipulated with the use of generative adversarial network techniques or 7
other digital technology in a manner to create a realistic but false image, 8
audio, or video that produces: 9
1. A depiction that, to a reasonable individual, is of a real individual in 10
appearance, action, or speech that did not actually occur in reality; 11
and 12
2. A fundamentally different understanding or impression of the 13
appearance, action, or speech than a reasonable person would have 14
from the unaltered, original version of the image, audio recording, or 15
video recording. 16
(b) "Synthetic media" does not include content that contains a disclosure 17
under subsection (2) of Section 2 of this Act; 18
(22)[(17)] "Voting booth" or "ballot completion area" means an area in which a voter 19
casts his or her vote or completes his or her ballot which is designed to ensure the 20
secrecy of the vote; 21
(23)[(18)] "Vote center" means a consolidated precinct of the county; 22
(24)[(19)] "Voting equipment" means any physical component of a voting system and 23
includes voting machines where voting machines are in operation; 24
(25)[(20)] "Voting machine" or "machine": 25
(a) Means a part of a voting system that consists of: 26
1. A direct recording electronic voting machine that: 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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a. Records votes by means of a ballot display provided with 1
mechanical or electro-operated components that may be actuated 2
by the voter; 3
b. Processes the data by means of a computer program; 4
c. Records voting data and ballot images in internal and external 5
memory components; and 6
d. Produces a tabulation of the voting data stored in a removable 7
memory component and on a printed copy; or 8
2. One (1) or more electronic devices that operate independently or as a 9
combination of a ballot marking device and an electronic or automatic 10
vote tabulation device; and 11
(b) Does not include an e-poll book; 12
(26)[(21)] "Voting system": 13
(a) Means the total combination of physical, mechanical, electromechanical, or 14
electronic equipment, including the software, hardware, firmware, and 15
documentation required to program, control, and support that equipment, that 16
is used to: 17
1. Define ballots; 18
2. Cast and count votes; 19
3. Report or display election results; and 20
4. Maintain and produce any audit trail information; 21
(b) Includes the practices and associated documentation used to: 22
1. Identify system components and versions of those components; 23
2. Test the system during its development and maintenance; 24
3. Maintain records of system errors and defects; 25
4. Determine specific system changes to be made to a system after the 26
initial qualification of the system; 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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5. Make available any materials to the voter, such as notices, instructions, 1
forms, or paper ballots; and 2
(c) Does not include an e-poll book; and 3
(27)[(22)] "Voter-verified paper audit trail" means a contemporaneous paper record of a 4
ballot printed for the voter to confirm his or her votes before the voter casts his or 5
her ballot that: 6
(a) Allows the voter to verify the voter's ballot choices before the casting of the 7
voter's ballot; 8
(b) Is not retained by the voter; 9
(c) Does not contain individual voter information; 10
(d) Is produced on paper that is sturdy, clean, and resistant to degradation; and 11
(e) Is readable in a manner that makes the voter's ballot choices obvious to the 12
voter or any person without the use of computer or electronic code. 13
SECTION 2. A NEW SECTION OF KRS CHAPTER 117 IS CREATED TO 14
READ AS FOLLOWS: 15
(1) A candidate whose appearance, action, or speech is altered through the use of 16
synthetic media in an electioneering communication may: 17
(a) Seek injunctive or other equitable relief against the sponsor of the 18
electioneering communication prohibiting the publication of that synthetic 19
media; and 20
(b) Bring an action for damages against the sponsor of the electioneering 21
communication. The court may also award a prevailing party reasonable 22
attorneys' fees and costs. This paragraph does not limit or preclude a 23
plaintiff from securing or recovering any other available remedy. 24
(2) It is an affirmative defense for any action brought under this section that the 25
electioneering communication containing synthetic media includes a disclosure 26
that is clear and conspicuous and included in, or alongside and associated with, 27 UNOFFICIAL COPY 24 RS BR 978
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the content in a manner that is likely to be noticed by the user. 1
(3) Any action brought under this section shall be filed in the Circuit Court of the 2
county in which the plaintiff resides. 3
(4) In any action brought under this section, the plaintiff bears the burden of 4
establishing the use of synthetic media by clear and convincing evidence. 5
(5) In any action brought under this section: 6
(a) The sponsor of the electioneering communication may be held liable; and 7
(b) The medium disseminating the electioneering communication shall not be 8
held liable, except as provided in subsection (6) of this section. 9
(6) Except when a licensee, programmer, or operator of a federally licensed 10
broadcasting station transmits an electioneering communication that is subject to 11
47 U.S.C. sec. 315, a medium may be held liable in a cause of action brought 12
under this section if: 13
(a) The medium intentionally removes any disclosure described in subsection 14
(2) of this section from the electioneering communication it disseminates 15
and does not remove the electioneering communication or replace the 16
disclosure when notified; or 17
(b) Subject to affirmative defenses described in subsection (2) of this section, 18
the medium changes the content of an electioneering communication in a 19
manner that results in it qualifying as synthetic media, as defined in Section 20
1 of this Act. 21
(7) (a) A provider or user of an interactive computer service shall not be treated as 22
the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another 23
information content provider. 24
(b) An interactive computer service may be held liable in accordance with 25
subsection (6) of this section. 26
(8) Courts are encouraged to determine matters under this section expediently. 27