Maryland 2023 Regular Session

Maryland House Bill HB642 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1
2	2
3	3	EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MAT TER ADDED TO EXISTIN G LAW.
4	4	[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
5	5	hb0642
6	6
7	7	HOUSE BILL 642
8	8	G1 3lr2619
9	9	CF SB 339
10	10	By: Delegates Grossman, Allen, Fair, and McCaskill
11	11	Introduced and read first time: February 6, 2023
12	12	Assigned to: Ways and Means
13	13
14	14	A BILL ENTITLED
15	15
16	16	AN ACT concerning 1
17	17
18	18	Election Law – Recounts – Procedures 2
19	19
20	20	FOR the purpose of requiring a petitioner for a recount to select the method for conducting 3
21	21	the recount; limiting the methods from which the selection must be made; requiring 4
22	22	a local board of elections to preserve and store certain voter–verifiable paper records 5
23	23	in a certain manner and count only voter–verifiable paper records in a manual 6
24	24	recount; and generally relating to recount procedures. 7
25	25
26	26	BY repealing and reenacting, without amendments, 8
27	27	Article – Election Law 9
28	28	Section 9–102(a) 10
29	29	Annotated Code of Maryland 11
30	30	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2022 Supplement) 12
31	31
32	32	BY adding to 13
33	33	Article – Election Law 14
34	34	Section 12–108 15
35	35	Annotated Code of Maryland 16
36	36	(2022 Replacement Volume and 2022 Supplement) 17
37	37
38	38	SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 18
39	39	That the Laws of Maryland read as follows: 19
40	40
41	41	Article – Election Law 20
42	42
43	43	9–102. 21
44	44
45	45	(a) In this section, a “voter–verifiable paper record” includes: 22
46	46
47	47	(1) a paper ballot prepared by the voter for the purpose of being read by a 23
48	48	precinct–based optical scanner; 24 2 HOUSE BILL 642
49	49
50	50
51	51
52	52	(2) a paper ballot prepared by the voter to be mailed to the applicable local 1
53	53	board, whether mailed from a domestic or an overseas location; and 2
54	54
55	55	(3) a paper ballot created through the use of a ballot marking device. 3
56	56
57	57	12–108. 4
58	58
59	59	(A) (1) IN THIS SECTION THE F OLLOWING WORDS HAVE THE MEANINGS 5
60	60	INDICATED. 6
61	61
62	62	(2) “DUPLICATE BALLOT ” MEANS A PAPER BALLOT THAT: 7
63	63
64	64	(I) IS A FACSIMILE OF A VOTER–VERIFIABLE PAPER REC ORD; 8
65	65	AND 9
66	66
67	67	(II) IS CREATED BY A LOCA L BOARD FOR PURPOSES OF 10
68	68	MACHINE TABULATION B ECAUSE THE VOTER –VERIFIABLE PAPER REC ORD 11
69	69	SUBMITTED BY THE VOT ER IS NOT ACCEPTABLE FOR MACHINE TABULATI ON. 12
70	70
71	71	(3) “VOTER–VERIFIABLE PAPER REC ORD” HAS THE MEANING STAT ED 13
72	72	IN § 9–102 OF THIS ARTICLE. 14
73	73
74	74	(B) (1) IN A RECOUNT UNDER TH IS SUBTITLE, SUBJECT TO PARA GRAPH 15
75	75	(2) OF THIS SUBSECTION , THE PETITIONER SHALL SELECT THE METHOD FO R 16
76	76	CONDUCTING THE RECOU NT. 17
77	77
78	78	(2) THE PETITIONER MAY SE LECT ONLY ONE OF THE FOLLOWING 18
79	79	METHODS: 19
80	80
81	81	(I) RESCANNING THE BALLO TS USING: 20
82	82
83	83	1. THE SAME VOTE TABULA TING EQUIPMENT THAT WAS 21
84	84	USED IN THE ELECTION ; OR 22
85	85
86	86	2. ALTERNATIVE VOTE TAB ULATING EQUIPMENT , IF 23
87	87	ALTERNATIVE EQUIPMEN T IS AVAILABLE AND I TS USE IS FEASIBLE, AS DETERMINED 24
88	88	BY THE STATE BOARD; 25
89	89
90	90	(II) A MANUAL RECOUNT OF VOTER–VERIFIABLE PAPER 26
91	91	RECORDS; OR 27
92	92
93	93	(III) ANY OTHER RE COUNT METHOD APPROVE D BY THE STATE 28
94	94	ADMINISTRATOR . 29 HOUSE BILL 642 3
95	95
96	96
97	97
98	98	(C) A LOCAL BOARD SHALL : 1
99	99
100	100	(1) PRESERVE THE VOTER –VERIFIABLE PAPER REC ORD 2
101	101	CORRESPONDING TO EAC H DUPLICATE BALLOT T HAT IS CREATED; 3
102	102
103	103	(2) STORE EACH DUPLICATE BALLOT THAT IS CREAT ED TOGETHER 4
104	104	WITH THE CORRESPONDING VOTER –VERIFIABLE PAPER REC ORD; AND 5
105	105
106	106	(3) COUNT ONLY THE VOTER –VERIFIABLE PAPER REC ORD, NOT THE 6
107	107	DUPLICATE BALLOT , IN A MANUAL RECOUNT UNDER THIS SUBTITLE . 7
108	108
109	109	SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURTHER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect July 8
110	110	1, 2023. 9
111	111