Legislature Passes Bill To Protect Voter Privacy

On Thursday, the Arizona House of Representatives passed a bill, SB1094, which requires officials in charge of elections to protect electronic data generated from ballots. The bill, sponsored by Sen. Gail Griffin, passed overwhelmingly in a bipartisan vote.

Specifically, the bill prohibits the unauthorized copying or transferring of data or images. Under this bill, ballot images that are created automatically by ballot processing machines are to be treated the same as ballots.

Because the images are an exact replica of a voted ballot, the identity of the voter could be revealed due to the nature of the choices. The likelihood of a voter’s identity being revealed could be very high in small communities and races in which few votes would be cast; such as for precinct committeeman.

“Digital ballot images being produced by the new election equipment technology has never been addressed before in statute. The overwhelming House bipartisan vote supporting voter privacy shows the slippery slope ballot images could have on voter’s right to privacy and protects Arizona voters. Voters have many ways to get involved in the election process, mostly through their political parties, and people should take advantage of these existing opportunities to provide oversight to our elections,” stated Karen Schutte, newly elected chairman of the EIC in Pima County, speaking for herself.

According to the Senate Fact Sheet:

The Arizona Constitution stipulates, “All elections by the people shall be by ballot, or by such other method as may be prescribed by law; Provided, that secrecy in voting shall be preserved” (Ariz. Const. art VII, § 1).

The county officer in charge of elections retains custody of ballots to perform any required hand counts and must provide security for those ballots (A.R.S. § 16-602).

Additionally, statute outlines counting center procedures including a live video recording of all ballots while the ballots are present in a tabulation room in the counting center. The 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. § 16-622).

Statute requires after a canvass has been completed, the officer in charge of elections must deposit the package or envelope containing the ballots in a secure facility managed by the county treasurer, who shall keep it unopened and unaltered for 24 months after federal elections or for 6 months after all other elections, at which time he must destroy without opening or examining the contents. If a recount is ordered or an election contested within six months, the county treasurer may be ordered by the court to deliver the ballots (A.R.S. § 16-624).