HB 999

BALLOT WATERMARK Present law requires voting machine ballot labels and names of candidates to be printed in black ink with office titles printed in black or red ink on clear material of such size as will fit the ballot frame and in as plain, clear type as the space will reasonably permit. This bill additionally requires a ll ballots cast by a voter and tabulated in a primary o r general election to contain a visible secure watermark as a security feature, includin g a ll voting machine ballots , paper ballots , and absentee ballots. However, a sample ballot is not required to contain a visible secure watermark . This bill requires the coordinator of elections to define the method and type of secure watermark used for each form of ballot and the placement of the watermark on the ballot, and may authorize the use of invisible ink or pre-printed opaque images to produce the watermark . H owever, the resulting watermark must be visible on the ballot and mu st be easily discernible for verification purposes by the counting board. This bill further requires t he official tabulation count of any ballot scanner to be based upon the text port ion or the machine mark of the ballot as long as the mark c learly denotes the voter's selectio n and d oes not use a quick-response (QR) code, bar code, or any other type of machine coding printed on the ballot for the purposes of tabulating a voter's select ion on the ballot. ABSENTEE BALLOTS The " Tennessee Voter Confidence Act "" provides all of the following:  T he secretary of state (""secretary"") must randomly select county election commissions that must conduct an audit after each August and November election.  A county election commission may utilize precinct-based optical scanners.  In any polling place where precinct-based optical scanners are utilized, the election commission must post instructions stating, ""Please check the recorded votes on your ballot before inserting into scanner."" This bill provides that a bsentee ballots are subject to the same scanning, posting, and auditing under the "" Tennessee Voter Confidence Act ."" OPTICAL SCANNERS Present law requires that a ll new precinct-based optical scanners purchased or leased must meet certain requirements. This bill adds that each new scanner must be capable of tabulating a ballot that contains a visible secure watermark feature, as required above. CREATION OF BALLOT SCAN IMAGES This b ill requires all paper ballots tabulated in a primary or general election to be scanned so that a digital image of the ballot is rendered upon each scan . Each ballot's digital image must be at least 600 dots per inch (DPI) in resolution, or of the highest resolution possible for the certified voting system . Each image must be saved and maintained in a manner and duration specified by the secretary and applicable state and federal laws. Audits Pursuant to the random selection audit or an a udit of paper ballot images, as describe d above, this bill requires the secretary to post on its website the scanned images of ballots requested for review under the ballot audit. Processing This bill requires each scanned paper ballot to be stored and processed ac cording to the following pro cedure : (1) After being scanned, the ballot must be immediately placed in a sealed, tamper-resistant container for storage and safekeeping; (2) The container storing the scanned ballots must be labeled with a unique identifying number that corresponds to the voter precinct where the ballot was cast; (3) The container's unique identifying number must be recorded on the chain of custody documents, as specified by the secretary ; and (4) The chain o f custody documents must be signed by each person responsible for taking custody of and storing ballots, and the date and time of the storage of ballots must be entered on the chain of custody documents. POSTING OF SCANNED PAPER BALLOTS This bill requires t he secretary to create and administer a statewide program for the purpose of posting on the secretary 's website digital images of scanned paper ballots created by voting systems in an election and requested for audit, either (i) under the random selection of county election commissions to conduct an audit or (ii) as required below . This bill requires all of the following:  All posted scans must have a resolution of no less than 200 DPI .  Digital images of the scanned ballots created as part of the preliminary tabulation process must be posted no later than 5:00 p.m. on the second Friday following the day of the election.  Any additional scanned ballot images that are created in the tabulation process up to and including the final certification of any election must be summarily included in any scanned ballot postings by the secretary. AUDIT OF PAPER BALLOT IMAGES This bill requires the secretary to create and administer a statewide program for the purpose of auditing paper ballot images throu gh the use of optical character recognition technology, or other related technology, that can verify the human-readable text portion of a ballot. The auditing program must not be based on or utilize for tabulation any QR code, bar code, nor any other type of machine coding printed on the ballot. A report that includes all ballot types must be conducted and produced, and released prior to final certification of the election. The secretary may scan, post, and audit paper ballots pursuant to an audit conducted by random selection . APPLICABILITY This bill applies to all ballots tabulated in primary or general elections conducted on or after July 1, 2025."