SB 567

Present law generally requires the six-month preservation of all paper ballots after an election. During the period in which they are preserved, the packages of ballots must be kept securely locked and may be opened and examined only on court order or under procedures for a contested election of governor . This bill requires each election commission to do all of the following:  No later than the 15 th day after election day, m ake election records available in an electronic format for a fee of no more than $50.  Beginning the first day after the date the final certification of an election is completed, make available for public inspection election records that are (i) images of voted ballots, if a county maintains images of voted ballots; or (ii) cast vote records.  Beginning on the 61 st day after an election , make available for public inspection records that are original voted ballots. However, t he coordinator of elections must adopt procedures to ensure the redaction of any personally identifiable information of the voter contained on a ballot before marking the voted ballot available for public inspection. This bill authorizes a person making a request pursuant to this bill to observe the scanning and related ballot-handling process, but such person is not authorized to touch or handle a physical ballot.