HB 154 — An Act amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code, in voting machines, further providing for examination and approval of voting machines by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, for requirements of voting machines and for preparation of voting machines by county election boards.

PRINTER'S NO.    114

                     THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA



                         HOUSE BILL
                         No. 154
                                               Session of
                                                 2025

     INTRODUCED BY M. MACKENZIE, KAUFFMAN AND WARNER,
        JANUARY 16, 2025

     REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON STATE GOVERNMENT, JANUARY 16, 2025


                                    AN ACT
 1   Amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), entitled
 2      "An act concerning elections, including general, municipal,
 3      special and primary elections, the nomination of candidates,
 4      primary and election expenses and election contests; creating
 5      and defining membership of county boards of elections;
 6      imposing duties upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
 7      courts, county boards of elections, county commissioners;
 8      imposing penalties for violation of the act, and codifying,
 9      revising and consolidating the laws relating thereto; and
10      repealing certain acts and parts of acts relating to
11      elections," in voting machines, further providing for
12      examination and approval of voting machines by the Secretary
13      of the Commonwealth, for requirements of voting machines and
14      for preparation of voting machines by county election boards.
15      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
16   hereby enacts as follows:
17      Section 1.    Sections 1106, 1107 and 1111 of the act of June
18   3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election
19   Code, are amended by adding subsections to read:
20      Section 1106.    Examination and Approval of Voting Machines by
21   the Secretary of the Commonwealth.--
22      * * *
23      (g)   Examination shall include testing of all software
24   required for the voting machine's operation, the ballot reader,
 1   the digital printer, the fail-safe operations, the counting
 2   center environmental requirements and the equipment reliability
 3   estimate.
 4      (h)   For the purposes of examining the voting machine, the
 5   Secretary of the Commonwealth shall employ or contract for the
 6   services of at least one individual who is an expert in one or
 7   more fields of data processing, mechanical engineering and
 8   public administration and shall require from the individual a
 9   written report of the individual's examination.
10      (i)   Within thirty days after completing the examination and
11   upon approval of any electronic or electromechanical voting
12   machine, the Secretary of the Commonwealth shall make and
13   maintain a report on the machine, together with a written or
14   printed description and drawings and photographs clearly
15   identifying the machine and the operation of the machine. As
16   soon as practicable after the filing, the Department of State
17   shall send a notice of certification and upon request a copy of
18   the report to county boards of elections in this Commonwealth.
19   The report under this subsection shall be a public record under
20   the act of February 14, 2008 (P.L.6, No.3), known as the "Right-
21   to-Know Law."
22      (j)   After a voting machine has been approved by the
23   Secretary of the Commonwealth, any change or improvement in the
24   machine must be approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth
25   prior to the adoption of the change or improvement by a county.
26   If the change or improvement does not comply with the
27   requirements of this act, the Secretary of the Commonwealth
28   shall suspend sales of the equipment or machine in this
29   Commonwealth until the equipment or machine complies with the
30   requirements of this act.

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 1      (k)    The Secretary of the Commonwealth shall examine and
 2   approve all electronic or electromechanical devices used in the
 3   casting, processing or tabulation of ballots or in the recording
 4   of electors, including ballot sorters, envelope extractors,
 5   ballot scanners and electronic pollbooks.
 6      (l)    The examination and approval under subsection (k) shall
 7   ensure that the device conforms with standards to provide
 8   timeliness and accuracy in the casting and counting of ballots
 9   or in the recording of electors.
10      Section 1107.    Requirements of Voting Machines.--No voting
11   machine shall, upon any examination or reexamination, be
12   approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth, or by any
13   examiner appointed by him, unless it shall, at the time, satisfy
14   the following requirements:
15      * * *
16      (u)    It shall immediately reject a ballot where the number of
17   votes for an office or question exceeds the number which the
18   elector is entitled to cast or where the tabulating equipment
19   reads the ballot as a ballot with no votes cast.
20      (v)    It shall be capable of providing records from which the
21   operation of the voting machine may be audited.
22      (w)    It shall be capable of recording votes from ballots of
23   different political parties from the same precinct, for a
24   primary election.
25      (x)    It shall be manufactured in the United States and sold
26   by a vendor with a primary place of business within the United
27   States.
28      (y)    It shall utilize open-source software code.
29      (z)    It shall fully comply with the Voluntary Voting System
30   Guidelines 2.0 adopted by the United States Election Assistance

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 1   Commission on February 10, 2021.
 2      (z.1)   The requirements of subsections (u), (v), (w), (x),
 3   (y) and (z) shall apply only to voting machines newly examined
 4   or approved by the Secretary of the Commonwealth after 2026. No
 5   voting machines purchased by a county prior to 2026 shall be
 6   decertified on the basis of noncompliance with subsection (u),
 7   (v), (w), (x), (y) or (z).
 8      Section 1111.     Preparation of Voting Machines by County
 9   Election Boards.--
10      * * *
11      (g)   On any day not more than thirty-five (35) days before
12   the commencement of voting, the county election board shall have
13   the automatic tabulating equipment publicly tested to ascertain
14   that the equipment will correctly count the votes cast for all
15   offices and on all measures. If the ballots to be used at the
16   polling place on election day are not available at the time of
17   the testing, the county election board may conduct an additional
18   test not more than ten (10) days before election day. Public
19   notice of the time and place of the test shall be given at least
20   forty-eight (48) hours prior to the test by publication on the
21   county election board's publicly accessible Internet website and
22   once in one or more newspapers of general circulation in the
23   county or, if there is no newspaper of general circulation in
24   the county, by posting the notice in at least four conspicuous
25   places in the county. The county election board shall provide
26   written notice to each candidate for election of the time and
27   location of the public preelection test. The test shall be open
28   to representatives of the political parties, the press and the
29   public and shall be video recorded and broadcast simultaneously
30   on a publicly accessible Internet website. Each political party

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 1   may designate one person with expertise in the computer field
 2   who shall be allowed in the central counting room when tests are
 3   being conducted and when the official votes are being counted.
 4   The designee may not interfere with the normal operation of the
 5   canvassing board.
 6      (h)   For electronic or electromechanical voting machines
 7   configured to tabulate mail-in or absentee ballots at a central
 8   or regional site, the public testing shall be conducted by
 9   processing a preaudited group of ballots so produced as to
10   record a predetermined number of valid votes for each candidate
11   and on each measure and to include one or more ballots for each
12   office which have activated voting positions in excess of the
13   number allowed by law in order to test the ability of the
14   automatic tabulating equipment to reject the votes. If an error
15   is detected, the cause of the error shall be corrected and an
16   errorless count shall be made before the automatic tabulating
17   equipment is approved. The test shall be repeated and errorless
18   results must be achieved immediately before the start of the
19   official count of the ballots and again after the completion of
20   the official count. The programs and ballots used for testing
21   shall be sealed and retained under the custody of the county
22   election board.
23      (i)   For electronic or electromechanical voting machines
24   configured to include electronic or electromechanical tabulation
25   devices which are distributed to the precincts, all or a sample
26   of the devices to be used in the election shall be publicly
27   tested. If a sample is to be tested, the sample shall consist of
28   a random selection of at least ten per cent of the devices. The
29   test shall be conducted by processing a group of ballots,
30   causing the device to output results for the ballots processed

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 1   and comparing the output of results to the results expected for
 2   the ballots processed. The group of ballots shall be produced so
 3   as to record a predetermined number of valid votes for each
 4   candidate and on each measure and to include for each office one
 5   or more ballots which have activated voting positions in excess
 6   of the number allowed by law in order to test the ability of the
 7   tabulating device to reject such votes.
 8      (j)   If a tested tabulating device is found to have an error
 9   in tabulation, it shall be deemed unsatisfactory. For each
10   device deemed unsatisfactory, the county election board shall
11   take steps to determine the cause of the error, shall attempt to
12   identify and test other devices that could reasonably be
13   expected to have the same error and shall test a number of
14   additional devices sufficient to determine that each device is
15   satisfactory. Upon deeming a device unsatisfactory, the county
16   election board may require all devices to be tested or may
17   declare that all devices are unsatisfactory.
18      (k)   If the operation or output of any tested tabulation
19   device, such as spelling or the order of candidates on a report,
20   is in error, the problem shall be reported to the county
21   election board, which shall determine if the reported problem
22   warrants the county election board deeming the device
23   unsatisfactory.
24      (l)   At the completion of testing under this section, the
25   county election board, the representatives of the political
26   parties and the candidates or the candidate's representatives
27   who attended the test shall witness the resetting of each device
28   that passed to a preelection state of readiness and the sealing
29   of each device that passed in such a manner as to secure its
30   state of readiness until the opening of the polls.

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 1      (m)   The county election board shall execute a written
 2   statement providing the tabulation devices tested, the results
 3   of the testing, the protective counter numbers, if applicable,
 4   of each tabulation device, the number of the seal securing each
 5   tabulation device at the conclusion of testing, any problems
 6   reported to the county election board as a result of the testing
 7   and whether each device tested is satisfactory or
 8   unsatisfactory. The written statement under this subsection
 9   shall be a public record under the act of February 14, 2008
10   (P.L.6, No.3), known as the "Right-to-Know Law."
11      (n)   Any tabulating device deemed unsatisfactory shall be
12   recoded, repaired or replaced and shall be made available for
13   retesting. The device must be determined by the county election
14   board to be satisfactory before the device may be used in an
15   election. The county election board shall announce at the close
16   of the first testing the date, place and time that an
17   unsatisfactory device will be retested or may, at the option of
18   the county election board, notify by telephone each individual
19   who was present at the first testing as to the date, place and
20   time that the retesting will occur.
21      (o)   Records shall be kept of all preelection testing of
22   electronic or electromechanical tabulation devices used in an
23   election. The records shall be present and available for
24   inspection and reference during public preelection testing by
25   any individual in attendance during the testing. The need of the
26   county election board for access to the records during the
27   testing shall take precedence over the need of other attendees
28   to access such records so that the work of the county election
29   board will not be delayed or hindered. Records of testing shall
30   include, for each device, the name of each person who tested the

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1   device and the date, place, time and results of each test.
2   Records of testing shall be retained as part of the official
3   records of the election in which any device was used and shall
4   be public records under the "Right-to-Know Law."
5      (p)   The county election board shall submit a copy of all
6   records required under this section to the Department of the
7   Auditor General.
8      Section 2.   This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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