HB 1870 Summary

• Requires official ballots to be paper ballots hand-marked by voters, or marked by paper ballot-marking devices for disabled voters, effective by January 1, 2014.

• Prohibits approval of electronic voting systems unless they produce election results from hand-marked paper ballots or paper ballots marked by devices designed to assist disabled voters.

• Mandates phased elimination of direct-record electronic touch-screen voting machines by January 1, 2014, with disabled voter exceptions allowed if machines remain functional.

• Eliminates straight-ticket voting option on partisan election ballots and removes presidential election single-punch voting capability.

• Authorizes secretary of state to approve computerized voting systems with paper audit trail capability and specifies detailed ballot format requirements including font sizes, square placement, and column separation.