§ 17-19-3 - Voting equipment and services – Specifications.
SECTION 17-19-3
§ 17-19-3 Voting equipment and services– Specifications. – (a) The office of secretary of state and the state board of elections shallsubmit specifications to the department of administration, which the departmentof administration shall consult in developing a request for a proposal, as setforth in § 17-19-2.1. These specifications must be submitted to thedepartment of administration within thirty (30) days of the passage of thisbill. These specifications and the request for a proposal for the options ofpurchasing, leasing to own or renting an optical scan precinct count votingsystem, and for a full service contract for an optical scan precinct countvoting system, shall propose an optical scan precinct count system that shallbe constructed and shall operate in a manner that meets the following minimumrequirements:
(1) It shall enable the voter to:
(i) Mark his or her ballot and cast his or her vote insecrecy;
(ii) Vote for all candidates of political parties ororganizations, and for or against questions as submitted;
(iii) Vote for all the candidates of one party or in part forthe candidates of one or more other parties;
(iv) Vote for as many persons for an office as the voter islawfully entitled to vote for, but no more; and
(v) Vote on any question the voter may have the right to voteon;
(2) It shall prevent the voter from voting for the sameperson more than once for the same office;
(3) The voting equipment shall allow the voter to cast onevote, thereby allowing the voter to vote for all the presidential electors of aparty by marking one mark on the ballot, and a ballot containing only the words"presidential electors for" preceded by the name of that party and followed bythe names of the candidates of that party for the offices of president andvice-president; provided, that means shall be furnished by which the voter cancast a vote in part for the candidates for presidential electors of one party,and in part for those of one or more other parties or in part or in whole forpersons not nominated by any party;
(4) The optical scan precinct counting system shall meet thefollowing specifications:
(i) Vote counting, including absentee ballots, shall beperformed through the use of automated electronic equipment;
(ii) All vote counting shall be performed on equipmentsupplied as part of the bid. The system shall not require the use ofnon-supplied equipment to count ballots or tabulate results;
(iii) There shall be privacy enclosures in which a voter maymark his or her ballot or otherwise cast his or her vote in secret;
(iv) There shall be a device located in each polling placethat can record the vote count and tally the vote count in that polling placeand which can produce a printed tally of all races contained on said ballot inhuman readable form. The device shall automatically print a "zero report" atthe beginning of the day when the device is activated. The device that receivesballots for counting shall have an external counter indicating the number ofballots received. The actual vote tally shall be capable of being performedonly by election officials and shall not be visible during the actual votingprocess. Each recording device shall rest on a ballot box which must havecompartments with doors that lock for security of voted ballots and ease ofaccess;
(v) As part of the voting process, there shall be created aphysical ballot showing the votes cast by an individual voter which is capableof being hand counted so that electronic recorded device totals can be checkedfor accuracy. The device must be able to accept a one, two (2) or three (3)column ballot which can be printed on one or both sides;
(vi) There shall be a device at each polling place to receivethe physical audit trail of ballots cast and which shall securely store theballots and have the capability of restricting access to the ballots only toauthorize officials;
(vii) In the event of loss of electrical power, the pollingplace vote count shall be stored on an ongoing basis in media which will retainthe count of the votes cast to that point in time for a period of no less thanfive (5) years;
(viii) The polling place vote counts shall be stored on astable media which may be easily transported and which may be accessed andcounted by an electronic device so that state, city and/or town vote totals canbe electronically calculated by combining individual polling place totals. Itshall not be necessary to enter individual polling place totals by and into acentral computer or device for the purpose of producing the state, city and/ortown totals, but rather the electronic media on which the polling place totalsare stored shall be directly readable and accessible by a regional or centraldevice;
(ix) There shall be a device which has the capability toelectronically read the storage device upon which the individual polling placetotals are stored and which shall produce a combined total for all races, whichtotal can be printed in easily readable and legible form in a format prescribedby the state board of elections;
(x) The system provided shall allow the secretary of state tohave the capability to design the ballot format;
(xi) The system shall provide a capability for the state,without the use of outside services, to set up and prepare the counting devicesto total an election; and
(xii) The system must be capable of receiving voted ballotswithout counting when without power, and must provide for securely storinguncounted ballots;
(5) The following minimum equipment shall be required for thestate:
(i) There shall be six hundred (600) units to permit countingto be conducted in each polling place within the state with a reserve ofequipment on hand;
(ii) There shall be sufficient voting booths to allow onevoting booth for approximately every one hundred seventy-five (175) voters asdetermined in this title;
(iii) The number of polling place units and voting boothsmust be sufficient to permit the election to run smoothly without excessivewaiting of voters;
(iv) If there is an increase in the number of polling placesstatewide during the term of the contract, the vendor will supply additionalpolling place units and voting booths at a cost proportional to the cost of theinitial units pro rated for the balance of the agreement years;
(v) There shall be high speed absentee vote tabulatingequipment. These tabulators as a whole must be capable of counting a minimum offour hundred (400) absentee ballots per minute. The tabulators shall utilizethe same ballots used in the polling place;
(B) This system shall have the following capabilities inconnection with the counting of ballots and producing results:
(I) This system shall be able to read the media from thepolling place units on which polling place results are stored and shall be ableto compile polling place results producing a ballot total for each race; and
(II) This system shall be capable of producing and printingout ballot totals on a polling place by polling place basis for each race, andshall be capable of producing a final total and subtotals of all races from allraces and polling places in the state. All totals must be able to be producedat any time based upon the number of polling places counted up to that point intime, and these printout results shall state the number of precincts countedand the percentage of precincts reporting;
(vi) There shall be all equipment necessary to program thesystem and erase the memory devices;
(vii) Regional tabulating equipment shall be located in eachof the thirty-nine (39) local boards of canvassers and the central tabulationequipment shall be located at the state board of elections. The state board ofelections, thirty (30) days prior to an election, shall determine whichregional and/or central tabulation sites are to be utilized for the election.The tabulation system shall have the following capabilities in connection withthe counting of ballots and producing results:
(A) This system shall be able to read the media from thepolling place units on which polling place results are stored and shall be ableto compile polling place results producing a ballot total for each race;
(B) This system shall be capable of producing and printingout ballot totals on a polling place by polling place basis for each race andshall be capable of producing a final total and subtotal of all races from allraces and polling places in the state;
(C) All totals must be able to be produced at any time basedupon the number of polling places counted up to that point in time, and theprintout results shall state the number of precincts counted and the percentageof precincts reporting; and
(D) This system shall be capable of transferring informationgathered at each regional site to the central site, and shall also be capableof transferring information gathered at the central site to a specific regionalsite;
(6) All necessary programming and accumulation software shallbe provided to run the election system in accordance with the requiredspecifications as well as all necessary and required modules. Any softwareupdates during the term of the agreement shall not be charged to the state;
(7) The vendor of the optical scan precinct count systemshall provide written proof of compliance with Federal Election Commissionstandards from an independent testing company and this written proof must be onfile with the office of the secretary of state and the state board of elections;
(8) The vendor shall also provide the following informationto be included in the vendor's bid proposal:
(i) An audited financial statement covering the previous five(5) years, and if the vendor is not the manufacturer of the equipment, both theagent and manufacturer must submit an audited financial statement covering theprevious five (5) years with the bid;
(B) In the event that either the vendor, agent, ormanufacturer has been in existence for less than five (5) years, that entitymust submit an audited financial statement for each and every full year thatthey have been in existence;
(ii) Proof of experience in the field of elections including,but not limited to, years of experience in this field, and experience with ajurisdiction having the same needs as the state of Rhode Island; and
(iii) Names and addresses of the support organizations thatwill provide support of all equipment.
(b) The full service plan shall include the followingservices, but, at the discretion of the department of administration, shall notbe limited to the following services:
(1) Computer coding and layout of all ballots to be used ineach election under contract in conjunction with the office of the secretary ofstate, including the printing of the ballot and the preparation of the deviceto ensure that the ballots are compatible with the device. Subsequent thereto,the state board of elections shall be responsible for the following:
(2) Testing of each unit for logic and accuracy;
(3) Testing of each programmed memory cartridge;
(4) Set up of each optical scan precinct count unit at eachpolling place;
(5) Maintenance of all optical precinct count units;
(6) Training of poll workers;
(7) On-site election night staff at the central tabulationlocation and any other locations as may be determined by the state board toreceive and transmit election results;
(8) On-site election day field technicians to respond torepair calls;
(9) Providing the following equipment and supplies:
(i) Secrecy covers for voted ballots;
(ii) Demonstration ballots;
(iii) Precision cut shell program ballots ready for printingwith timing marks;
(iv) Marking pens;
(v) Ballot transfer cases;
(vi) Envelopes for mailing and receiving absentee ballots; and
(vii) Printer ribbons, paper tape rolls and seals.
(c) Any bid specifications for an optical scan precinct countsystem and a full service agreement for an optical scan precinct count systemthat do not conform in all respects to the requirements of subdivisions (a)(1)– (b)(9)(vii) of this section shall not be submitted to the office of thedepartment of administration; provided, that the director of administration maywaive any one of the requirements with respect to the full service agreementportion of the bid, after consultation with the chairperson of the state boardof elections and the secretary of state, in order to preserve an otherwiseacceptable bid.
(d) Upon expiration of the initial full service agreement asset forth in the provisions of § 17-19-2.1, the state board shall conducta review of the election system, provide a report to the general assembly andshall subsequently assume responsibility for establishing minimum requirementsand specifications for the procurement of voting equipment and services.