STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2740

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2333

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2024

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2333 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ELECTION AUDITS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the Chief Election Officer to use accurate copies of paper ballots, rather than the originals, when conducting a precinct audit of an electronic voting system's tally.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Office of Elections.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Hawaii Young Republicans and sixty-one individuals.

Your Committee finds that existing law requires the Chief Election Officer, as a condition of using an electronic voting system to create an electronic tally of ballots, to audit the vote counts in ten percent of the precincts where an electronic voting system was used and select the precincts to audit at random. Your Committee also finds that existing law requires the Chief Election Officer to conduct the audit of the randomly selected precincts by comparing electronic tally amounts against the original paper ballots. This measure will increase the efficiency of the audits without compromising their precision by using accurate copies of paper ballots, rather than the original paper ballots, to conduct the audits.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Judiciary that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2333 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Judiciary,

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KARL RHOADS, Chair