STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2743

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: S.B. No. 2334

S.D. 1

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. 2334 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 clarify that the Chief Election Officer must audit all elections in the randomly selected precincts as a condition of using an electronic voting system to create an electronic tally of ballots.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii Young Republicans.

Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from fifty-four individuals.

Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Office of Elections and one individual.

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. However, the language of existing law is ambiguous as to whether the Chief Election Officer must audit all the elections in those precincts, or whether it is acceptable for the Chief Election Officer to audit only a single election in those precincts. This measure will remove the ambiguity to existing law and provide clarity necessary for effectively auditing elections in the State.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Reducing the number of randomly selected precincts employing an electronic voting system that the Chief Election Officer is required to conduct a post-election, pre-certification audit of from ten percent to five percent;

(2) Amending section 1 to reflect its amended purpose; and

(3) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

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. 2334, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2334, S.D. 1, 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