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ARIZONA STATE SENATE
Fifty-Seventh Legislature, Second Regular Session
AMENDED
voting; equipment; internet; custody; violation
Purpose
Prescribes various security requirements for vote recording equipment and tabulating equipment that is certified for use in elections in Arizona.
Background
The Secretary of State (SOS) is required to appoint a three-person committee that is tasked with investigating, testing and recommending various types of vote recording or tabulating machines or devices that may be used in elections. Any machines or devices used for elections in Arizona must comply with the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 and must have been tested and approved by an accredited laboratory. The SOS may also revoke certification of any voting system or device if a person or firm uses or includes hardware, firmware or software in a version that is not certified for use or approved for experimental use in a certified voting system or device (A.R.S. § 16-442).
There is no anticipated fiscal impact to the state General Fund associated with this legislation.
Provisions
1. Requires the SOS to ensure that electronic voting systems, including vote recording and vote tabulating machines and election management systems, that are approved for use in elections:
a) do not have hardware installed that supports direct or indirect internet connectivity or any other form of remote access or software that allows any change to results in files or a database;
b) support the usage and tracking of users based on unique credentials that are changed at least once per election cycle for each user;
c) log any deletions of ballot images, windows event logs and results files, as well as maintain election software logs; and
d) maintain prescribed data as election data for 22 months.
2. Specifies that indirect internet connectivity includes the use of an election management system gateway system.
3. Prohibits any voting equipment that is used in a polling place or voting center, notwithstanding any other law, from having internet access or any access to aggregated data or results.
4. Requires any accessible ports on voting equipment to be locked with tamper-proof seals.
5. Requires chain of custody documents to log:
a) when tamper-proof seals are broken or accessed; and
b) the delivery, use and return of the equipment so that the name and signature of every person who delivers, receives uses and returns the equipment is recorded and retained as an official election record.
6. Prohibits, notwithstanding any other law, any election management system or tabulation equipment used in a central counting center or other tabulation center from having internet access, the capability of indirect internet access or access to any data or results by any means until used by authorized election personnel.
7. Prohibits election equipment used in a counting center from having a port.
8. Requires chain of custody documents to log the use and return of equipment that contains election results and data so that the name and signature of every person who delivers, receives, uses and returns the storage device or other equipment that contains election data and results is recorded and retained as an official election record.
9. Requires all activities at the counting center, notwithstanding any other law, to be included in a nonstop video that is posted to the county's website.
10. Classifies a negligent violation of requirements and prohibitions relating to vote recording and tabulating equipment as a class 1 misdemeanor.
11. Contains a legislative findings clause.
12. Makes technical and conforming changes.
13. Becomes effective on the general effective date.
Amendments Adopted by the House of Representatives
1. Requires the SOS to ensure that specified voting and tabulating equipment does not support internet connectivity, whether direct or indirect, including the use of an election management system gateway system.
2. Specifies that covered voting and tabulating equipment includes election management systems.
3. Prohibits counting center elections equipment from having any ports, rather than requiring such ports to be locked with tamper proof seals.
4. Removes the prohibition against anyone other than authorized personnel and political party observers from being present at the tabulation of votes.
5. Removes the requirement that all operating systems and software be configured to the appropriate level of security consistent with best practices issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
6. Removes provisions relating to removeable data storage devices.
7. Specifies that a violation of outlined requirements and prohibitions must be negligent in order to be classified as a class 1 misdemeanor.
8. Adds a legislative findings clause.
Senate Action House Action
JUDE 1/14/26 DP 4-2-1 FMAE 3/18/26 DPA 4-2-0-1
3rd Read 2/23/26 16-11-3 3rd Read 5/5/26 31-20-9
Prepared by Senate Research
May 5, 2026
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