Sec. 5. 21-A MRSA §§831 and 832 are enacted to read:

§831.__Voting machine standards

All voting machines used in any election in this State must conform to the following standards.

1.__General.__The mechanisms and computer software by which any voting machine tabulates, transmits or stores the votes must be fully accessible to the Office of the Secretary of State and agents of that office.__Any computer software relating to such voting machines must employ an open-source operating code that is fully accessible to the Office of the Secretary of State and agents of that office.__Appropriate encryption software for voting machines must be incorporated and used to prevent any unauthorized access while allowing full access by authorized agents and employees of the State.__Any instance of work or inspections done to any voting machine in the State must be entered into a permanent log attached to that machine, with copies of the log sent to the Office of the Secretary of State, Bureau of Corporations, Elections and Commissions on a monthly basis.__Such a log is a public record for purposes of Title 1, chapter 13.

2.__Ballots.__All voting machines in the State must produce a physical ballot, equivalent or superior to that of a hand-cast ballot, that unambiguously reflects the intent of the voter and that each voter shall personally review and deliver to an official ballot box. Touch screen voting machines must produce a legible, large-print ballot for verification by each voter of that voter's electoral choices before it is placed in the official ballot box. Each such ballot must also identify the individual machine that produced it while not identifying the voter.

A.__Ballots may be an optional feature only of machines dedicated to accommodate the needs of sight-impaired voters or other voters with disabilities for whom wardens determine usage of ballot-free voting is appropriate. The option of using a ballot-free function on a touch screen machine may be executed only by a warden on duty at an individual voting place upon request of a voter with a disability and only on a machine dedicated for access by voters with disabilities.__A total count of such ballot-free uses on dedicated voting machines, which must be compiled so as to maintain complete voter anonymity, must be kept at each voting district and