CHAPTER 651

H.P. 1281 - L.D. 1759

An Act To Ensure the Accurate Counting of Votes

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:

Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §808, sub-§5-A is enacted to read:

5-A.__Direct recording electronic voting machine.__"Direct recording electronic voting machine" means a system that records votes by means of a ballot display provided with mechanical, electro-optical or electro-audio components that can be activated by the voter, that processes data by means of a computer program and that records voting data in memory components.__A direct recording electronic voting machine produces a tabulation of the voting data stored in a removable memory component and on a printed copy.

Sec. 2. 21-A MRSA §808, sub-§§8-A and 8-B are enacted to read:

8-A.__Mechanical lever voting machine.__"Mechanical lever voting machine" means a machine that directly records a voter's choices via mechanical lever-actuated controls into a counting mechanism that tallies the votes without using a physical ballot.

8-B.__Punch card voting machine.__"Punch card voting machine" means a machine that transmits a voter's choices onto either a prescored or unscored ballot via mechanically punched holes that are then read and tallied by the machine.

Sec. 3. 21-A MRSA §809, sub-§3-A is enacted to read: