Possible Bipartisan Consensus for HB 2023 to Make Scanned Ballot Images a Public Record?

There is one bill to reform elections procedures in the Arizona Legislature that might be able to find bipartisan support amid this highly partisan flurry of election bills before the AZLeg: HB 2023. Unlike some of the extreme bill pending that seek to radically restructure elections or compromise the secrecy of our ballots in the name of the #BigLie, HB 2023 makes a simple, modest and reasonable change to our election procedures by making the existing ballot images taken during tabulation public records.

The entirety of the bill follows with the proposed change in blue upper case text:

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 16-625, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:

16-625. Electronic data and digital images; ballots; security; public record

The officer in charge of elections shall DO THE FOLLOWING:

1. Ensure that electronic data from and electronic or digital images of ballots are protected from physical and electronic access ALTERATION AND DESTRUCTION, including unauthorized copying or transfer, and that all security measures are at least as protective as those prescribed for paper ballots.

2. AFTER THE POLLS ARE CLOSED, MAKE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC AN ONLINE COPY OF ANY DIGITAL IMAGES OF BALLOTS IN A MANNER THAT ALLOWS THE IMAGES TO BE SEARCHABLE BY PRECINCT BUT THAT PRECLUDES ANY ALTERATION OF THE IMAGES. THE DIGITAL IMAGES OF THE BALLOTS ARE PUBLIC RECORDS.

Despite the prime sponsor of the bill being the odious Rep. Mark Finchem (whom I would not trust with the administration of an election for dog catcher…), Adrian Fontes (who is running for the nomination to take on Finchem in the AZ Secretary of State race) and John Brakey of AuditUSA have both opined that HB 2023 is a reasonable reform that improves the transparency of our elections and could help to allay the distrust of our elections that the GOP has manufactured because of Trump’s election lies.

Fontes endorsed the bill:

HB2023 is proposed legislation working its way through Arizona’s state legislature. Finchem thinks this bill will help him and his cohorts find their invisible smoking gun to prove election fraud, but it will actually prove once and for all how well our election processes work. pic.twitter.com/lLGEOtq7o1

— Adrian Fontes (@Adrian_Fontes) January 7, 2022

John Brakey wrote to me recently in response to my recent article about pending elections reform bills, “Real Election Reforms Are Possible, But Not With Election Deniers Running the Legislature“. He suggested that HB 2023 might form the basis of a bipartisan agreement on acceptable steps to increase election security and transparency. John pointed out that as recently as 2010 making such ballot images public records was actually proposed as a resolution by the AZ Democratic Party ¹, and that AUDIT USA is currently co-plaintiff with the Florida Democratic Party seeking to preserve the ballot images in that state’s elections.

I agree with Brakey’s concern that the Democratic Party should not be seen to be entirely opposed to any possible elections reforms, but should offer support where it is warranted on public policy grounds – such as HB2023 – to forestall any criticism that the Dem caucus is opposing all reforms.

I still have concerns at the margins that some personally-identifying data might be revealed in the ballot images unless there is provision for redaction of any such marks made by a voter, and that the scanned ballot images do not include every ballot legally and validly cast (which might be the fuel of further misinformation campaigns), but those concerns alone are not sufficient reason to oppose HB 2023. Indeed, such concerns may be the basis for useful amendments to the proposed bill.

I recommend that the AZDem legislative caucuses consider publicly supporting HB2023.

1. “Be it further resolved that the Arizona Democratic Party urges each county to use a graphic scanning system that would allow all political parties and persons to examine all the ballots cast in any election which would prevent election rigging by inherently flawed computers or could reveal unconstitutional computer errors.”