Bill Introduced in South Dakota to Ensure Cast Vote Records are Publicly Available

Bill Introduced in South Dakota to Ensure Cast Vote Records are Publicly Available
Senate Bill 213 in the South Dakota Legislature in the 2024 session

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After a previous bill was dropped, Senate Bill 213 is another chance to make it so the South Dakota election codes help electronic devices, such as tabulators, which automatically produce records of votes cast—called cast vote records—distributed publicly at every election.

The bill would bring South Dakota's election process in compliance with Federal Code 20701 (52 USC §20701), retention of election records.

Further, the bill would bring clarity to and alignment with South Dakota's own existing statute, 12-17B-2, by assuring compliance with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) standards from 2005, as detailed in VVSG 1.0, Chapter 7.8 on independent verification systems.

There are only a matter of days remaining in South Dakota's abbreviated legislative session, which is fewer than 40 days total.

Whether this bill is passed and goes into effect is relevant to any state, including Minnesota, which also has codified in state statute the VVSG 1.0 standards from the EAC, and nevertheless where the people were met with resistance for simply asking for records that the government could not lawfully withhold, and yet did in almost all cases.