Amends TCA Title 2, Chapter 20 and Title 2, Chapter 5.

This bill adds and revises provisions regarding audits of state and local elections. Under present law, following each November general election any county election commission utilizing a precinct-based optical scanner must conduct automatic mandatory audits of the voter-verified paper ballots cast for the president of the United States in a presidential election and the governor in a gubernatorial election, referred to as the “top race." Present law sets out the manner in which the county election commission must prepare to conduct the audit. This bill revises the above provision to instead provide the following: (1) The secretary of state must randomly select county election commissions that must conduct an audit after each August and November election; (2) The selection must occur on election day, and the coordinator of elections must notify the selected county election commissions. County election commissions must provide public notice of the time and location of the audit at least 48 hours before the audit is conducted; (3) After each August election, the secretary of state must select at least three counties to audit; and after each November election, the secretary of state must select at least six counties to audit; (4) As a pilot program after the May, August, and November 2022 elections, this bill requires that Williamson County be audited by such county's election commission; (5) The secretary of state must select the audit methodology to be used in each selected county, from either a traditional tabulation audit, risk-limiting audit, or performance audit; (6) Following each August and November election, a county election commission utilizing a precinct-based optical scanner and not selected for audit must conduct automatic mandatory audits of the voter-verified paper ballots cast for the top race on the ballot, as described in (7) and (8); (7) For a November election, the county election commission must conduct automatic mandatory audits for the president of the United States in a presidential election and the governor in a gubernatorial election; (8) For an August election, the county election commission must conduct automatic mandatory audits for the highest race for county office; (9) The county election commission may select one or more additional races to be audited; (10) The county election commission will prepare for the audit in the same manner as set out in present law, with some revisions made by this bill, including revisions to account for the auditing of additional races. Other revisions to the manner for preparing for the audit include a requirement that at least one optical scan tabulator used to count election day ballots must be used to audit early voting ballots, and at least one optical scan tabulator used to count early voting ballots must be used to audit election day ballots; (11) This bill adds that if all of the ballots in a race are counted as part of the manual hand count audit, the results of the hand count audit must be used as the official results to be certified by the county election commission; (12) A county election commission not selected for audit by the secretary of state as described above in (1)-(5), and not required to conduct an audit under item (6) after the November election must conduct a performance audit following the certification of each November election. The audit must include, but not be limited to, a review of the procedures for absentee by-mail ballots requested, transmitted, and returned. The secretary of state must randomly select six counties where the performance audit will be conducted by the division of elections. Performance audits conducted by the county election commission must be completed by the 90th day after the election is certified. A report of the performance audit must be submitted to the secretary of state; (13) For elections in 2022 and 2024, this bill requires that expenses incurred by a county election commission or its members in the performance of its audit duties be paid out of the state treasury upon the certification of the chair and secretary of the county election commission to the secretary of state; provided, that the secretary of state must review the claim and only those items certified by the secretary of state to the comptroller of the treasury must be paid. County election commissions will be eligible for a reimbursement of their actual costs, not to exceed $50.00 in audit set up costs per machine and 35 cents per ballot audited; and (14) This bill authorizes the coordinator of elections to define the method and type of watermark to be placed on an absentee ballot pursuant to present law, and authorizes the use of invisible ink or pre-printed opaque images to produce the watermark. ON APRIL 21, 2022, THE SENATE ADOPTED AMENDMENT #1 AND PASSED SENATE BILL 2675, AS AMENDED. AMENDMENT #1 revises various provisions of this bill as follows: (1) Specifies that the random audits, described above in the bill summary in (1), will start with the first election in 2024; (2) Removes the provision for a pilot project in Williamson County, as described above in (4) in the bill summary; (3) Requires voting machine technicians, at the same time machines are inspected, to certify in writing that the proper firmware is loaded on each unit of voting equipment and that system settings are correct; (4) Requires election commissions to post, in any polling place where precinct-based optical scanners are utilized, instructions stating, "Please check the recorded votes on your ballot before inserting into scanner"; and (5) Adds that following provisions: (A) Following each county election in Williamson County, the Williamson County election commission must conduct automatic mandatory audits of the voter verified paper ballots cast in each election conducted in 2022; (B) After the November 2022 election, the commission must audit ballots for the governor in a gubernatorial election. The commission may select additional races to be audited; (C) After the August 2022 and May 2022 elections, the county election commission must audit ballots for the contested election to the highest countywide office. The commission may select additional races to be audited; (D) For any other election, the county election commission must select one or more races in which more than one candidate is running to be audited; (E) The county election commission must prepare to conduct the audit in a manner similar to those set out for local elections audits in the bill as introduced, as specified in detail in this amendment; and (F) The provisions described above in (5)(A)-(E) will be deleted on January 1, 2023.