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Senate committee hears report on Act 4 21 study of election technology; officials warn on biometrics, endorse tracking options
Summary
Sponsor Rep. Steven Meeks told a Senate interim committee Act 4 21 directs a study of new election technology including biometrics and machine-readable identifiers for absentee ballots; state election officials said biometrics aren’t yet scalable, emphasized preserving voter secrecy, and highlighted audit and GIS options.
Representative Steven Meeks, sponsor of the bill that became Act 4 21 of 2021, told the Senate State Agencies & Governmental Affairs Committee the statute requires a study and a report to the legislative council by November. Meeks said the study focused on two technological areas: whether biometrics could be used to identify voters and prevent fraud, and whether absentee ballots could carry unique machine-readable identifiers so voters could confirm a ballot was received and counted.
Meeks said experts told him biometric systems are mature for small populations but not for statewide voter rolls. “The technology for biometrics is not yet mature enough to be able to handle potentially a 3,000,000 user database,” he said, adding that even if the…
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