Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Committee advances hand‑count recount bill despite clerks' warnings on timing and cost
Summary
House Bill 52, which expands hand-count options for recounts and creates an election recount account with a $200,000 appropriation, was reported out of committee 8-1 after extended testimony from the secretary of state's office, county clerks and civic groups expressing major implementation concerns.
The Corporations Committee advanced House Bill 52 after extensive testimony and debate over whether counties have the time, staff and funding to implement hand‑count recounts statewide.
Joe Rubino, policy director and general counsel for the secretary of state's office, walked the committee through HB52 page by page. He said the bill changes the statutory definition of "recount" to permit hand counts in place of automatic machine retabulation, establishes thresholds that trigger recounts (a 2% county threshold and a 1% statewide/legislative threshold in certain races), authorizes counting boards to hand‑count ballots, sets deposit requirements for…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
