Committee approves bill setting ISO certification and feature standards for ballot fraud countermeasures

Senate Bill 1057 was returned with a due‑pass recommendation after staff outlined certification and feature requirements for fraud countermeasures on paper ballots and members raised questions about safeguards.

Staff said SB1057 would require any vendor that provides fraud countermeasures contained in or on paper ballots to meet specified certification standards—ISO/IEC 27001 (information security management), ISO/IEC 17025 (testing and calibration of laboratories) or ISO 9001:2015 (quality management systems)—and would require such countermeasures to include at least three of ten listed features.

A member asked staff to explain the ISO standards to members unfamiliar with them. Staff replied that ISO is the International Organization for Standardization and briefly summarized the relevant standards. Committee members expressed concern about provisions describing a voter identification number that should be knowable only by the voter; Representative Collin said the bill needs amendments to guarantee safeguards and said he would vote aye for committee passage while planning a floor amendment. "I think it needs to build in some additional safeguards...I'm gonna be an aye for today and hope to see an amendment addressing those issues on the floor," Collin said.

Representative Marquez noted that a similar bill was vetoed last year and asked whether substantive changes had been made. The chair interrupted to keep the exchange within an explanation of vote rather than debate.

The clerk called the roll and the committee gave SB1057 a 4–3 due‑pass recommendation. Members indicated they expect further debate and possible amendments on the floor.