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Committee approves bill requiring wireless capability be disabled on OMR machines during elections
Summary
House Bill 858 would require OMR voting equipment with wireless capability to have those connections turned off on election day; the committee reported the bill out by voice vote after brief discussion about tampering risks.
Chair introduced House Bill 858 and described its purpose as a security measure for optical mark recognition election equipment. "This just states that they cannot have that capability to connect to Internet on election day," the chair said, explaining the bill would require wireless-capable OMR machines to have the connections disabled during elections.
A senator raised the concern that an internet-capable connection could allow tampering with results; the chair agreed the prohibition was meant to reduce that risk. The committee moved "title sufficient, do pass" and recorded a voice vote; the chair stated, "The ayes have it," and the bill was reported out.
