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State elections coordinator warns ballot‑technology amendment would force hand counts; committee rejects amendment
Summary
A committee amendment to SB 10-28 that would prohibit QR codes and other automatic identification technologies for ballot tabulation drew testimony from Mark Lawrence, coordinator of elections, who said the language would ban optical scanners and impose major fiscal and staffing burdens; the amendment failed in committee.
Senator Bowling introduced an amendment to SB 10-28 to require a secure watermark on ballots and to prohibit quick‑response codes, linear or 2‑D barcodes, data glyphs and other AIDC technologies used for ballot tabulation. The sponsor argued this increases transparency for voters and avoids nonhuman‑readable encoded ballots that hamper hand counts and audits.
Mark Lawrence, who identified himself as the coordinator of elections, testified that the amendment as drafted would effectively ban optical scanners and many ballot‑marking devices. He said roughly $26–27 million had been spent to implement paper backups after the 2020 election and testified that removing current tabulation technologies would force large counties into hand counts, create significant staffing and storage costs, and raise integrity concerns. Following debate and attempts to clarify or redraft the language, the committee voted 7–1–1 against the measure and the bill failed in committee.
