An Act To Enhance the Transparency of Maine's Elections
Maine Legislature, Session 122, LD 1514
Committee: Legal and Veterans Affairs
Sponsors: PINGREE, EDMONDS, CANAVAN, CUMMINGS, PATRICK, SCHATZ, TRAHAN, WALCOTT, WEBSTER, DAMON
Amends: 36 MRSA §5289

Legislative Document 
No. 1514 
H.P.1059 
House of Representatives, March 30, 2005 
An Act To Enhance the Transparency of Maine's Elections 
Reference to the Committee on Legal and Veterans Affairs suggested and ordered printed. 
Presented by Representative PINGREE of North Haven. 
Cosponsored by President EDMONDS of Cumberland and 
17/~ 
frJ.11!O£~ 
MILLICENT M. MacFARLAND 
Clerk 
Representatives: CANAVAN of Waterville, CUMMINGS of Portland, PATRICK of Rumford, 
SCHATZ of Blue Hill, TRAHAN of Waldoboro, WALCOTT of Lewiston, WEBSTER of 
Freeport, Senator: DAMON of Hancock. 
Printed on recycled paper 
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows: 
Sec. I. 2I-A MRSA §737-B is enacted to read: 
§737-B. 
Random sample recounts for the purpose of auditing 
voting machinery 
1. Random sample recount. 
Following each election in an 
even-numbered year, the Secretary of State shall randomly select, 
by means of a ping-pong-ball style lottery, a sample of .05% of 
all voting machines used in state elections for a manual vote 
recount to audit the machines' accuracy and performance. 
These 
recounts must be performed on November 11th, unless that date 
falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case the recount must 
take place on the first Monday following November 11th. 
Recounts 
must be performed pursuant to the requirements of section 737 A 
and must: 
A. 
Use 
the 
ballots 
produced 
or 
employed 
by 
machine 
tabulation: 
B. 
Be held in the offices of the Secretary of State in 
Augusta or at a similarly situated central location as the 
Secretary of State designates before the recount; 
C. 
Be 
performed 
by 
volunteer 
teams 
of 
notaries 
duly 
authorized py 
the 
State 
who 
are 
organized 
and 
trained 
specifically for random Sample recounts by the Office of the 
Secretary of State. 
The teams must consist of enrolled and 
unenrolled 
registered 
voters 
in 
proportion 
to 
the 
percentages, 
by party and nonparty affiliation, of voter 
enrollment registered in the previous election cycle; 
D. 
Be open to public observation: and 
E. 
Serve 
as 
the final tally for 
the voting locations 
involved. 
2. 
Escalating re<;ount trigger. 
If there is a discrepancy 
in any race greater than .01 % between a machine tally and the 
recount tally conducted pursuant to subsection 1 that cannot be 
accounted for by voter error or ambiguity of voter intent, 
a 
further manual recount of the vote tally of an addi tional 
Pi:> 
random sample of machines from voting places that employ the same 
machine 
type as the discrepant machine must be conducted as 
described in subsection 1. 
If more than 2 recounts are triggered 
pursuant to the requirements of this subsection, all vote totals 
by machines of the same type as those found to be discrepant must 
be recounted. Recounts must proceed without delay. The recounted 
vote totals for triggered recounts serve as the final tally for 
those machines. 
3. 
Statistical analysis of recount results. 
Be fo re the 
ballots associated with any election are discarded, the Office of 
the Secretary of State shall undertake a statistical analysis of 
all recount discrepancies discovered by random sample recounts or 
by candidate initiated recounts. 
This analysis must be published 
for public scrutiny 4 months prior to the disposal of any ballots 
as ordered by the Secretary of State. 
Further recounts for any 
election may be instituted by order of the Secretary of State 
upon the Secretary of State's determination that such recounts 
are warranted by virtue of any statistical anomalies that the 
ana~ysis 
performed 
pursuant 
to 
this 
subsection 
may 
have 
discovered. 
Prior 
to 
conducting 
a 
recount pursuant to this 
subsection, the Secretary of State must obtain a warrant issued 
by the Attorney General. 
4. 
Recount costs. 
The Office of the Secretary of State, 
Bureau 
of 
Corporations, 
Elections 
and 
Commissions, 
Elections 
Division 
must 
be 
reimbursed 
for 
the 
costs 
associated 
with 
recounts performed pursuant to this section as specified in this 
subsection. 
A. 
Costs associated with recounts conducted pursuant to 
subsection 1 or 3 must be reimbursed using funds from the 
B. 
Costs associated with recounts conducted pursuant to 
subsection 
must 
be 
recovered 
from 
the 
vendor 
or 
manufacturer 
of 
the 
voting 
machines 
involved 
in 
those 
recounts unless the cause of the discrepancy is shown to be 
due 
to 
negligence or malfeasance 
on the part of state 
employees, in which case the costs must be borne by the 
State. 
All contracts between the State and voting machine 
vendors and manufacturers must contain provisions stating 
the reguirements of 
this paragraph. 
C. 
Notwithstanding the provisions of subsections 1, 
and 
3, if the amount of money in the fund is inadeguate to 
offset the costs of implementing a recount under subsection 
or 
3, 
the recount procedures of this section must be 
temporarily limited to those for which there is sufficient 
funding. 
Recounts conducted pursuant to subsection 1 have 
priority over recounts reguired pursuant to subsection 3. 
5. 
Maine Electoral TranSparency Fund. 
The Maine Electoral 
Transparency Fund, referred to in this section as "the fund," is 
established to finance recounts and auditing of voting machines 
pursuant to this section. 
The fund is a speciaL dedicated, 
nonlapsing fund, 
and 
any interest generated by the 
fund is 
credited to the fund. The Secretary of State shall administer the 
fund. 
A. 
The 
fund 
receives 
revenue 
from 
the 
tax 
checkoff 
established in Title 36, section 5289, allowing a resident 
of the State who files a tax return with the State Tax 
Assessor to contribute 25t to the fund. If a husband and 
wife file a joint return, each spouse may designate that 25¢ 
be paid. The State Tax Assessor shall report annually the 
amounts designated for the fund to the State Controller, who 
shall transfer that amount to the fund. 
B. 
In addition to the contribution described in paragraph 
A, the fund may receive other voluntary contributions. 
Any 
contributions received pursuant to this paragraph may be 
used only for the purposes of subsection 1 and may not be 
transferred to the General Fund. 
C. 
If the fund, 
for any 2 consecutive election cycles, 
produces a surplus of more than 100% of the previous cycles' 
expenses related to subsections 1 and 3, then 50% of that 
surplus 
may 
be 
assigned, 
at 
the 
Secretary 
of 
State's 
discretion, to the operating budget of the Office of the 
Secretary of State, Bureau of Corporations, Elections and 
Commissions, Elections Division for that year. 
Sec. 2. 36 MRSA §5289 is enacted to read: 
§5289. 
Contribution to Maine Electoral Transparency Fund; 
voluntary checkoff 
1. 
Designation. 
Resident taxpayers may designate that 25¢ 
of their taxes be deposited in the Maine Electoral Transparency 
Fund in accordance with Title 2l-A, section 737-B, subsection 5. 
2. 
Forms. 
The State Tax Assessor shall provide on the 
first page of 
the 
income 
tax 
form 
a 
space 
for 
the filing 
individual to indicate whether that filer wishes to pay 25¢, or 
50t if filing a joint return, from the General Fund to finance 
the Maine Electoral Transparency Fund created in Title 2l-A, 
section 737-B, subsection 5. 
3. 
Transfer 
of 
funds. 
The 
State 
Tax 
Assessor 
shall 
transfer funds pursuant to this section from the General Fund in 
accordance with Title 21-A, section 1124. 
SUMMARY 
This bill establishes a 
procedure for regular scientific 
audits of 
the State's election machinery on a biennial basis, by 
means of manually recounting the ballots of a random sample of 
all voting machines in the State. 
The bill also establishes an 
escalating 
recount 
procedure 
in the 
event that 
unacceptable 
discrepancies are discovered during the random sample recount 
process, 
and it mandates the regular statistical analysis of 
those discrepancies. 
This bill establishes the Maine Electoral 
Transparency Fund to provide reimbursement for costs incurred in 
performing the recounts. 
Resources of the fund come 
from an 
income tax checkoff and voluntary contributions. 
Contingencies 
for shortages and surpluses in the fund are also addressed.