An Act to Increase Ballot Transparency with Blockchain Technology
Maine Legislature, Session 131, LD 1070
Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
Sponsors: BRAKEY, BOYER
Amends: 21-A MRSA §1, 21-A MRSA §22, 21-A MRSA §23, 21-A MRSA §722-B, 21-A MRSA §843

Legislative Document
No. 1070
S.P. 439
In Senate, March 9, 2023
An Act to Increase Ballot Transparency with Blockchain 
Technology
Reference to the Committee on Veterans and Legal Affairs suggested and ordered printed.
DAREK M. GRANT
Secretary of the Senate
Presented by Senator BRAKEY of Androscoggin.
Cosponsored by Representative: BOYER of Poland.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1.  21-A MRSA §1, sub-§3-B is enacted to read:
3-B.  Blockchain.  "Blockchain" means an open distributed ledger that records a 
transaction between 2 or more parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent manner.
Sec. 2.  21-A MRSA §1, sub-§3-C is enacted to read:
3-C.  Blockchain transaction.  "Blockchain transaction" means digital records linked 
together using cryptography that is resistant to modification of the data in the records, 
creating a blockchain.
Sec. 3.  21-A MRSA §22, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2019, c. 371, §1, is further 
amended to read:
2.  Ballots.  Official ballots, whether in paper form or in an electronic or image format, 
are not public records and may be inspected only in accordance with this Title.  For 
purposes of this subsection, "official ballot" means a ballot used by a voter to cast a vote at 
an election.  "Official ballot" includes an absentee ballot and a ballot cast on election day 
at a voting place but does not include blockchain transactions from official ballots stored 
on a publicly accessible blockchain.
Sec. 4.  21-A MRSA §23, sub-§7-C is enacted to read:
7-C.  Ballot data on publicly accessible blockchain.  The Secretary of State shall 
maintain and make publicly accessible blockchain transactions from all official ballots cast 
in a state election.
Sec. 5.  21-A MRSA §722-B is enacted to read:
§722-B.  Secretary of State to make ballot data public on blockchain
After each state election, the Secretary of State shall upload blockchain transactions 
created when each paper ballot is processed by an electronic tabulating device to a publicly 
accessible blockchain.
Sec. 6.  21-A MRSA §843, sub-§6-A is enacted to read:
6-A.  Blockchain transactions.  It must be able to scan and extract vote data from the 
ballot and create a blockchain transaction for every ballot. Each blockchain transaction 
from a state election must be able to be uploaded and made publicly accessible on a 
blockchain by the Secretary of State.
SUMMARY
This bill requires all electronic tabulating devices to be able to scan and extract vote 
data from the official ballot and create a blockchain transaction for every ballot, which, for 
state elections, the Secretary of State shall maintain and make publicly accessible on a 
blockchain. The bill also defines "blockchain" as an open distributed ledger that records a 
transaction between 2 or more parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent manner 
and "blockchain transaction" as digital records linked together using cryptography that is 
resistant to modification of the data in the records, creating a blockchain. It also establishes 
that the blockchain transaction created from the vote data on the official ballot and available 
on a publicly accessible blockchain is a public record.