South Dakota Administrative Rules › Title 5 - Secretary of State › Article 5:02 - State Board of Elections › Chapter 5:02:09 - Automatic tabulating equipment › Section 5:02:09:02.03 - Criteria for approving electronic ballot marking systems

Current through Register Vol. 51, page 10, July 15, 2024
Before the State Board of Elections grants a certificate of approval, the following capabilities of the electronic ballot marking system must be demonstrated to the board or its designee. The board may grant a certificate of approval for a system, if the system fulfills the following requirements:
(1) Accurately mark 250 ballots with at least 10 races on each ballot with no ballot jams;
(2) If the system has the capability of marking a ballot on the back side, the races must be split between the front and back of the ballot;
(3) Enables the voter to vote in absolute secrecy;
(4) Presents the entire ballot to the voter in a series of sequential screens that include methods to ensure the voter sees all ballot options on all screens before completing the vote and allows the voter to review all ballot choices before casting a ballot;
(5) Prevents any voter from selecting more than the allowable number of candidates for any office to prevent overvoting, alerts the voter on the screen if the voter attempts to overvote, and provides information on how to correct the overvote;
(6) Alerts the voter to any undervote prior to marking the ballot;
(7) Accurately marks a paper ballot for each vote for each position voted;
(8) Is an electronic computer-controlled voting system that provides for marking of votes cast;
(9) Has a battery back-up system that, at a minimum, allows voting to continue uninterrupted for two hours without external power;
(10) Is designed to accommodate multiple ballot styles in each election precinct and have an option to handle multiple precincts;
(11) Has a real-time clock capable of recording and documenting the total time polls are open in a precinct and capable of documenting the opening and closing of polls;
(12) Complies with the disability voting requirements of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 as of January 1, 2005;
(13) Has a color touch-screen that is at least fifteen inches in diagonal measure;
(14) Has an option to accommodate a voter who uses a mobility device without intervention of the poll worker other than a minor adjustment such as the angle of the display, and the voter must be able to vote in a face-first position so that privacy is maintained with the ballot surface adjusted to a vertical position;
(15) Has wheels so that the system may be easily rolled by one person on rough pavement and rolled through a standard thirty-inch door frame if the net weight of the system, or aggregate of voting device parts, is over twenty pounds;
(16) Has a method to activate the system for each individual voter and which shall prevent any voter from voting more than once;
(17) Has internal operating system software or firmware, that:
(a) Is specifically designed and engineered for the election application;
(b) Is contained within each voting device;
(c) Is stored in a nonvolatile memory within each terminal;
(d) Includes internal quality checks such as purity or error detection and correction codes; and
(e) Include comprehensive diagnostics to ensure that failures do not go undetected; and