Charter & directives for State Board of Elections; SOA to oversee & develop, etc.

Study; Secretary of Administration; State Board of Elections; electronic return of voted military-overseas ballots; pilot program; report. Requests the Secretary of Administration to oversee and develop a charter and directives for the State Board of Elections to form a working group to study implementation of electronic return of voted military-overseas ballots. In conducting its study, the State Board of Elections with the working group shall study and develop initial instructions and procedures that (i) consider issues related to accessibility, auditability, authentication, verification, and security through encryption, in order to ensure that any process implemented would guarantee the accuracy and integrity of voted military-overseas ballots, and (ii) recommend (a) security measures necessary to reasonably secure the transmission, processing, and storage of voter data from interception and unauthorized access; (b) methods for verifying and authenticating the identity of the voter electronically when registering to vote and when requesting a ballot from and returning a ballot to the voter's jurisdiction; (c) methods for the encryption of voted ballots; and (d) a procedure for security reviews after an election. The study shall focus on implementation of electronic return of voted military-overseas ballots first as a limited pilot program in 2023 and later on a statewide basis. An executive summary and report shall be submitted as no later than the first day of the 2023 Regular Session of the General Assembly.