HB 635 / SB 595

This bill creates an option for a secure hand-marked paper ballot and allows for the county election commission to elect the use of these secure ballots for elections. Additionally, this bill would require that elections be certified based on a hand count of paper ballots.

Prior to the 2024 elections, this bill would require the state coordinator of elections to:

1. Procure a currency-grade hand-marked paper ballot vendor that produces ballots containing a unique voter identifier or control number that allows for chain of custody accountability to be made available to county election commissions for use in all elections.
2. Ensure that paper ballots are uniform in form, fit, and function without distinguishing characteristics.
3. Inform county election commissioners that such a paper ballot is available for elections conducted in 2024 and thereafter.
4. Establish a process for county election commissions to place each ballot in a secure box or bin for hand-marked paper ballots to be retained until a hand count is performed after the polls close.

The Secretary of State likes to tout that TN is ranked #1 in election integrity by the Heritage Foundation. You might be interested to know that the same organization ranked Georgia #1 in election integrity just before the election fraud in both 2020 and 2022.

We want paper ballots. We want hand counts. We want our elections secure.