Committee approves bill banning Internet connections to voting machines; officials seek clarity on thumb-drive use

Representative Milligan presented HB1595, which would prohibit voting machines from being connected to the Internet. Milligan said election vendors and the Secretary of States office support the bill as forward-looking protection against networked vulnerabilities.

Washington and Benton County election officials testified to raise a drafting question about the bills catch-all language that could be read to affect current thumb-drive procedures. Officials explained their standard: election definition files are loaded onto marking devices (ExpressVote) via secured USB drives and DS200 ballot-counting machines also use removable thumb drives for results; those processes do not create an Internet or external-network connection. Senator Ballinger and others confirmed that the committees reading did not intend to prohibit current thumb-drive use. After clarification, the committee passed the bill.