Members of the Tennessee Senate State and Local Government Committee are scheduled to discuss a bill this week that would require comptrollers to establish an Office of Election Integrity to perform and supervise election audits.
State Senator Janice Bowling (R-Tullahoma) is sponsoring the bill, SB 1939.
According to the language of the bill, it requires the Office of Election Integrity to investigate the results of each general election for president of the United States and for each United States congressional race in Tennessee by performing:
• A forensic voter audit for each county
• A forensic voting system equipment audit for each county that the comptroller deems necessary to validate the election results
• A full forensic election audit of each county that utilized physical ballots
“This bill requires each county election commission and state and local official to cooperate with the office of election integrity and meet each deadline established by the office of election integrity for purposes of meeting the requirements of this bill,” according to the language of the bill.
“If a county election commission or a state or local election official does not cooperate with an office of election integrity investigation in a timely manner, then, upon referral of the matter by the comptroller of the treasury, the attorney general and reporter must seek a writ of mandamus ordering the commission or official to comply with the request of the office of election integrity.”
Under the bill, the Office of Election Integrity must complete the investigation of the 2020 election no later than July 31, 2022. Staff members must complete each subsequent investigation no later than one year from the date of the election they are investigating.
This bill also requires the Office of Election Integrity to report the results of each investigation to the governor, the speaker of the Senate, and the speaker of the House of Representatives.
“This bill requires the office of election integrity to prepare an audit plan for the 2022 general election and each subsequent election,” according to the language of the bill.
“The initial plan must be presented to the speaker of the senate and the speaker of the house of representatives no later than September 30, 2022, and no later than September 30 in subsequent election years.”
Members of the State and Local Government Committee are scheduled to hear the bill at 10:30 a.m., Tuesday in the Senate Hearing Room 1.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
I’m just a simple guy.
All that I am doing is asking a simple question: Doesn’t EVERYONE want certifiably honest elections?
When you say integrity, you really mean RACISM and right-wing dictatorship!
You want a very simple and inexpensive solution to ballot integrity? Get rid of machines in the voting process. Some things are just to important to risk to fraud, ( as we saw in 2020). Bring back the paper ballot.
Canada uses the paper ballot. Many countries around the world use paper ballots. Also, stop the mail-in ballots unless it’s for military and overseas or very sick people, people that just can’t vote — and they have to have some kind of a real excuse.
The old adage rings true. “Fool me once, shame on you! Fool me twice…”
Senator Bowling, we don’t need another taxpayer-funded albatross around our necks. Let’s get rid of the machines when counting votes. Why make things harder?
More bureaucracy, and a place to install more cronies with six figure salaries.
Sounds to me like another bureaucratic mess to pay for.
So, if I understand you, Mr. 83ragtop50, by the same principle it is not necessary for Federal and State bank regulators to regularly audit the bank(s) where you deposit your money to protect you and the other depositors from possible bank insider officials’ dishonesty. But surely your vote cast in an election is no less important than your money, because it matters who wins an election. We have all just witnessed the importance of that truth. We will just have to agree to disagree on this issue. Something like what Senator Bowling is proposing should have been done a long time ago in our State as a fraud preventing/rectifying measure. IMO this kind of thing should be adopted nationwide. Maybe Tennessee will lead the way on this issue.
Bumpus – I am very much in favor of protecting election integrity. I have voiced my desire for a paper ballot for years. A ballot that one can actually see and touch instead of the easily violated electronic machine that I am forced to use. My point is that another layer of PERMANENT and EXPENSIVE bureaucracy is not required to accomplish the same objective. It would be a big plus if those committing voter fraud and election tampering were actually prosecuted and put into prison. When is the last time you heard of that happening? I cannot recall any such occurrences. That is my two cents.
IMO this is an excellent idea, Senator Bowling!