Pennsylvania SB 690: An Act amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code, in ballots, providing for antifraud ballot paper, vendor certification and antifraud measures.

Bill Text

PRINTER'S NO. 669
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No. 690
Session of
2025
INTRODUCED BY DUSH, BARTOLOTTA, LAUGHLIN, BAKER, STEFANO AND
J. WARD, APRIL 28, 2025
REFERRED TO STATE GOVERNMENT, APRIL 28, 2025
AN ACT
Amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), entitled
"An act concerning elections, including general, municipal,
special and primary elections, the nomination of candidates,
primary and election expenses and election contests; creating
and defining membership of county boards of elections;
imposing duties upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
courts, county boards of elections, county commissioners;
imposing penalties for violation of the act, and codifying,
revising and consolidating the laws relating thereto; and
repealing certain acts and parts of acts relating to
elections," in ballots, providing for antifraud ballot paper,
vendor certification and antifraud measures.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. The act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known
as the Pennsylvania Election Code, is amended by adding a
section to read:
Section 1003.1. Antifraud Ballot Paper; Vendor
Certification; Antifraud Measures.--A vendor that contracts with
a county board or the Secretary of the Commonwealth to provide
ballot fraud countermeasures contained in or on paper used for
ballots shall ensure that the paper is ISO 27001 certified, ISO
17025 certified, ISO 45001 certified, ISO 14001 certified, ISO
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14298 certified or ISO 9001:2015 certified. The ballot fraud
countermeasures shall also satisfy the following specifications:
(1) Unique, controlled-supply watermarked Clearing Bank
Specification One security paper.
(2) Secure holographic foil that is a minimum of ten square
millimeters and a maximum of twenty square millimeters with a
proprietary original image in visible and multiple-color
invisible ultraviolet inks. The visible overprint must be
translucent so that the hologram image strikes through the
printed image when viewed at different angles and must be cured
in a way that any tampering of the image causes visible damage
to the hologram. The holographic foil design and origination
artwork must be exclusively owned and controlled by the security
printer.
(3) Branded overprint of any hologram that personalizes the
hologram with customer logo.
(4) Custom complex security background designs with
banknote-level security.
(5) Secure variable digital infill.
(6) Thermochromic, tri-thermochromic, photochromic or
optically variable inks.
(7) Stealth numbering in ultraviolet, infrared or taggant
inks.
(8) Two-color rainbow print invisible ultraviolet numismatic
designs with fine line security relief design that follows the
primary image's design exactly and with a minimum line weight of
0.0424 millimeters.
(9) Unique forensic fraud detection technology that is built
into security inks.
(10) Invisible ultraviolet microtext with an ultraviolet
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image minimum height of 0.3 millimeters and maximum height of
0.5 millimeters.
(11) Raster imaging printed on seventy-five per centum of
the document face in a minimum two-color invisible ultraviolet
ink with a minimum line weight of 0.0242 millimeters and a
maximum line weight of 0.084 millimeters.
(12) Three-color invisible ultraviolet guilloche with an
anticopy feature that is a custom geometric design specific to
the document and with a high level of secure fine line detail
consisting of multiple line weight with a minimum line weight of
0.242 millimeters.
(13) Visible colored overt ink with embedded covert, near
infrared machine-readable taggant that is capable of detection
through proprietary infrared wavelength light source excitation
and related infrared wavelength emission characteristics that
confirm authenticity through a complex temporal measurement when
read by a hand-held, rechargeable battery operated proprietary
detector.
(14) Molecular level, forensic-covert security feature
included in the infrared taggant ink prescribed in paragraph
(13). The proprietary molecular marker must be authenticated by
laboratory analysis using gas chromatography mass spectrometry
and the concentration in the related ink cannot be more than one
part per million.
(15) A security relief design technique that requires
banknote graphics software. The design must protect infill areas
from fraudulent alterations.
(16) Multicolor invisible primary fluorescent elements that
are printed in register to create a rainbow effect background.
The image must incorporate multiple security graphic techniques
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and be generated using anticounterfeit design software that is
commercially available only for approved and accredited
printers.
(17) Serialized