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.

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
 1   Amending the act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), entitled
 2      "An act concerning elections, including general, municipal,
 3      special and primary elections, the nomination of candidates,
 4      primary and election expenses and election contests; creating
 5      and defining membership of county boards of elections;
 6      imposing duties upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth,
 7      courts, county boards of elections, county commissioners;
 8      imposing penalties for violation of the act, and codifying,
 9      revising and consolidating the laws relating thereto; and
10      repealing certain acts and parts of acts relating to
11      elections," in ballots, providing for antifraud ballot paper,
12      vendor certification and antifraud measures.
13      The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
14   hereby enacts as follows:
15      Section 1.    The act of June 3, 1937 (P.L.1333, No.320), known
16   as the Pennsylvania Election Code, is amended by adding a
17   section to read:
18      Section 1003.1.    Antifraud Ballot Paper; Vendor
19   Certification; Antifraud Measures.--A vendor that contracts with
20   a county board or the Secretary of the Commonwealth to provide
21   ballot fraud countermeasures contained in or on paper used for
22   ballots shall ensure that the paper is ISO 27001 certified, ISO
23   17025 certified, ISO 45001 certified, ISO 14001 certified, ISO
 1   14298 certified or ISO 9001:2015 certified. The ballot fraud
 2   countermeasures shall also satisfy the following specifications:
 3      (1)     Unique, controlled-supply watermarked Clearing Bank
 4   Specification One security paper.
 5      (2)     Secure holographic foil that is a minimum of ten square
 6   millimeters and a maximum of twenty square millimeters with a
 7   proprietary original image in visible and multiple-color
 8   invisible ultraviolet inks. The visible overprint must be
 9   translucent so that the hologram image strikes through the
10   printed image when viewed at different angles and must be cured
11   in a way that any tampering of the image causes visible damage
12   to the hologram. The holographic foil design and origination
13   artwork must be exclusively owned and controlled by the security
14   printer.
15      (3)     Branded overprint of any hologram that personalizes the
16   hologram with customer logo.
17      (4)     Custom complex security background designs with
18   banknote-level security.
19      (5)     Secure variable digital infill.
20      (6)     Thermochromic, tri-thermochromic, photochromic or
21   optically variable inks.
22      (7)     Stealth numbering in ultraviolet, infrared or taggant
23   inks.
24      (8)     Two-color rainbow print invisible ultraviolet numismatic
25   designs with fine line security relief design that follows the
26   primary image's design exactly and with a minimum line weight of
27   0.0424 millimeters.
28      (9)     Unique forensic fraud detection technology that is built
29   into security inks.
30      (10)     Invisible ultraviolet microtext with an ultraviolet

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 1   image minimum height of 0.3 millimeters and maximum height of
 2   0.5 millimeters.
 3      (11)     Raster imaging printed on seventy-five per centum of
 4   the document face in a minimum two-color invisible ultraviolet
 5   ink with a minimum line weight of 0.0242 millimeters and a
 6   maximum line weight of 0.084 millimeters.
 7      (12)     Three-color invisible ultraviolet guilloche with an
 8   anticopy feature that is a custom geometric design specific to
 9   the document and with a high level of secure fine line detail
10   consisting of multiple line weight with a minimum line weight of
11   0.242 millimeters.
12      (13)     Visible colored overt ink with embedded covert, near
13   infrared machine-readable taggant that is capable of detection
14   through proprietary infrared wavelength light source excitation
15   and related infrared wavelength emission characteristics that
16   confirm authenticity through a complex temporal measurement when
17   read by a hand-held, rechargeable battery operated proprietary
18   detector.
19      (14)     Molecular level, forensic-covert security feature
20   included in the infrared taggant ink prescribed in paragraph
21   (13). The proprietary molecular marker must be authenticated by
22   laboratory analysis using gas chromatography mass spectrometry
23   and the concentration in the related ink cannot be more than one
24   part per million.
25      (15)     A security relief design technique that requires
26   banknote graphics software. The design must protect infill areas
27   from fraudulent alterations.
28      (16)     Multicolor invisible primary fluorescent elements that
29   are printed in register to create a rainbow effect background.
30   The image must incorporate multiple security graphic techniques

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 1   and be generated using anticounterfeit design software that is
 2   commercially available only for approved and accredited
 3   printers.
 4      (17)     Serialized black QR code in which the same code is
 5   printed on the top left corner and bottom right corner and that
 6   can be read by native QR functions of iOS and Android
 7   smartphones that redirect the voter to a web-based voter
 8   information page and that tracks the voter's ballot as it is
 9   processed.
10      (18)     Paper that is eight and one-half inches wide by twenty-
11   two inches long and that weighs eighty grams per square meter.
12      (19)     A paper receipt for the voter that is a perforated
13   portion of the ballot, that is suitable for the voter to remove
14   from the ballot after completing the ballot and that contains
15   the lot number and sequence number of the sheet of paper on
16   which the ballot is printed.
17      Section 2.     This act shall apply to elections on or after
18   January 1, 2027.
19      Section 3.     This act shall take effect in 60 days.




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