Image Credit: TN General Assembly
The Tennessee Conservative [By Olivia Lupia] –
Republicans on the Senate State and Local Government Committee killed a bill on Tuesday seeking to add election integrity and security measures to Tennessee ballots to help prevent illegal crossover voting.
SB1028 by Sen. Janice Bowling proposed adding a secure watermark to Tennessee ballots “easily discernible for verification purposes”. It would have also required the official tabulation count of a ballot scanner to be “based on the text or machine portion of a ballot” and created programs for the scanning and auditing of ballots.
After Sen. Bowling presented the bill to the committee, emphasizing that the methods suggested in the bill are not new and would not pose a significant financial cost to the state, coordinator of elections Mark Goins testified against the bill, contending a proposed amendment would prohibit certain technologies currently used for tabulating and scanning votes, ultimately reducing the system to hand-counting paper ballots in all 95 Tennessee counties.
Committee members concurred with Goins’ concerns and stressed their approval of the state’s transition to paper backups for audit trails around 2020, which the state implemented through roughly $27 million in state monies and federal grants. They also touted the state’s high national rankings on the Heritage Foundation’s election integrity scorecard.
When asked if he saw any problems or concerns with the current voting system, Goins insisted he has “faith in the system”. He also said that under Bowling’s proposal, there would potentially be a need to increase election workers to help count ballots, which would add to state expenses, and purported the process would be too time-consuming.
Sen. Adam Lowe addressed the issue of voter confidence, not just broad election integrity, saying, “I think it’s always important for us to evaluate the perception on the public in relation to confidence in that integrity. We can tell them all day we’re number one, but if you’re the shortest guy on the basketball team and this other guy’s taller and he’s still five foot, you’ve still got a short basketball team. And so, voter confidence is a big thing.”
He referenced a 2024 study performed by Eastern Tennessee State University (ETSU) that showed approximately 80% of Tennessee voters had some level of confidence their vote would be accurately cast and counted, but that the 20% who did not feel that way would only say they could gain that confidence if elections were conducted via hand-counted paper ballots.
Lowe also inquired of Goins if there were any additional levels of “paper-oriented integrity” that could be applied to the current system without moving completely to hand counting, to which Goins responded he felt more auditing could be helpful.
Committee members did not address evidence of the ability of electronic voting tabulators and machines to be hacked or carry severe vulnerabilities even when not connected to the internet or President Trump’s advocacy for watermarked paper ballots as a safeguard against election fraud.
In her closing statement, Sen. Bowling said she was willing to work with committee members to further amend the bill to assuage some of their concerns regarding the technological eliminations and reiterated that many of the legislation’s provisions would be optional except for ensuring any scanners used would be capable of reading a ballot with a watermark to ensure protection.
The billed failed with a 7-1 vote, and only Sen. Adam Lowe voted in favor. Republicans Richard Briggs, Todd Gardenhire, Tom Hatcher, Ed Jackson, Page Walley, joined Democrats Sara Kyle and Jeff Yarbro in voting “No”. Republican Kerry Roberts marked himself “Present Not Voting”.
After its failure in the Senate Tuesday morning, Rep. Jody Barrett took his companion bill off notice in the House Elections & Campaign Finance Subcommittee, indicating the legislation is dead for this year.
About the Author: Olivia Lupia is a political refugee from Colorado who now calls Tennessee home. A proud follower of Christ, she views all political happenings through a Biblical lens and aims to utilize her knowledge and experience to educate and equip others. Olivia is an outspoken conservative who has run for local office, managed campaigns, and been highly involved with state & local GOPs, state legislatures, and other grassroots organizations and movements. Olivia can be reached at olivia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
