131st MAINE LEGISLATURE
		LD 1070		LR 1710(01)
	An Act to Increase Ballot Transparency with Blockchain Technology
	Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement for Original Bill
	Sponsor: Sen. Brakey of Androscoggin
	Committee: Veterans and Legal Affairs
	Fiscal Note Required: Yes
Preliminary Fiscal Impact Statement
Current biennium cost increase - General Fund
Fiscal Detail and Notes
	This bill requires all electronic tabulating devices to scan and extract vote data from the ballot and create a blockchain transaction for every ballot which would be maintained on a publicly accessible website.  Currently, only 329 towns have ballot scanning and counting machines, 156 do not and none are connected to a network.  These remaining towns would need to have electronic tabulators and all tabulators would need to be connected to a network.  According to the Department of Secretary of State, significant costs and work would need to occur to overcome cybersecurity exposure caused by attaching the tabulators to a network.  Further, the technology and devices needed to extract tabulator information to create a block chain transaction does not currently exist and would need to be developed.  The department has estimated these costs to be as much as $10 million or more.