Sec. 1. 21-A MRSA §737-B is enacted to read:

§737-B.__Random sample recounts for the purpose of auditing

voting machinery

1. Random sample recount.__Following each election in an even- numbered year, the Secretary of State shall randomly select, by means of a ping-pong-ball-style lottery, a sample of .05% of all voting machines used in state elections for a manual vote recount to audit the machines' accuracy and performance.__These recounts must be performed on November 11th, unless that date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case the recount must take place on the first Monday following November 11th.__Recounts must be performed pursuant to the requirements of section 737-A and must:

A.__Use the ballots produced or employed by machine tabulation;

B.__Be held in the offices of the Secretary of State in Augusta or at a similarly situated central location as the Secretary of State designates before the recount;

C.__Be performed by volunteer teams of notaries duly authorized by the State who are organized and trained specifically for random sample recounts by the Office of the Secretary of State.__The teams must consist of enrolled and unenrolled registered voters in proportion to the percentages, by party and nonparty affiliation, of voter enrollment registered in the previous election cycle;

D.__Be open to public observation; and

E.__Serve as the final tally for the voting locations involved.

2.__Escalating recount trigger.__If there is a discrepancy in any race greater than .01% between a machine tally and the recount tally conducted pursuant to subsection 1 that cannot be accounted for by voter error or ambiguity of voter intent, a further manual recount of the vote tally of an additional 1% random sample of machines from voting places that employ the same machine type as the discrepant machine must be conducted as described in subsection 1.__If more than 2 recounts are triggered pursuant to the requirements of this subsection, all vote totals by machines of the same type as those found to be discrepant must be recounted. Recounts must proceed without delay. The recounted vote totals for triggered recounts serve as the final tally for those machines.