The civic record
Read. Follow. Verify.North Dakota House Bill 1587 establishes stricter voting system security, mandatory source code audits, and fallback hand counts
Last action · February 17, 2025: Second reading, failed to pass, yeas 10 nays 80Sponsor: Nico Rios
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What This Bill Proposed
Representative Rios introduced House Bill 1587 to require all state s to meet United States Election Assistance Commission guidelines version 2.0 while decertifying version 1.0 standards. The measure mandates software patch compliance, source code maintenance by the secretary of state, pre-election testing deadlines, and mandatory post-election hand counts in every county.
Election officials and county auditors face strict new software security deadlines, mandatory pre-election testing protocols, and an immediate requirement to conduct complete post-election hand counts across participating precincts if systems fail validation.
- House Bill 1587 was introduced during the sixty-ninth legislative session of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly. context
- The North Dakota Century Code serves as the codified law of the state of North Dakota. context
Who It Would Have Affected
Groups the bill's text would have affected, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
Secretary of State
Must ensure software security patches are current, maintain and store voting system source codes, and establish rules for system certification and manual hand counts.
County auditors
Must conduct pre-election tests, publish notices in county newspapers, notify political parties, and perform complete post-election hand count audits.
District party chairmen
Receive notices of pre-election testing and gain the statutory option to conduct audits of voting system source codes at party expense.
Key Facts
You don't have to trust us. Each fact below is taken straight from the official document - click any one to see the exact passage, highlighted in the original.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a voting system fails to meet software security requirements before an election?
Who is allowed to audit the source code of a voting system?
When must post-election hand counts take place?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
This bill did not become law - Failed in the House.
Procedural history
4 actions- Feb 17, 2025HouseSecond reading, failed to pass, yeas 10 nays 80
- Feb 14, 2025HouseCommitteeReported back, do not pass, placed on calendar 7 4 3
- Feb 6, 2025HouseCommitteeCommittee Hearing 03:30
- Jan 20, 2025HouseIntroducedIntroduced, first reading, referred Government and Veterans Affairs Committee
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Mandatory Post-Election Hand Counts
The legislation shifts post-election procedures by requiring a complete manual hand count of all ballots cast in every county following any primary or general election.
Connected Entities
Sources
ndlegis.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance20Lowered because this bill did not pass (its text scored 75)
- Controversy65Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment10Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz40Current news / social attention level
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