Key Points:

• Pending legislation demands all tabulation equipment must be sourced in the U.S. by 2029

• Currently, there are no voting machines that meet the requirements

• Even if manufacturers start production immediately, officials are unsure they’ll meet the deadline

President Trump has promised to bring manufacturing back to America.

But if he isn’t successful by 2029, Arizonans could end up counting ballots by hand.

On party-line votes, both the Republican controlled House and Senate have approved legislation spelling out that, beginning that year, the Secretary of State’s Office cannot certify vote-recording and vote-tabulating equipment unless each and every part of the machine, including all components and software, are “sourced from the United States.” 

House Bill 2651 also says the equipment must be assembled in the United States.

The measure now goes to Gov. Katie Hobbs.

The only thing is, there are no voting tabulation machines available that meet those conditions according to Jenn Marson, a lobbyist for the Arizona Association of Counties. And it is her organization’s members who would have to comply.

She told lawmakers there are probably companies that could meet the deadline. But the problem, Marson said, comes down to this: What if they can’t?

Rep. Brian Garcia, D-Tempe, said he thinks he knows what the result will be.

“This would render us a full hand-count tabulation,” said Garcia, something he said can’t support.

The proposal is being pushed by House Speaker Steve Montenegro, R-Goodyear.

“I believe this is going to secure better security standards,” Montenegro told colleagues during a hearing on the measure.

“It’s going to make it easier to investigate any machine issues,” he said. “And it’s going to help restore public trust in elections.”

Montenegro also noted that the Department of Homeland Security already classifies voting equipment as “critical infrastructure.” He said that means it should be subject to strict regulation during production and the sourcing of all components.

“If there are issues that would arise with the voting machines, it’s easier to discover them if the machine hardware and software are created in Birmingham or Buffalo or Boise, not in Beijing,” Montenegro said.

Rep. John Gillette, R-Kingman, said this isn’t an academic concern.

“Almost every piece of software we get has a back door to China,” said Gillette, who has formerly consulted on national security. He argued the list of vulnerable equipment includes everything from common routers, which computers use for communication, to hospital equipment.

Gillette said this isn’t simple industrial espionage.

“It’s not going to a Chinese firm,” he said. “It’s going to the CCP,” meaning the Chinese Communist Party.

Gillette said that foreign access to voting equipment means the results “could be altered by the Chinese government or the highest bidder through the Chinese government.”

That, however, still leaves the question of meeting the deadline.

“We talked to the speaker about it … He is very confident that American manufacturing will step up its game and be ready,” Marson said. “We’re not so sure. And we’re just not sure what we’re supposed to do if it’s not.”

The good news, Marson said, is that counties can continue to use equipment they already have on hand as of the beginning of 2029. But she said there will soon be a need to replace that equipment.

Marson also warned lawmakers that it’s not just a question of whether a company could have an entirely domestically produced machine ready by that date. She said the timeline is much shorter.

“Arizona requires that you be federally certified for election equipment before you can be state certified,” Marson said, a process that has to go through the federal Election Assistance Commission. And she said it’s currently taking the EAC about two years to perform the necessary checks.

“And so, even if American manufacturing steps up its game immediately as soon as this bill becomes law, I don’t know if they would be ready to have the machines that they’re going to start building — and have them be certified — in time for the state,” Marson said.

So what’s needed, she said, is “some sort of out if American manufacturing does not step up its game quite in time.”

Lawmakers ignored the plea and approved the measure without the “what if” provision the counties are seeking.

But Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Prescott, said he’s convinced that companies that want to sell their equipment here will come around.

“I’m pretty sure there’s a competitive edge they want to maintain,” Finchem said. 

Finchem also suggested that legislation like this might provide the necessary push to ensure that the equipment being used truly meets the requirements of critical infrastructure.

“There has been an abysmal failure of manufacturers to meet that standard,” he said. “I think there is a lot of inertia that is going on right now to get us there.”

Sen. Lauren Kuby, D-Tempe, however, said the legislation was unnecessary.

“We are telling our counties to fix a non-existing problem with a non-existing solution,” said the Tempe Democrat. And she said the equipment already complies with “rigorous federal security standards” with testing by accredited laboratories.

The measure now heads to Gov. Katie Hobbs.