{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-117.001","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 117.001","heading":"Definitions for chapter.","body":"As used in this chapter:\n(1) \"Audit log\" means a detailed record of all actions and events that have occurred on\nthe voting system, including:\n(a) Log-in attempts with username and time stamp;\n(b) Election definition and setup;\n(c) Ballot preparation and results processing;\n(d) Diagnostics of any type; and\n(e) Error and warning messages and operator response;\n(2) \"Automatic tabulating equipment\" means apparatus necessary to automatically\nexamine and count votes as designated on ballots and data processing machines\nwhich can be used for counting ballots and tabulating results;\n(3) \"Ballot\" or \"official ballot\" means the official presentation of offices and candidates\nto be voted for, including write-in candidates, and all public questions submitted for\ndetermination, and shall include a voting machine ballot, a paper ballot, an absentee\nballot, a federal provisional ballot, a federal provisional absentee ballot, or a\nsupplemental paper ballot which has been authorized for the use of voters in any\nprimary, regular election, or special elec tion by the Secretary of State or the county\nclerk;\n(4) \"Ballot box\" means any box, bag, or other container that can be locked, sealed, or\notherwise rendered tamper-resistant, for receiving ballots;\n(5) \"Ballot marking device\" means any approved device for marking a ballot which\nwill enable the ballot to be tab ulated manually or by means of automatic tabulating\nequipment;\n(6) \"Election\" or \"elections\" means any primary, regular election, or special election;\n(7) \"Election officer\" has the same meaning as in KRS 118.015;\n(8) (a) \"Electioneering communication\" mea ns any communication broadcast by\ncable, internet, television, or radio, presented on an electronic billboard, made\nin telephone calls to personal residences, or otherwise electronically\ndistributed that:\n1. Unambiguously refers to any candidate for any st ate, county, city, or\ndistrict office, or to any ballot measure;\n2. Is broadcast, printed, mailed, delivered, made, or distributed within\nforty-five (45) days before a primary or regular election; and\n3. Is broadcast to, distributed to, in telephone calls made to, or otherwise\ndistributed to an audience that includes members of the electorate for\nsuch public office or the electorate associated with the ballot containing\nthe ballot measure.\n(b) \"Electioneering communication\" does not include:\n1. Any news art icles, editorial endorsements, opinions or commentary,\nwritings, or letters to the editor printed in a newspaper, magazine, or\nother periodical not owned or controlled by a candidate, committee, or\npolitical party;\n2. Any editorial endorsements or opinions  aired by a broadcast facility not\nowned or controlled by a candidate, committee, or political party;\n3. Any communication by persons made in the regular course and scope of\ntheir business or any communication made by a membership\norganization solely to me mbers of such an organization and their\nfamilies;\n4. Any communication that refers to any candidate only as part of the\npopular name of a bill or statute;\n5. A communication that constitutes a contribution or independent\nexpenditure as defined in KRS 121.015; or\n6. A bona fide newscast, news interview, news documentary, or on -the-\nspot coverage of a bona fide news event broadcast on any radio or\ntelevision broadcasting station, including a cable or satellite television\noperator, programmer, or producer, that  is not owned or controlled by a\ncandidate, committee, or political party, provided that the entity does not\nremove or modify any disclaimer provided by the sponsor of the\ncommunication;\n(9) \"E-poll book\" means an electronic device capable of holding a file of voter data and\nrelated information for use in identifying registered voters prior to a voter's\nreceiving or casting a ballot, and allowing a voter to electronically sign in on an\nelectronic registered voter roster in lieu of signing a paper registered voter roster;\n(10) \"Federal provisional voter\" means a person:\n(a) Who does not appear to be registered to vote;\n(b) Whose name does not appear on the precinct roster;\n(c) Who has not provided proof of identification to the precinct election officer\nbefore voting in a federal election; and\n(d) Who elects to proceed with voting a federal provisional ballot under KRS\n117.229;\n(11) \"Federal provisional ballot\" or \"federal provisional absentee ballot\" means ballots\nwhich have been authorized by the Secretary o f State or the county clerk to be used\nby federal provisional voters in any federal primary or election;\n(12) \"Information content provider\" means any person or entity that is responsible, in\nwhole or in part, for the creation or development of information  provided through\nthe internet or any other interactive computer service;\n(13) \"Inner envelope\" or \"secrecy envelope\" means the envelope provided to the voter\nwith a ballot into which the voter shall place his or her voted ballot;\n(14) \"Interactive computer service\":\n(a) Means any information service, system, or access software provider that\nprovides or enables computer access by multiple users to a computer server,\nincluding specifically a service or system that provides access to the internet\nand such services offered or  systems operated by libraries or educational\ninstitutions; and\n(b) Does not include exemptions in the Communications Decency Act of 1996, as\namended, 47 U.S.C. sec. 230;\n(15) \"Political group\" has the same meaning as in KRS 118.015;\n(16) \"Political organization\" has the same meaning as in KRS 118.015;\n(17) \"Precinct ballot counter\" means an automatic tabulating device used at the precinct\nto tabulate and process ballots;\n(18) \"Proof of identification\" means a document that was issued by:\n(a) The United Sta tes or the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the document\ncontains:\n1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and\n2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued;\n(b) The United States Department of Defense, a branch of the uniformed services,\nthe Merchant Marine, or the Kentucky National Guard, and the document\ncontains:\n1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and\n2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued;\n(c) A public or pri vate college, university, or postgraduate technical or\nprofessional school located within the United States, and the document\ncontains:\n1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and\n2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued; or\n(d) Any city government, county government, urban -county government, charter\ncounty government, consolidated local government, or unified local\ngovernment, which is located within this state, and the document contains:\n1. The name of the individual to whom the document was issued; and\n2. A photograph of the individual to whom the document was issued;\n(19) \"Sponsor\" means the person or entity paying for the electioneering communication.\nIf a person or entity acts as an agent for another or i s reimbursed by another for the\npayment, the original source of the payment is the sponsor;\n(20) (a) 1. \"Synthetic media\" means an audio recording or video recording of an\nidentifiable natural individual's appearance, action, or speech that has\nbeen intent ionally manipulated with the use of generative adversarial\nnetwork techniques in a manner to create a realistic but false audio or\nvideo that produces:\na. A depiction that, to a reasonable individual, is of an identifiable\nnatural individual in appearance,  action, or speech that did not\nactually occur in reality and that was created without the consent\nof such individual; and\nb. A fundamentally different understanding or impression of the\nappearance, action, or speech than a reasonable person would have\nfrom the unaltered, original version of the audio recording or video\nrecording.\n2. As used in this paragraph:\na. \"Generative adversarial network\" means a machine learning model\nthat uses neural networks to develop new data and make more\naccurate predictions; and\nb. \"Neural network\" means a machine learning algorithm modeled on\nthe human brain and nervous system.\n(b) \"Synthetic media\" does not include content that contains a disclosure under\nKRS 117.322(1).\n(21) \"Voting booth\" or \"ballot completion area\" means an area in which a voter casts his\nor her vote or completes his or her ballot which is designed to ensure the secrecy of\nthe vote;\n(22) \"Vote center\" means a consolidated precinct of the county;\n(23) \"Voting equipment\" means any physical component of a voting system and\nincludes voting machines where voting machines are in operation;\n(24) \"Voting machine\" or \"machine\":\n(a) Means a part of a voting system that consists of one (1) or more electronic\ndevices that operate independently or as a combination of a ballot marking\ndevice and an electronic or automatic vote tabulation device; and\n(b) Does not include an e-poll book;\n(25) \"Voting system\":\n(a) Means the total combination of physical, mechanical, electromechanical, or\nelectronic equipment, including the software, hardware, firmware, and\ndocumentation required to program, control, and support that equipment, that\nis used to:\n1. Define ballots;\n2. Cast and count votes;\n3. Report or display election results; and\n4. Maintain and produce any audit trail information;\n(b) Includes the practices and associated documentation used to:\n1. Identify system components and versions of those components;\n2. Test the system during its development and maintenance;\n3. Maintain records of system errors and defects;\n4. Determine specific system changes to be made to a system after the\ninitial qualification of the system;\n5. Make available any materials to the voter, such as notices, instructions,\nforms, or paper ballots; and\n(c) Does not include an e-poll book; and\n(26) \"Voter-verified paper audit trail\" means a contemporaneous paper record of a ballot\nprinted for the voter to confirm hi s or her votes before the voter casts his or her\nballot that:\n(a) Allows the voter to verify the voter's ballot choices before the casting of the\nvoter's ballot;\n(b) Is not retained by the voter;\n(c) Does not contain individual voter information;\n(d) Is produced on paper that is sturdy, clean, and resistant to degradation; and\n(e) Is readable in a manner that makes the voter's ballot choices obvious to the\nvoter or any person without the use of computer or electronic code.","path":["KRS Chapter 117"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=55896","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:50:11Z","sha256":"730ec2ae55895f5008f01284690d4f28bbac2ada566ca49db7370f5bb9288798","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-116.995","next":"us-ky/krs-117.005"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}