IIB 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4990 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 17, 2020 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and 

Administration 

AN ACT 

To direct the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

and the National Science Foundation to carry out research and other activities to promote the security and 

modernization of voting systems, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Election Technology 

3 Research Act of 2020’’. 

4 SEC. 2. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECH5 NOLOGY. 

6 (a) VOTING SYSTEMS RESEARCH.—The Director of 

7 the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in 

8 collaboration with the National Science Foundation as ap9 propriate, shall carry out a program of research on voting 

10 systems, including— 

11 (1) the cybersecurity of different components of 

12 such systems; 

13 (2) end-to-end verifiable systems; 

14 (3) internet-enabled voting; 

15 (4) the accessibility and usability of different 

16 components of such systems; 

17 (5) voter privacy and data protection; 

18 (6) methods for auditing elections; 

19 (7) the interoperability of system technologies; 

20 (8) means for providing voters with the ability 

21 to easily check whether a ballot sent by mail has 

22 been dispatched to the voter and whether the voter’s 

23 marked ballot has been received and accepted by the 

24 appropriate election official; 

25 (9) the reliability of various approaches to voter 

26 authentication; and 


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1 (10) such other areas of research as the Direc2 tor of the National Institute of Standards and Tech3 nology determines to be appropriate and related to 

4 the security and integrity of elections for Federal of5 fice. 

6 (b) ELECTIONS SYSTEMS CENTER OF EXCEL7 LENCE.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

9 Institute of Standards and Technology shall make 

10 an award to an institution of higher education or an 

11 eligible nonprofit organization (or a consortium 

12 thereof) to establish a Center of Excellence in Elec13 tion Systems. 

14 (2) COLLABORATIONS.—The Director shall en15 sure that the Center of Excellence includes a col16 laboration of institutions of higher education, non17 profit organizations, private sector entities, and 

18 State and local election officials. 

19 (3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Center of 

20 Excellence shall be to— 

21 (A) conduct measurement research and 

22 statistical analyses to inform the development 

23 of standards for technologies and processes that 

24 contribute to more secure, fair, and accessible 

25 elections; 


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1 (B) test and evaluate the security, 

2 usability, and accessibility of the technologies of 

3 voting systems, including the accessibility of 

4 poll book data by voters; 

5 (C) research testing methods that could be 

6 used for the certification of voting system tech7 nologies; 

8 (D) educate and train students studying in 

9 science, technology, engineering, and mathe10 matics fields to conduct measurement science 

11 and standards research relevant to such sys12 tems; and 

13 (E) foster collaboration among academic 

14 researchers, private sector vendors of election 

15 technology, and State and local election offi16 cials. 

17 (4) REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—An institution of higher 

19 education or an eligible nonprofit organization 

20 (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under 

21 this subsection shall submit an application to 

22 the Director at such time, in such manner, and 

23 containing such information as the Director 

24 may require. 


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1 (B) APPLICATIONS.—Each application 

2 under subparagraph (A) shall include a descrip3 tion of— 

4 (i) how the Center will work with 

5 other research institutions, industry part6 ners, and State or local election officials to 

7 identify the measurement, testing, and 

8 standards needs of voting systems and to 

9 leverage the expertise of election practi10 tioners; and 

11 (ii) how the Center will promote active 

12 collaboration among researchers in mul13 tiple disciplines involved in ensuring the se14 curity and integrity of such systems. 

15 (C) SELECTION AND DURATION.—Each 

16 Center established under this section is author17 ized to carry out activities for a period of 5 

18 years, renewable for an additional 5 years at 

19 the discretion of the Director. 

20 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

21 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

22 $12,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 

23 2025. 


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1 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. 

2 (a) RESEARCH GRANTS.—The Director of the Na3 tional Science Foundation, in collaboration with the Na4 tional Institute of Standards and Technology and other 

5 relevant agencies, as appropriate, shall award basic re6 search grants to increase the understanding of cyber and 

7 other threats to voting systems and to inform the develop8 ment of technologies, processes, and policies that con9 tribute to more secure, fair, and accessible elections, in10 cluding research on— 

11 (1) the cybersecurity of different components of 

12 such systems; 

13 (2) end-to-end verifiable systems; 

14 (3) the risks and benefits of internet-enabled 

15 voting; 

16 (4) the human-technology interface, including 

17 the usability, accessibility, and comprehensibility of 

18 ballot design, ballot marking devices, and other com19 ponents of such systems; 

20 (5) voter privacy and data protection; 

21 (6) voter practices regarding the verification of 

22 ballots generated by ballot marking devices and the 

23 likelihood that voters, both with and without disabil24 ities, will recognize errors or omissions with respect 

25 to such ballots; and 


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1 (7) such other topics as the Director determines 

2 to be appropriate and related to the integrity of elec3 tions. 

4 (b) ELECTIONS SYSTEMS RESEARCH CENTER.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

6 Science Foundation, in consultation with the Direc7 tor of the National Institute of Standards and Tech8 nology and the Secretary of Homeland Security, as 

9 appropriate, shall award grants to institutions of 

10 higher education or eligible nonprofit organizations 

11 (or consortia thereof) to establish at least one multi12 disciplinary center for elections systems research and 

13 education. 

14 (2) CONSORTIA.—A consortia receiving an 

15 award under this subsection may include institutions 

16 of higher education, nonprofit organizations, private 

17 sector entities, and State and local election officials. 

18 (3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of a center estab19 lished with a grant awarded under this subsection 

20 shall be to— 

21 (A) conduct basic research to advance un22 derstanding of cyber and other threats to elec23 tion systems and the conduct of secure, fair, 

24 and accessible elections; 


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1 (B) conduct research that may inform the 

2 development of technologies, processes, and 

3 policies that contribute to more secure, fair, 

4 and accessible elections; 

5 (C) educate and train students studying in 

6 science, technology, engineering, and mathe7 matics fields to conduct research relevant to 

8 election systems; 

9 (D) design curricula that address the 

10 growing organizational management and infor11 mation technology needs of the election commu12 nity; and 

13 (E) foster collaboration among academic 

14 researchers, private sector vendors of election 

15 technology, and State and local election offi16 cials. 

17 (4) REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 (A) IN GENERAL.—An institution of higher 

19 education or an eligible nonprofit organization 

20 (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under 

21 this subsection shall submit an application to 

22 the Director of the National Science Founda23 tion at such time, in such manner, and con24 taining such information as the Director may 

25 require. 


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1 (B) APPLICATIONS.—Each application 

2 under subparagraph (A) shall include a descrip3 tion of— 

4 (i) how the center established with a 

5 grant awarded under this subsection will 

6 work with other research institutions, in7 dustry partners, and State and local elec8 tion officials to identify research needs and 

9 leverage the expertise of election practi10 tioners; and 

11 (ii) how the center will promote active 

12 collaboration among researchers in mul13 tiple disciplines involved in elections sys14 tems security, including computer science, 

15 data science, and social and behavioral 

16 sciences. 

17 (5) SELECTION AND DURATION.—Each center 

18 established with a grant awarded under this section 

19 is authorized to carry out activities for a period of 

20 5 years, renewable for an additional 5 years at the 

21 discretion of the Director. 

22 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

24 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 

25 2025. 


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1 SEC. 4. OTHER ACTIVITIES OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 

2 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY TO PROMOTE 

3 SECURITY AND MODERNIZATION OF VOTING 

4 SYSTEMS. 

5 (a) COMMON DATA FORMAT.—The National Insti6 tute of Standards and Technology shall establish and 

7 make publicly available common data format specifications 

8 for auditing, voter registration, and other elements of vot9 ing systems, and provide the specifications to the Tech10 nical Guidelines Development Committee of the Election 

11 Assistance Commission under section 221(e) of the Help 

12 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20961(e)). 

13 (b) ELECTIONS SYSTEMS CERTIFICATIONS.—The 

14 National Institute of Standards and Technology shall 

15 work in collaboration with the Election Assistance Com16 mission to update the process under which voting systems 

17 are certified pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 

18 2002 so that State and local election officials will be better 

19 able to carry out updates and otherwise modernize such 

20 systems. 

21 (c) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Director of the 

22 National Institute of Standards and Technology shall— 

23 (1) provide technical assistance to State and 

24 local election officials on the implementation of cy25 bersecurity standards, privacy standards, risk as26 sessments, risk-limiting audits, and technologies 


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1 which are incorporated in the voluntary voting sys2 tem guidelines issued under the Help America Vote 

3 Act of 2002; and 

4 (2) in collaboration with the Department of 

5 Homeland Security and the Election Assistance 

6 Commission, as appropriate, conduct outreach to 

7 State and local election officials in order to dissemi8 nate best practices for the implementation of such 

9 voluntary voting system guidelines. 

10 SEC. 5. GAO REPORT. 

11 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

12 of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit a report 

13 to Congress that— 

14 (1) addresses the extent to which efforts by the 

15 National Institute of Standards and Technology 

16 (NIST) to assist the Technical Guidelines Develop17 ment Committee of the Election Assistance Commis18 sion in the development of voluntary voting systems 

19 guidelines have resulted in market-ready standard20 ized voting equipment and software, and addresses 

21 the resources made available to NIST to carry out 

22 these activities; 

23 (2) addresses efforts by NIST to monitor and 

24 review the performance of laboratories accredited by 

25 the Elections Assistance Commission and to make 


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1 recommendations for continuing accreditation, in2 creased voting technology reliability, and the number 

3 of accredited private laboratories, and addresses re4 sources made available to NIST to carry out these 

5 activities; and 

6 (3) addresses the extent to which the annual 

7 list of suggestions required to be submitted by NIST 

8 to the Election Assistance Commission for research 

9 issues for grants and pilot programs under section 

10 271(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 

11 U.S.C. 21041) and the evaluation of grants and pro12 grams by NIST has improved voting technology and 

13 been successful in encouraging the implementation 

14 of new technologies in voting systems and equip15 ment. 

16 SEC. 6. AMENDMENTS TO THE HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT 

17 OF 2002. 

18 Section 301(b) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

19 (52 U.S.C. 21081(b)) is amended— 

20 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

21 striking ‘‘this section’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act’’; 

22 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

23 (1); 

24 (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para25 graph (6); and 


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1 (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol2 lowing new paragraphs: 

3 ‘‘(2) any other paper or electronic technologies 

4 or processes for collecting, storing, or transmitting 

5 personal information of voters for use in the admin6 istration of elections for Federal office, including 

7 electronic poll books with respect to an election; 

8 ‘‘(3) voter registration databases and systems, 

9 including online interfaces; 

10 ‘‘(4) systems for carrying out post-election au11 diting; 

12 ‘‘(5) chain-of-custody procedures; and’’. 

13 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act— 

15 (1) the term ‘‘voting system’’ has the meaning 

16 given such term in section 301(b) of the Help Amer17 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(b)), as 

18 amended by section 6; and 

19 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

20 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

21 of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 


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1 States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 

2 Northern Mariana Islands. 

Passed the House of Representatives September 16, 

2020. 

Attest: CHERYL L. JOHNSON, 

Clerk. 


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