I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4990 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 8, 2019 

Ms. SHERRILL (for herself, Mr. GONZALEZ of Ohio, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, 

and Mr. LUCAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the 

Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

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

5 Research Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECH2 NOLOGY. 

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

4 the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in 

5 collaboration with the National Science Foundation as ap6 propriate, shall carry out a program of research on voting 

7 systems, including— 

8 (1) the cybersecurity of different components of 

9 such systems; 

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

11 (3) internet-enabled voting; 

12 (4) the accessibility and usability of different 

13 components of such systems; 

14 (5) voter privacy and data protection; 

15 (6) methods for auditing elections; 

16 (7) the interoperability of system technologies; 

17 (8) means for providing voters with the ability 

18 to easily check whether a ballot sent by mail has 

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

20 marked ballot has been received and accepted by the 

21 appropriate election official; 

22 (9) the reliability of various approaches to voter 

23 authentication; and 

24 (10) such other areas of research as the Direc25 tor of the National Institute of Standards and Tech26 nology determines to be appropriate and related to 


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1 the security and integrity of elections for Federal of2 fice. 

3 (b) ELECTIONS SYSTEMS CENTER OF EXCEL4 LENCE.— 

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

6 Institute of Standards and Technology shall make 

7 an award to an institution of higher education or an 

8 eligible nonprofit organization (or a consortium 

9 thereof) to establish a Center of Excellence in Elec10 tion Systems. 

11 (2) COLLABORATIONS.—The Director shall en12 sure that the Center of Excellence includes a col13 laboration of institutions of higher education, non14 profit organizations, private sector entities, and 

15 State and local election officials. 

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

17 Excellence shall be to— 

18 (A) conduct measurement research and 

19 statistical analyses to inform the development 

20 of standards for technologies and processes that 

21 contribute to more secure, fair, and accessible 

22 elections; 

23 (B) test and evaluate the security, 

24 usability, and accessibility of the technologies of 

25 voting systems; 


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1 (C) research testing methods that could be 

2 used for the certification of voting system tech3 nologies; 

4 (D) educate and train students studying in 

5 science, technology, engineering, and mathe6 matics fields to conduct measurement science 

7 and standards research relevant to such sys8 tems; and 

9 (E) foster collaboration among academic 

10 researchers, private sector vendors of election 

11 technology, and State and local election offi12 cials. 

13 (4) REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

15 education or an eligible nonprofit organization 

16 (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under 

17 this subsection shall submit an application to 

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

19 containing such information as the Director 

20 may require. 

21 (B) APPLICATIONS.—Each application 

22 under subparagraph (A) shall include a descrip23 tion of— 

24 (i) how the Center will work with 

25 other research institutions, industry partVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Nov 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4990.IH H4990

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1 ners, and State or local election officials to 

2 identify the measurement, testing, and 

3 standards needs of voting systems and to 

4 leverage the expertise of election practi5 tioners; and 

6 (ii) how the Center will promote active 

7 collaboration among researchers in mul8 tiple disciplines involved in ensuring the se9 curity and integrity of such systems. 

10 (C) SELECTION AND DURATION.—Each 

11 Center established under this section is author12 ized to carry out activities for a period of 5 

13 years, renewable for an additional 5 years at 

14 the discretion of the Director. 

15 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

16 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

17 $12,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2020 through 

18 2024. 

19 SEC. 3. NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. 

20 (a) RESEARCH GRANTS.—The Director of the Na21 tional Science Foundation, in collaboration with the Na22 tional Institute of Standards and Technology and other 

23 relevant agencies, as appropriate, shall award basic re24 search grants to increase the understanding of cyber and 

25 other threats to voting systems and to inform the developVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:38 Nov 15, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4990.IH H4990

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1 ment of technologies, processes, and policies that con2 tribute to more secure, fair, and accessible elections, in3 cluding research on— 

4 (1) the cybersecurity of different components of 

5 such systems; 

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

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

8 voting; 

9 (4) the human-technology interface, including 

10 the usability, accessibility, and comprehensibility of 

11 ballot design, ballot-marking devices, and other com12 ponents of such systems; 

13 (5) voter privacy and data protection; 

14 (6) voter practices regarding the verification of 

15 ballots generated by ballot-marking devices and the 

16 likelihood that voters, both with and without disabil17 ities, will recognize errors or omissions with respect 

18 to such ballots; and 

19 (7) such other topics as the Director determines 

20 to be appropriate and related to the integrity of elec21 tions. 

22 (b) ELECTIONS SYSTEMS RESEARCH CENTER.— 

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

24 Science Foundation, in consultation with the Direc25 tor of the National Institute of Standards and TechVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:09 Nov 20, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4990.IH H4990

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1 nology and the Secretary of Homeland Security, as 

2 appropriate, shall award grants to institutions of 

3 higher education or eligible nonprofit organizations 

4 (or consortia thereof) to establish at least 1 multi5 disciplinary center for elections systems research and 

6 education. 

7 (2) CONSORTIA.—A consortia receiving an 

8 award under this subsection may include institutions 

9 of higher education, nonprofit organizations, private 

10 sector entities, and State and local election officials. 

11 (3) PURPOSE.—The purpose of a center estab12 lished with a grant awarded under this subsection 

13 shall be to— 

14 (A) conduct basic research to advance un15 derstanding of cyber and other threats to elec16 tion systems and the conduct of secure, fair, 

17 and accessible elections; 

18 (B) conduct research that may inform the 

19 development of technologies, processes, and 

20 policies that contribute to more secure, fair, 

21 and accessible elections; 

22 (C) educate and train students studying in 

23 science, technology, engineering, and mathe24 matics fields to conduct research relevant to 

25 election systems; 


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1 (D) design curricula that address the 

2 growing organizational management and infor3 mation technology needs of the election commu4 nity; and 

5 (E) foster collaboration among academic 

6 researchers, private sector vendors of election 

7 technology, and State and local election offi8 cials. 

9 (4) REQUIREMENTS.— 

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

11 education or an eligible nonprofit organization 

12 (or a consortium thereof) seeking funding under 

13 this subsection shall submit an application to 

14 the Director of the National Science Founda15 tion at such time, in such manner, and con16 taining such information as the Director may 

17 require. 

18 (B) APPLICATIONS.—Each application 

19 under subparagraph (A) shall include a descrip20 tion of— 

21 (i) how the center established with a 

22 grant awarded under this subsection will 

23 work with other research institutions, in24 dustry partners, and State and local elec25 tion officials to identify research needs and 


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1 leverage the expertise of election practi2 tioners; and 

3 (ii) how the center will promote active 

4 collaboration among researchers in mul5 tiple disciplines involved in elections sys6 tems security, including computer science, 

7 data science, and social and behavioral 

8 sciences. 

9 (5) SELECTION AND DURATION.—Each center 

10 established with a grant awarded under this section 

11 is authorized to carry out activities for a period of 

12 5 years, renewable for an additional 5 years at the 

13 discretion of the Director. 

14 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

16 $10,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2020 through 

17 2024. 

18 SEC. 4. OTHER ACTIVITIES OF NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 

19 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY TO PROMOTE 

20 SECURITY AND MODERNIZATION OF VOTING 

21 SYSTEMS. 

22 (a) COMMON DATA FORMAT.—The National Insti23 tute of Standards and Technology shall establish and 

24 make publicly available common data format specifications 

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1 ing systems, and provide the specifications to the Tech2 nical Guidelines Development Committee of the Election 

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

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

5 (b) ELECTIONS SYSTEMS CERTIFICATIONS.—The 

6 National Institute of Standards and Technology shall 

7 work in collaboration with the Election Assistance Com8 mission to update the process under which voting systems 

9 are certified pursuant to the Help America Vote Act of 

10 2002 so that State and local election officials will be better 

11 able to carry out updates and otherwise modernize such 

12 systems. 

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

14 National Institute of Standards and Technology shall to— 

15 (1) provide technical assistance to State and 

16 local election officials on the implementation of cy17 bersecurity standards, privacy standards, risk as18 sessments, risk-limiting audits, and technologies 

19 which are incorporated in the voluntary voting sys20 tem guidelines issued under the Help America Vote 

21 Act of 2002; and 

22 (2) in collaboration with the Department of 

23 Homeland Security and the Election Assistance 

24 Commission, as appropriate, conduct outreach to 

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1 nate best practices for the implementation of such 

2 voluntary voting system guidelines. 

3 SEC. 5. GAO REPORT. 

4 Not later than 18 months after the date of enactment 

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

6 to Congress that— 

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

8 National Institute of Standards and Technology 

9 (NIST) to assist the Technical Guidelines Develop10 ment Committee of the Election Assistance Commis11 sion in the development of voluntary voting systems 

12 guidelines have resulted in market-ready standard13 ized voting equipment and software, and addresses 

14 the resources made available to NIST to carry out 

15 these activities; 

16 (2) addresses efforts by NIST to monitor and 

17 review the performance of laboratories accredited by 

18 the Elections Assistance Commission and to make 

19 recommendations for continuing accreditation, in20 creased voting technology reliability, and the number 

21 of accredited private laboratories, and addresses re22 sources made available to NIST to carry out these 

23 activities; and 

24 (3) addresses the extent to which the annual 

25 list of suggestions required to be submitted by NIST 


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1 to the Election Assistance Commission for research 

2 issues for grants and pilot programs under section 

3 271(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 

4 U.S.C. 21041) and the evaluation of grants and pro5 grams by NIST has improved voting technology and 

6 been successful in encouraging the implementation 

7 of new technologies in voting systems and equip8 ment. 

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

10 OF 2002. 

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

12 (52 U.S.C. 21081(b)) is amended— 

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

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

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

16 (1); 

17 (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para18 graph (6); and 

19 (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol20 lowing new paragraphs: 

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

22 or processes for collecting, storing, or transmitting 

23 personal information of voters for use in the admin24 istration of elections for Federal office, including 

25 electronic poll books with respect to an election; 


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

2 including online interfaces; 

3 ‘‘(4) systems for carrying out post-election au4 diting; 

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

6 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act— 

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

9 given such term in section 301(b) of the Help Amer10 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(b)), as 

11 amended by section 6; and 

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

13 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

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

15 States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 

16 Northern Mariana Islands. 

Æ 


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