I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5707 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to direct the Election Assistance Commission to adopt voluntary guidelines for the use of nonvoting 

election technology, to require the Director of the National Institute 

of Standards and Technology to submit annual status reports on the 

extent to which the Director has carried out the Director’s responsibilities 

under such Act and carried out projects requested by the Election Assistance Commission, to establish an Election Cyber Assistance Unit in 

the Election Assistance Commission, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 29, 2020 

Mr. RODNEY DAVIS of Illinois (for himself, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. WALKER, 

Mr. RIGGLEMAN, Mr. HAGEDORN, Mr. CHABOT, Ms. STEFANIK, Mr. 

KATKO, and Mr. YOUNG) introduced the following bill; which was referred 

to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, 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 amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to direct 

the Election Assistance Commission to adopt voluntary 

guidelines for the use of nonvoting election technology, 

to require the Director of the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology to submit annual status reports on the extent to which the Director has carried 

out the Director’s responsibilities under such Act and 

carried out projects requested by the Election Assistance 

Commission, to establish an Election Cyber Assistance 


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Unit in the Election Assistance Commission, 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 ‘‘Protect American Vot5 ers Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES FOR USE OF NONVOTING 

7 ELECTION TECHNOLOGY. 

8 (a) ADOPTION OF VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES BY

9 ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION.—Title II of the 

10 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20921 et seq.) 

11 is amended by adding at the end the following new sub12 title: 

13 ‘‘Subtitle E—Voluntary Guidelines 

14 for Use of Nonvoting Election 

15 Technology 

16 ‘‘SEC. 297. ADOPTION OF VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES BY COM17 MISSION. 

18 ‘‘(a) ADOPTION.—The Commission shall adopt vol19 untary guidelines for election officials on the use of non20 voting election technology, taking into account the rec21 ommendations of the Emerging Election Technology Com22 mittee under section 297A. 


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1 ‘‘(b) REVIEW.—The Commission shall review and up2 date the guidelines adopted under this subtitle not less fre3 quently than once every 2 years. 

4 ‘‘(c) PROCESS FOR ADOPTION.—The adoption of the 

5 voluntary guidelines under this subtitle shall be carried 

6 out by the Commission in a manner that provides for each 

7 of the following: 

8 ‘‘(1) Publication of notice of the proposed 

9 guidelines in the Federal Register. 

10 ‘‘(2) An opportunity for public comment on the 

11 proposed guidelines. 

12 ‘‘(3) An opportunity for a public hearing on the 

13 record. 

14 ‘‘(4) Publication of the final recommendations 

15 in the Federal Register. 

16 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR INITIAL SET OF GUIDELINES.— 

17 The Commission shall adopt the initial set of voluntary 

18 guidelines under this section not later than June 1, 2021. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 297A. EMERGING ELECTION TECHNOLOGY COM20 MITTEE. 

21 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

22 Commission the Emerging Election Technology Com23 mittee (hereafter in this section referred to as the ‘Tech24 nology Committee’). 


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1 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Technology Committee shall as2 sist the Commission in the adoption of voluntary guide3 lines under section 297, including by providing the Com4 mission with recommendations on appropriate standards 

5 for the use of nonvoting election technology, including 

6 standards to ensure the security and promote the usability 

7 of such technology. 

8 ‘‘(c) MEMBERSHIP.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Technology Committee 

10 shall be composed of members appointed by the 

11 Commission as follows: 

12 ‘‘(A) Each member shall have expertise in 

13 the operation of nonvoting election technology. 

14 ‘‘(B) At least three of the members shall 

15 be State or local election officials. 

16 ‘‘(C) At least four of the members shall be 

17 individuals who are not employees of the Com18 mission. 

19 ‘‘(2) NUMBER.—The number of members of the 

20 Technology Committee shall be determined by the 

21 Commission. 

22 ‘‘(3) QUORUM.—A majority of the members of 

23 the Technology Committee shall constitute a 

24 quorum, except that the Technology Committee may 


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1 not conduct any business prior to the appointment 

2 of all of its members. 

3 ‘‘(d) CHAIR.—The members of the Technology Com4 mittee shall select one of the members to serve as chair 

5 of the Committee. 

6 ‘‘(e) NO COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE.—Members of 

7 the Technology Committee shall not receive any compensa8 tion for their service, but shall be paid travel expenses, 

9 including per diem in lieu of subsistence, at rates author10 ized for employees of agencies under subchapter I of chap11 ter 57 of title 5, United States Code, while away from 

12 their homes or regular places of business in the perform13 ance of services for the Committee. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 297B. NONVOTING ELECTION TECHNOLOGY DEFINED. 

15 ‘‘In this subtitle, the term ‘nonvoting election tech16 nology’ means technology used in the administration of 

17 elections for Federal office which is not used directly in 

18 the casting, counting, tabulating, or collecting of ballots 

19 or votes, including each of the following: 

20 ‘‘(1) Electronic pollbooks. 

21 ‘‘(2) Election result reporting systems. 

22 ‘‘(3) Electronic ballot delivery systems. 

23 ‘‘(4) Online voter registration systems. 

24 ‘‘(5) Polling place location search systems. 

25 ‘‘(6) Sample ballot portals. 


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1 ‘‘(7) Such other technology as may be rec2 ommended for treatment as nonvoting election tech3 nology as the Emerging Election Technology Com4 mittee may recommend.’’. 

5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

6 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 

7 relating to title II the following: 

‘‘Subtitle E—Voluntary Guidelines for Use of Nonvoting Election Technology 

‘‘Sec. 297. Adoption of voluntary guidelines by Commission. 

‘‘Sec. 297A. Emerging Election Technology Committee. 

‘‘Sec. 297B. Nonvoting election technology defined.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. STATUS REPORTS BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF 

9 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY. 

10 Section 231 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

11 (52 U.S.C. 20971) is amended by adding at the end the 

12 following new subsection: 

13 ‘‘(e) STATUS REPORTS BY NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF

14 STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY.—Not later than 60 days 

15 after the end of each fiscal year (beginning with 2020), 

16 the Director of the National Institute of Standards and 

17 Technology shall submit to Congress a status report de18 scribing— 

19 ‘‘(1) the extent to which the Director carried 

20 out the Director’s responsibilities under this Act 

21 during the fiscal year, including the responsibilities 

22 imposed under this section and the responsibilities 

23 imposed with respect to the Technical Guidelines 


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1 Development Committee under section 222, together 

2 with the Director’s best estimate of when the Direc3 tor will completely carry out any responsibility which 

4 was not carried out completely during the fiscal 

5 year; and 

6 ‘‘(2) the extent to which the Director carried 

7 out any projects requested by the Commission dur8 ing the fiscal year, together with the Director’s best 

9 estimate of when the Director will complete any such 

10 project which the Director did not complete during 

11 the fiscal year.’’. 

12 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE 

13 UNIT IN ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS14 SION. 

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title II of the Help 

16 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20921 et seq.) is 

17 amended by adding at the end the following new part: 

18 ‘‘PART 4—ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT 

19 ‘‘SEC. 225. ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT. 

20 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the 

21 Commission the Election Cyber Assistance Unit (hereafter 

22 in this part referred to as the ‘Unit’). 

23 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Unit will provide State and local 

24 election officials in various geographic regions of the 

25 United States with access to risk-management, resiliency, 


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1 and technical support services provided by election admin2 istration and cybersecurity experts who will be based in 

3 such regions and who may provide such services in person, 

4 by telephone, or online.’’. 

5 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

6 of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items 

7 relating to subtitle A of title II the following: 

‘‘PART 4—ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT

‘‘Sec. 225. Election Cyber Assistance Unit.’’. 

Æ 


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