I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2239

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified 

permanent record or hardcopy under title III of such Act, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 22, 2003

Mr. HOLT introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on House Administration 

A BILL

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require 

a voter-verified permanent record or hardcopy under title 

III of such Act, 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 ‘‘Voter Confidence and 

5 Increased Accessibility Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF TIME PROVIDED FOR STATES TO RE7 QUEST PAYMENTS UNDER TITLE I. 

8 (a) PAYMENTS FOR ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ADMIN9 ISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.—Section 101(a) of the Help 
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1 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15301(a)) is amend2 ed by striking ‘‘not later than 6 months after the date 

3 of the enactment of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘not later than 

4 the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 

5 2003’’. 

6 (b) PAYMENTS FOR REPLACEMENT OF PUNCH CARD

7 OR LEVER VOTING MACHINES.—Section 102(b)(1) of 

8 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15301(b)(1)) is amended by striking 

9 ‘‘not later than the date that is 6 months after the date 

10 of the enactment of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘not later than 

11 the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 

12 2003’’. 

13 (c) EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF AUTHORIZATION OF

14 APPROPRIATIONS.—

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(a) of such Act 

16 (42 U.S.C. 15304(a)) is amended by striking 

17 ‘‘$650,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘an aggregate 

18 amount of $650,000,000 for fiscal years 2003 and 

19 2004’’. 

20 (2) DATE FOR TRANSFER TO ELECTION ASSIST21 ANCE COMMISSION OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.—Sec22 tion 104(c)(2)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 15304(c)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘September 

24 1, 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2004’’. 
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1 (d) REQUIREMENT TO DEPLOY INTERIM MEASURE

2 IF WAIVER REQUESTED.—Section 102(a)(3)(B) of such 

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 15301(a)(3)(B)) is amended by striking 

4 the period at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, except 

5 that any State requesting any such waiver shall accept and 

6 implement a paper system for use on an interim basis as 

7 provided in section 5(b) of the Voter Confidence and In8 creased Accessibility Act of 2003 in time for use in the 

9 November 2004 general election.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE 

11 COMMISSION FROM CERTAIN GOVERNMENT 

12 CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 205 of the Help America 

14 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15325) is amended by strik15 ing subsection (e). 

16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

17 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to contracts entered 

18 into by the Election Assistance Commission on or after 

19 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 4. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU21 RITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMA22 NENT RECORD OR HARD COPY. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the Help 

24 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(2)) is 

25 amended to read as follows: 
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1 ‘‘(2) VOTER-VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPAC2 ITY.—

3 ‘‘(A) VOTER-VERIFICATION IN GENERAL.—

4 The voting system shall produce a voter-verified 

5 paper record suitable for a manual audit equiv6 alent or superior to that of a paper ballot box 

7 system, as further specified in subparagraph 

8 (B). 

9 ‘‘(B) MANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY.—

10 ‘‘(i) The voting system shall produce a 

11 permanent paper record, each individual 

12 paper record of which shall be made avail13 able for inspection and verification by the 

14 voter at the time the vote is cast, and pre15 served within the polling place in the man16 ner in which all other paper ballots are 

17 preserved within the polling place on Elec18 tion Day for later use in any manual audit. 

19 ‘‘(ii) The voting system shall provide 

20 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

21 any error made by the system before the 

22 permanent record is preserved for use in 

23 any manual audit. 

24 ‘‘(iii) The voter verified paper record 

25 produced under subparagraph (A) and this 
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1 subparagraph shall be available as an offi2 cial record and shall be the official record 

3 used for any recount conducted with re4 spect to any election in which the system 

5 is used. 

6 ‘‘(C) SOFTWARE AND MODEMS.—

7 ‘‘(i) No voting system shall at any 

8 time contain or use undisclosed software. 

9 Any voting system containing or using 

10 software shall disclose the source code of 

11 that software to the Commission, and the 

12 Commission shall make that source code 

13 available for inspection upon request to 

14 any citizen. 

15 ‘‘(ii) No voting system shall contain 

16 any wireless communication device at all. 

17 ‘‘(iii) All software and hardware used 

18 in any electronic voting system shall be 

19 certified by laboratories accredited by the

20 Commission as meeting the requirements 

21 of clauses (i) and (ii).’’. 

22 (b) VOTER VERIFICATION OF RESULTS FOR INDIVID23 UALS WITH DISABILITIES.—Section 301(a)(3) of such 

24 Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3) is amended—
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1 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND VOTER2 VERIFICATION OF RESULTS’’ after ‘‘ACCESSIBILITY’’; 

3 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

4 and inserting the following: ‘‘, and such voting sys5 tem shall provide a mechanism for voter-verification 

6 of results which separates the function of vote gen7 eration from the function of vote casting in a man8 ner analogous to that described in section 4 with re9 spect to the separation of paper ballot generation 

10 and paper ballot verification and preservation, but 

11 does not require the use of paper.’’; 

12 (3) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as 

13 follows: 

14 ‘‘(C) The equipment deployed in accord15 ance with subparagraph (B) shall meet the vot16 ing system standards for disability access and 

17 voter-verification of results as outlined in this 

18 paragraph in accordance with the deadline set 

19 forth in section 5(a), provided that if it does 

20 not and an interim paper system is deployed in 

21 accordance with section 5(b), disabled voters 

22 shall have the option of using the interim paper 

23 system with the assistance of an aide of the vot24 er’s personal selection or using the voting sys25 tem otherwise put in place for use by disabled 
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1 voters at the time in question in accordance 

2 with the Help America Vote Act of 2002, as in 

3 effect prior to the enactment of this Act, except 

4 that the deadline set forth in section 

5 301(a)(3)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 15481(a)(3)(C)) is moved forward from Janu7 ary 1, 2007, to January 1, 2006.’’; and 

8 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub9 paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(D) Election officials shall be instructed 

11 in the rights of the disabled to vote with the as12 sistance of an aide of their selection under the 

13 Voting Rights Act of 1965.’’. 

14 (c) SPECIFIC, DELINEATED REQUIREMENT OF

15 STUDY, TESTING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRAC16 TICES.—In addition to any other requirements under the 

17 Help America Vote Act of 2002, the Election Assistance 

18 Commission shall study, test, and develop best practices 

19 to enhance accessibility and voter-verification mechanisms 

20 for disabled voters. 

21 SEC. 5. CHANGE IN DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH 

22 STANDARDS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(d) of the Help Amer24 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(d)) is amended 

25 by striking ‘‘on and after January 1, 2006’’ and inserting 
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1 ‘‘in time for elections for Federal office beginning with the 

2 regularly scheduled general election to be held in Novem3 ber 2004’’. 

4 (b) INTERIM PAPER SYSTEM.—Each State and juris5 diction that certifies in the manner described in section 

6 102(a)(3)(B) that it shall be unable to comply with the 

7 requirements of section 301 in time for the regularly 

8 scheduled general election for Federal office to be held in 

9 November 2004 shall receive a paper voting system, based 

10 on paper systems in use in the jurisdiction, if any, at the 

11 expense of the Commission that shall be deemed compliant 

12 with section 301 by the Commission for use in the Novem13 ber 2004 general elections. 

14 SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT FOR FEDERAL CERTIFICATION OF 

15 TECHNOLOGICAL SECURITY OF VOTER REG16 ISTRATION LISTS. 

17 Section 303(a)(3) of the Help America Vote Act of 

18 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)(3)) is amended by striking the 

19 period at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, as cer20 tified by the Commission.’’. 

21 SEC. 7. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY RECOUNTS. 

22 The Election Assistance Commission shall conduct 

23 manual mandatory surprise recounts of the voter-verified 

24 records of each election for Federal office (and, at the op25 tion of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections for 
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1 State and local office) in .5 percent of the jurisdictions 

2 in each State and .5 percent of the overseas jurisdictions 

3 in which voter-verified records are preserved in accordance 

4 with this section immediately following each general elec5 tion for Federal office, and shall promptly publish the re6 sults of those recounts. The treatment of the results of 

7 the recount shall be governed by applicable Federal, State, 

8 or local law, except that any individual who is a citizen 

9 of the jurisdiction involved may file an appeal with the 

10 Commission if the individual believes that such law does 

11 not provide a fair remedy. 

12 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

13 Except as provided in section 3(b), the amendments 

14 made by this Act shall take effect as if included in the 

15 enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

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