I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4276 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voting systems 

used in elections for Federal office to produce a voter-verified, auditable 

paper record of the votes cast in such elections, to require State election 

officials to audit the results of such elections prior to certifying the 

results, to provide grants to States to improve voting system security, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 7, 2017 

Mrs. DINGELL 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 require 

voting systems used in elections for Federal office to 

produce a voter-verified, auditable paper record of the 

votes cast in such elections, to require State election 

officials to audit the results of such elections prior to 

certifying the results, to provide grants to States to 

improve voting system security, 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 ‘‘Safeguarding Election 

3 Infrastructure Act of 2017’’. 

4 SEC. 2. REQUIRING USE OF VOTING SYSTEMS CAPABLE OF 

5 PRODUCING VOTER-VERIFIED, AUDITABLE 

6 PAPER RECORD IN ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL 

7 OFFICE. 

8 (a) MORATORIUM ON ACQUISITION OF CERTAIN DI9 RECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS AND

10 CERTAIN OTHER VOTING SYSTEMS.—Section 301 of the 

11 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081) is 

12 amended— 

13 (1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 

14 subsections (d) and (e); and 

15 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(c) MORATORIUM ON ACQUISITION OF CERTAIN DI18 RECT RECORDING ELECTRONIC VOTING SYSTEMS AND

19 CERTAIN OTHER VOTING SYSTEMS.—Beginning on the 

20 date of the enactment of the Safeguarding Election Infra21 structure Act of 2017, no State or jurisdiction may pur22 chase or otherwise acquire for use in an election for Fed23 eral office a direct recording electronic voting system or 

24 other electronic voting system that does not produce a 

25 voter-verified paper record as required by section 

26 301(a)(2) (as amended by such Act).’’. 


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1 (b) PAPER BALLOT AND MANUAL COUNTING RE2 QUIREMENTS.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of such 

4 Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(2)) is amended to read as 

5 follows: 

6 ‘‘(2) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 

7 ‘‘(A) VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 

9 (I) The voting system shall require the use 

10 of an individual, durable, voter-verified, 

11 paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall 

12 be marked and made available for inspec13 tion and verification by the voter before 

14 the voter’s vote is cast and counted, and 

15 which shall be counted by hand or read by 

16 an optical character recognition device or 

17 other counting device. For purposes of this 

18 subclause, the term ‘individual, durable, 

19 voter-verified, paper ballot’ means a paper 

20 ballot marked by the voter by hand or a 

21 paper ballot marked through the use of a 

22 nontabulating ballot marking device or sys23 tem, so long as the voter shall have the op24 tion to mark his or her ballot by hand (or, 

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1 ability, by such alternative method as the 

2 election official shall establish that pro3 vides an equivalent opportunity, including 

4 with privacy and independence, as for 

5 other voters). 

6 ‘‘(II) The voting system shall provide 

7 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

8 any error on the paper ballot before the 

9 permanent voter-verified paper ballot is 

10 preserved in accordance with clause (ii). 

11 ‘‘(III) The voting system shall not 

12 preserve the voter-verified paper ballots in 

13 any manner that makes it possible, at any 

14 time after the ballot has been cast, to asso15 ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 

16 vote without the voter’s consent. 

17 ‘‘(ii) PRESERVATION AS OFFICIAL

18 RECORD.—The individual, durable, voter19 verified, paper ballot used in accordance 

20 with clause (i) shall constitute the official 

21 ballot and shall be preserved and used as 

22 the official ballot for purposes of any re23 count or audit conducted with respect to 

24 any election for Federal office in which the 

25 voting system is used. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) MANUAL COUNTING REQUIRE2 MENTS FOR RECOUNTS AND AUDITS.—(I) 

3 Each paper ballot used pursuant to clause 

4 (i) shall be suitable for a manual audit, 

5 and shall be counted by hand in any re6 count or audit conducted with respect to 

7 any election for Federal office. 

8 ‘‘(II) In the event of any inconsist9 encies or irregularities between any elec10 tronic vote tallies and the vote tallies de11 termined by counting by hand the indi12 vidual, durable, voter-verified, paper ballots 

13 used pursuant to clause (i), and subject to 

14 subparagraph (B), the individual, durable, 

15 voter-verified, paper ballots shall be the 

16 true and correct record of the votes cast. 

17 ‘‘(iv) APPLICATION TO ALL BAL18 LOTS.—The requirements of this subpara19 graph shall apply to all ballots cast in elec20 tions for Federal office, including ballots 

21 cast by absent uniformed services voters 

22 and overseas voters under the Uniformed 

23 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

24 and other absentee voters. 


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1 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR TREATMENT OF

2 DISPUTES WHEN PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN

3 SHOWN TO BE COMPROMISED.— 

4 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the event 

5 that— 

6 ‘‘(I) there is any inconsistency 

7 between any electronic vote tallies and 

8 the vote tallies determined by count9 ing by hand the individual, durable, 

10 voter-verified, paper ballots used pur11 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) with re12 spect to any election for Federal of13 fice; and 

14 ‘‘(II) it is demonstrated by clear 

15 and convincing evidence (as deter16 mined in accordance with the applica17 ble standards in the jurisdiction in18 volved) in any recount, audit, or con19 test of the result of the election that 

20 the paper ballots have been com21 promised (by damage or mischief or 

22 otherwise) and that a sufficient num23 ber of the ballots have been so com24 promised that the result of the elec25 tion could be changed, 


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1 the determination of the appropriate rem2 edy with respect to the election shall be 

3 made in accordance with applicable State 

4 law, except that the electronic tally shall 

5 not be used as the exclusive basis for de6 termining the official certified result. 

7 ‘‘(ii) RULE FOR CONSIDERATION OF

8 BALLOTS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH VOTING

9 MACHINE.—For purposes of clause (i), 

10 only the paper ballots deemed com11 promised, if any, shall be considered in the 

12 calculation of whether or not the result of 

13 the election could be changed due to the 

14 compromised paper ballots.’’. 

15 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT CLARIFYING AP16 PLICABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESSI17 BILITY.—Section 301(a)(4) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

18 21081(a)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(including 

19 the paper ballots required to be used under para20 graph (2))’’ after ‘‘voting system’’. 

21 (3) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Sec22 tion 301(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(1)) 

23 is amended— 


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1 (A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 

2 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord3 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

4 (B) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 

5 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord6 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

7 (C) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking 

8 ‘‘counted’’ each place it appears and inserting 

9 ‘‘counted, in accordance with paragraphs (2) 

10 and (3)’’; and 

11 (D) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 

12 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord13 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 

14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 301(d) of such Act 

15 (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)) is amended by striking the period 

16 at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or, in the case 

17 of the requirements of this section which are first imposed 

18 on a State or jurisdiction pursuant to the amendments 

19 made by section 2 of the Safeguarding Election Infra20 structure Act of 2017, with respect to voting systems used 

21 for elections held on or after the expiration of the 1-year 

22 period which begins on the date of the enactment of such 

23 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. MANDATORY MANUAL AUDITS OF RESULTS OF FED2 ERAL ELECTIONS. 

3 (a) REQUIRING AUDITS OF RESULTS.—Title III of 

4 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et 

5 seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new 

6 subtitle: 

7 ‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual 

8 Audits 

9 ‘‘SEC. 321. REQUIRING AUDITS OF RESULTS OF ELECTIONS. 

10 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING AUDITS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with this 

12 subtitle, each State shall administer, without ad13 vance notice to the precincts or alternative audit 

14 units selected, audits of the results of all elections 

15 for Federal office held in the State (and, at the op16 tion of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections 

17 for State and local office held at the same time as 

18 such election) consisting of random hand counts of 

19 the voter-verified paper ballots required to be used 

20 and preserved pursuant to section 301(a)(2). 

21 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN ELECTIONS.—A 

22 State shall not be required to administer an audit of 

23 the results of an election for Federal office under 

24 this subtitle if the winning candidate in the elec25 tion— 

26 ‘‘(A) had no opposition on the ballot; or 


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1 ‘‘(B) received 59 percent or more of the 

2 total number of votes cast in the election, as de3 termined on the basis of the final unofficial vote 

4 count. 

5 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF ENTITY CONDUCTING AU6 DITS; APPLICATION OF GAO INDEPENDENCE STAND7 ARDS.—The State shall administer audits under this sub8 title through an entity selected for such purpose by the 

9 State in accordance with such criteria as the State con10 siders appropriate consistent with the requirements of this 

11 subtitle, except that the entity must meet the general 

12 standards established by the Comptroller General and as 

13 set forth in the Comptroller General’s Government Audit14 ing Standards to ensure the independence (including, ex15 cept as provided under section 323(b), the organizational 

16 independence) of entities performing financial audits, at17 testation engagements, and performance audits. 

18 ‘‘(c) REFERENCES TO ELECTION AUDITOR.—In this 

19 subtitle, the term ‘Election Auditor’ means, with respect 

20 to a State, the entity selected by the State under sub21 section (b). 

22 ‘‘SEC. 322. NUMBER OF BALLOTS COUNTED UNDER AUDIT. 

23 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

24 (b), the number of voter-verified paper ballots which will 

25 be subject to a hand count administered by the Election 


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1 Auditor of a State under this subtitle with respect to an 

2 election shall be determined as follows: 

3 ‘‘(1) In the event that the unofficial count as 

4 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar5 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

6 the largest number of votes in the election is less 

7 than 1 percent of the total votes cast in that elec8 tion, the hand counts of the voter-verified paper bal9 lots shall occur in at least 10 percent of all precincts 

10 or equivalent locations (or alternative audit units 

11 used in accordance with the method provided for 

12 under subsection (b)) in the congressional district 

13 involved (in the case of an election for the House of 

14 Representatives) or the State (in the case of any 

15 other election for Federal office). 

16 ‘‘(2) In the event that the unofficial count as 

17 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar18 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

19 the largest number of votes in the election is greater 

20 than or equal to 1 percent but less than 2 percent 

21 of the total votes cast in that election, the hand 

22 counts of the voter-verified paper ballots shall occur 

23 in at least 5 percent of all precincts or equivalent lo24 cations (or alternative audit units used in accord25 ance with the method provided for under subsection 


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1 (b)) in the congressional district involved (in the 

2 case of an election for the House of Representatives) 

3 or the State (in the case of any other election for 

4 Federal office). 

5 ‘‘(3) In the event that the unofficial count as 

6 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar7 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

8 the largest number of votes in the election is equal 

9 to or greater than 2 percent of the total votes cast 

10 in that election, the hand counts of the voter-verified 

11 paper ballots shall occur in at least 3 percent of all 

12 precincts or equivalent locations (or alternative audit 

13 units used in accordance with the method provided 

14 for under subsection (b)) in the congressional dis15 trict involved (in the case of an election for the 

16 House of Representatives) or the State (in the case 

17 of any other election for Federal office). 

18 ‘‘(b) USE OF ALTERNATIVE MECHANISM.— 

19 ‘‘(1) PERMITTING USE OF ALTERNATIVE MECH20 ANISM.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State 

21 may adopt and apply an alternative mechanism to 

22 determine the number of voter-verified paper ballots 

23 which will be subject to the hand counts required 

24 under this subtitle with respect to an election, so 

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1 verified paper ballots to conduct the audit and the 

2 National Institute of Standards and Technology de3 termines that the alternative mechanism is in ac4 cordance with the principles set forth in paragraph 

5 (2). 

6 ‘‘(2) PRINCIPLES FOR APPROVAL.—In approv7 ing an alternative mechanism under paragraph (1), 

8 the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

9 shall ensure that the audit procedure will have the 

10 property that for each election— 

11 ‘‘(A) the alternative mechanism will be at 

12 least as statistically effective in ensuring the ac13 curacy of the election results as the procedures 

14 under this subtitle; or 

15 ‘‘(B) the alternative mechanism will 

16 achieve at least a 95 percent confidence interval 

17 (as determined in accordance with criteria set 

18 forth by the National Institute of Standards 

19 and Technology) with respect to the outcome of 

20 the election. 

21 ‘‘(3) DEADLINE FOR RESPONSE; REASONS FOR

22 DENIAL.—The Director of the National Institute of 

23 Standards and Technology shall make a determina24 tion regarding a State’s request to approve an alter25 native mechanism under paragraph (1) not later 


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1 than 30 days after receiving the State’s request. If 

2 the Director rejects such a request, the Director 

3 shall provide the State with the reasons for the re4 jection in writing. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 323. PROCESS FOR ADMINISTERING AUDITS. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Election Auditor of a State 

7 shall administer an audit under this section of the results 

8 of an election in accordance with the following procedures: 

9 ‘‘(1) Within 24 hours after the State announces 

10 the final unofficial vote count (as defined by the 

11 State) in each precinct in the State, the Election 

12 Auditor shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) determine and then announce publicly 

14 the precincts or equivalent locations (or alter15 native audit units used in accordance with the 

16 method provided under section 322(b)) in the 

17 State in which it will administer the audits; and 

18 ‘‘(B) with respect to votes cast at the pre19 cinct or equivalent location on or before the 

20 date of the election (other than provisional bal21 lots described in paragraph (2)), begin to ad22 minister the hand count of the votes on the 

23 voter-verified paper ballots required to be used 

24 and preserved under section 301(a)(2)(A) and 

25 the comparison of the count of the votes on 


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1 those ballots with the final unofficial count of 

2 such votes as announced by the State. 

3 ‘‘(2) With respect to votes cast other than at 

4 the precinct on the date of the election (other than 

5 votes cast by provisional ballot on the date of the 

6 election which are certified and counted by the State 

7 on or after the date of the election), including votes 

8 cast by absent uniformed services voters and over9 seas voters under the Uniformed and Overseas Citi10 zens Absentee Voting Act, the Election Auditor shall 

11 administer the hand count of the votes on the appli12 cable voter-verified paper ballots required to be pro13 duced and preserved under section 301(a)(2)(A) and 

14 the comparison of the count of the votes on those 

15 ballots with the final unofficial count of such votes 

16 as announced by the State. 

17 ‘‘(b) USE OF PERSONNEL.—In administering the au18 dits, the Election Auditor may utilize the services of the 

19 personnel of the State or jurisdiction, including election 

20 administration personnel and poll workers, without regard 

21 to whether or not the personnel have professional auditing 

22 experience. 

23 ‘‘(c) LOCATION.—The Election Auditor shall admin24 ister an audit of an election— 


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1 ‘‘(1) at the location where the ballots cast in 

2 the election are stored and counted after the date of 

3 the election or such other appropriate and secure lo4 cation agreed upon by the Election Auditor and the 

5 individual that is responsible under State law for the 

6 custody of the ballots; and 

7 ‘‘(2) in the presence of the personnel who under 

8 State law are responsible for the custody of the bal9 lots. 

10 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULE IN CASE OF DELAY IN REPORT11 ING ABSENTEE VOTE COUNT.—In the case of a State in 

12 which the final count of absentee and provisional votes is 

13 not announced until after the date of the election, the 

14 Election Auditor shall initiate the process described in 

15 subsection (a) for administering the audit not later than 

16 24 hours after the State announces the final unofficial 

17 vote count for the votes cast at the precinct or equivalent 

18 location on or before the date of the election, and shall 

19 initiate the administration of the audit of the absentee and 

20 provisional votes pursuant to subsection (a)(2) not later 

21 than 24 hours after the State announces the final unoffi22 cial count of such votes. 

23 ‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL AUDITS IF CAUSE SHOWN.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Election Auditor 

25 finds that any of the hand counts administered 


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1 under this section do not match the final unofficial 

2 tally of the results of an election, the Election Audi3 tor shall administer hand counts under this section 

4 of such additional precincts (or alternative audit 

5 units) as the Election Auditor considers appropriate 

6 to resolve any concerns resulting from the audit and 

7 ensure the accuracy of the election results. 

8 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT AND PUBLICATION OF

9 PROCEDURES GOVERNING ADDITIONAL AUDITS.— 

10 Not later than June 1, 2020, each State shall estab11 lish and publish procedures for carrying out the ad12 ditional audits under this subsection, including the 

13 means by which the State shall resolve any concerns 

14 resulting from the audit with finality and ensure the 

15 accuracy of the election results. 

16 ‘‘(f) PUBLIC OBSERVATION OF AUDITS.—Each audit 

17 conducted under this section shall be conducted in a man18 ner that allows public observation of the entire process. 

19 ‘‘SEC. 324. SELECTION OF PRECINCTS. 

20 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

21 (c), the selection of the precincts or alternative audit units 

22 in the State in which the Election Auditor of the State 

23 shall administer the hand counts under this subtitle shall 

24 be made by the Election Auditor on a random basis, in 

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1 tute of Standards and Technology, except that at least one 

2 precinct shall be selected at random in each county, with 

3 additional precincts selected by the Election Auditor at the 

4 Auditor’s discretion. 

5 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC SELECTION.—The random selection of 

6 precincts under subsection (a) shall be conducted in pub7 lic, at a time and place announced in advance. 

8 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY SELECTION OF PRECINCTS ESTAB9 LISHED SPECIFICALLY FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS.—If a 

10 State does not sort absentee ballots by precinct and in11 clude those ballots in the hand count with respect to that 

12 precinct, the State shall create absentee ballot precincts 

13 or audit units which are of similar size to the average pre14 cinct or audit unit in the jurisdiction being audited, and 

15 shall include those absentee precincts or audit units 

16 among the precincts in the State in which the Election 

17 Auditor shall administer the hand counts under this sub18 title. 

19 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR ADOPTION OF PROCEDURES BY

20 COMMISSION.—The National Institute of Standards and 

21 Technology shall adopt the procedures described in sub22 section (a) not later than October 1, 2019, and shall pub23 lish them in the Federal Register upon adoption. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 325. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) SUBMISSION TO COMMISSION.—As soon as prac3 ticable after the completion of an audit under this subtitle, 

4 the Election Auditor of a State shall submit to the Com5 mission the results of the audit, and shall include in the 

6 submission a comparison of the results of the election in 

7 the precinct as determined by the Election Auditor under 

8 the audit and the final unofficial vote count in the precinct 

9 as announced by the State and all undervotes, overvotes, 

10 blank ballots, and spoiled, voided, or cancelled ballots, as 

11 well as a list of any discrepancies discovered between the 

12 initial, subsequent, and final hand counts administered by 

13 the Election Auditor and such final unofficial vote count 

14 and any explanation for such discrepancies, broken down 

15 by the categories of votes described in paragraphs (1)(B) 

16 and (2) of section 323(a). 

17 ‘‘(b) PUBLICATION BY COMMISSION.—Immediately 

18 after receiving the submission of the results of an audit 

19 from the Election Auditor of a State under subsection (a), 

20 the Commission shall publicly announce and publish the 

21 information contained in the submission. 

22 ‘‘(c) DELAY IN CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS BY

23 STATE.— 

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1 sults of any election which is subject to an audit 

2 under this subtitle prior to— 

3 ‘‘(A) the completion of the audit (and, if 

4 required, any additional audit conducted under 

5 section 323(e)(1)) and the announcement and 

6 submission of the results of each such audit to 

7 the Commission for publication of the informa8 tion required under this section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) the completion of any procedure es10 tablished by the State pursuant to section 

11 323(e)(2) to resolve discrepancies and ensure 

12 the accuracy of results. 

13 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION OF AUDITS

14 OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.—In the case of an 

15 election for electors for President and Vice President 

16 which is subject to an audit under this subtitle, the 

17 State shall complete the audits and announce and 

18 submit the results to the Commission for publication 

19 of the information required under this section in 

20 time for the State to certify the results of the elec21 tion and provide for the final determination of any 

22 controversy or contest concerning the appointment 

23 of such electors prior to the deadline described in 

24 section 6 of title 3, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 326. PAYMENTS TO STATES. 

2 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS FOR COSTS OF CONDUCTING AU3 DITS.—In accordance with the requirements and proce4 dures of this section, the Commission shall make a pay5 ment to a State to cover the costs incurred by the State 

6 in carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elections 

7 that are the subject of the audits conducted under this 

8 subtitle. 

9 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE AND ANTICI10 PATED COSTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—In order to 

12 receive a payment under this section, a State shall 

13 submit to the Commission, in such form as the Com14 mission may require, a statement containing— 

15 ‘‘(A) a certification that the State will con16 duct the audits required under this subtitle in 

17 accordance with all of the requirements of this 

18 subtitle; 

19 ‘‘(B) a notice of the reasonable costs in20 curred or the reasonable costs anticipated to be 

21 incurred by the State in carrying out this sub22 title with respect to the elections involved; and 

23 ‘‘(C) such other information and assur24 ances as the Commission may require. 

25 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The amount of a 

26 payment made to a State under this section shall be 


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1 equal to the reasonable costs incurred or the reason2 able costs anticipated to be incurred by the State in 

3 carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elec4 tions involved, as set forth in the statement sub5 mitted under paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(3) TIMING OF NOTICE.—The State may not 

7 submit a notice under paragraph (1) until can8 didates have been selected to appear on the ballot 

9 for all of the elections for Federal office which will 

10 be the subject of the audits involved. 

11 ‘‘(c) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Commission shall 

12 make the payment required under this section to a State 

13 not later than 30 days after receiving the notice submitted 

14 by the State under subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(d) RECOUPMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS.—No pay16 ment may be made to a State under this section unless 

17 the State agrees to repay to the Commission (for deposit 

18 in the general fund of the Treasury) the excess (if any) 

19 of— 

20 ‘‘(1) the amount of the payment received by the 

21 State under this section with respect to the elections 

22 involved; over 

23 ‘‘(2) the actual costs incurred by the State in 

24 carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elec25 tions involved. 


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1 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is authorized to be 

3 appropriated to the Commission for fiscal year 2020 

4 and each succeeding fiscal year $45,000,000 for pay5 ments under this section. 

6 ‘‘(2) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS

7 APPROPRIATED.—Any amount appropriated for a 

8 fiscal year pursuant to the authorization under para9 graph (1) shall remain available until expended. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 327. EXCEPTION FOR ELECTIONS SUBJECT TO RE11 COUNT UNDER STATE LAW PRIOR TO CER12 TIFICATION. 

13 ‘‘(a) EXCEPTION.—This subtitle does not apply to 

14 any election for which a recount under State law will com15 mence prior to the certification of the results of the elec16 tion, including but not limited to a recount required auto17 matically because of the margin of victory between the 2 

18 candidates receiving the largest number of votes in the 

19 election, but only if each of the following applies to the 

20 recount: 

21 ‘‘(1) The recount commences prior to the deter22 mination and announcement by the Election Auditor 

23 under section 323(a)(1) of the precincts in the State 

24 in which it will administer the audits under this sub25 title. 


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1 ‘‘(2) If the recount would apply to fewer than 

2 100 percent of the ballots cast in the election— 

3 ‘‘(A) the number of ballots counted will be 

4 at least as many as would be counted if an 

5 audit were conducted with respect to the elec6 tion in accordance with this subtitle; and 

7 ‘‘(B) the selection of the precincts in which 

8 the recount will be conducted will be made in 

9 accordance with the random selection proce10 dures applicable under section 324. 

11 ‘‘(3) The recount for the election meets the re12 quirements of section 323(f) (relating to public ob13 servation). 

14 ‘‘(4) The State meets the requirements of sec15 tion 325 (relating to the publication of results and 

16 the delay in the certification of results) with respect 

17 to the recount. 

18 ‘‘(b) CLARIFICATION OF EFFECT ON OTHER RE19 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this section may be construed 

20 to waive the application of any other provision of this Act 

21 to any election (including the requirement set forth in sec22 tion 301(a)(2) that the voter-verified paper ballots serve 

23 as the vote of record and shall be counted by hand in all 

24 audits and recounts, including audits and recounts de25 scribed in this subtitle). 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 328. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 ‘‘This subtitle shall apply with respect to the regu3 larly scheduled general elections for Federal office held in 

4 November 2020 and each succeeding election for Federal 

5 office.’’. 

6 (b) AVAILABILITY OF ENFORCEMENT UNDER HELP

7 AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002.—Section 401 of such Act 

8 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ‘‘sections 301, 

9 302, and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘title III’’. 

10 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

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

12 relating to title III the following: 

‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual Audits 

‘‘Sec. 321. Requiring audits of results of elections. 

‘‘Sec. 322. Number of ballots counted under audit. 

‘‘Sec. 323. Process for administering audits. 

‘‘Sec. 324. Selection of precincts. 

‘‘Sec. 325. Publication of results. 

‘‘Sec. 326. Payments to States. 

‘‘Sec. 327. Exception for elections subject to recount under State law prior to 

certification. 

‘‘Sec. 328. Effective date.’’. 

13 SEC. 4. INCENTIVES TO STATES TO IMPROVE VOTING SYS14 TEM SECURITY. 

15 (a) GRANTS FROM ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS16 SION.—Subtitle D of title II of the Help America Vote 

17 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21001 et seq.) is amended by add18 ing at the end the following new part: 


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1 ‘‘PART 7—PAYMENTS FOR IMPROVING VOTING 

2 SYSTEM SECURITY 

3 ‘‘SEC. 297. INCENTIVES FOR STATES TO IMPROVE VOTING 

4 SYSTEM SECURITY. 

5 ‘‘(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

7 available under section 297E for a fiscal year and 

8 not reserved under section (b) of such section, the 

9 Commission shall award grants on a competitive 

10 basis to States in accordance with section 297B. 

11 ‘‘(2) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—A State may not 

12 receive more than 1 grant under this part for a fis13 cal year. 

14 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each State that receives a 

15 grant under this part shall use the funds provided by the 

16 grant to carry out the State’s grant implementation plan 

17 described in section 297A(b). 

18 ‘‘SEC. 297A. CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS. 

19 ‘‘(a) APPLICATIONS.—Each State that desires to re20 ceive a grant under this part shall submit an application 

21 to the Commission at such time, in such manner, and con22 taining such information as the Commission may reason23 ably require. At a minimum, each such application shall 

24 include each of the following: 

25 ‘‘(1) The grant implementation plan described 

26 in subsection (b). 


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1 ‘‘(2) Evidence of established conditions of inno2 vation and reform in providing voting system secu3 rity and the State’s proposed plan for implementing 

4 additional conditions. 

5 ‘‘(3) Evidence of collaboration between relevant 

6 stakeholders in developing the grant implementation 

7 plan described in subsection (b). 

8 ‘‘(4) Annual performance measures and targets 

9 for the activities carried out with the grant. 

10 ‘‘(5) A description of the State’s plan to con11 duct a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the 

12 activities carried out with the grant. 

13 ‘‘(b) GRANT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—The grant 

14 implementation plan described in this subsection is a plan 

15 developed by the State for using funds provided by the 

16 grant to carry out some or all of the following, and to 

17 otherwise meet the requirements of section 301 which are 

18 first imposed on a State or jurisdiction pursuant to the 

19 amendments made by section 2 of the Safeguarding Elec20 tion Infrastructure Act of 2017, during the grant imple21 mentation period: 

22 ‘‘(1) Providing voting machines that are less 

23 than 10 years old as of the date on which the State 

24 submits its application for the grant under sub25 section (a). 


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1 ‘‘(2) Updating voting equipment to provide a 

2 verifiable paper trail at polling stations. 

3 ‘‘(3) Implementing strong chain of custody pro4 cedures for the physical security of voting equipment 

5 and paper records at all stages of the process. 

6 ‘‘(4) Conducting pre-election testing on every 

7 voting machine and ensuring paper ballots are avail8 able wherever electronic machines are used. 

9 ‘‘(5) Keeping offline backups of voter registra10 tion lists. 

11 ‘‘(6) Providing a secure voter registration data12 base that logs requests submitted to the database. 

13 ‘‘(7) Publishing and enforcing a policy detailing 

14 use limitations and security safeguards to protect 

15 voters’ personal information in the voter registration 

16 process. 

17 ‘‘(8) Providing secure processes and procedures 

18 for reporting vote tallies. 

19 ‘‘(9) Providing a secure platform for dissemi20 nating vote totals. 

21 ‘‘(c) GRANT IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD DEFINED.— 

22 In this part, the ‘grant implementation period’ with re23 spect to a grant is the 4-year period which begins on the 

24 first day of the fiscal year for which the grant is awarded. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 297B. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS. 

2 ‘‘(a) AWARD BASIS.—The Commission shall award 

3 grants to States under this part on a competitive basis, 

4 based on the quality of the State’s application submitted 

5 under section 297A, including— 

6 ‘‘(1) the quality and likelihood of success of the 

7 State’s grant implementation plan described in sec8 tion 297A(b), including the State’s capacity to im9 plement the plan and evidence of collaboration as de10 scribed in paragraph (3) of section 297A(a); 

11 ‘‘(2) the State’s record of, and commitment to, 

12 establishing conditions for innovation and reform, as 

13 described in paragraph (2) of section 297A(a); and 

14 ‘‘(3) the State’s evaluation plan as described in 

15 paragraph (5) of section 297A(a). 

16 ‘‘(b) SPECIAL RULE FOR STATES RECEIVING

17 GRANTS IN PREVIOUS FISCAL YEARS.—In the case of a 

18 State that received a grant under this part in a previous 

19 fiscal year, the Commission may not award a grant under 

20 this part to the State for any subsequent fiscal year unless 

21 the State demonstrates to the satisfaction of the Commis22 sion that— 

23 ‘‘(1) the State made sufficient progress in car24 rying out the grant implementation plan for that 

25 previous fiscal year at a rate that will enable the 


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1 State to fully implement the plan prior to the end 

2 of the grant implementation period for that plan; or 

3 ‘‘(2) the State made sufficient progress in meet4 ing the performance measures and targets for the 

5 programs and activities funded by the grant (as es6 tablished by the State under section 297C) to enable 

7 the State to fully meet such measures and targets 

8 prior to the end of the grant implementation period 

9 for that plan. 

10 ‘‘(c) EXPLANATION.—The Commission shall publish 

11 an explanation of how the application review process under 

12 this subsection will ensure an equitable and objective eval13 uation based on the criteria described in subsection (a) 

14 and the special rule described in subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘SEC. 297C. ESTABLISHMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEAS16 URES AND TARGETS. 

17 ‘‘Each State receiving a grant under this part shall 

18 establish performance measures and targets approved by 

19 the Commission for the programs and activities carried 

20 out with the funds provided by the grant. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 297D. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

22 ‘‘Each State receiving a grant under this part shall 

23 submit to the Commission, at such time and in such man24 ner as the Commission may require, an annual report in25 cluding— 


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1 ‘‘(1) data on the State’s progress in achieving 

2 the targets for the performance measures established 

3 under section 297C; 

4 ‘‘(2) a description of the challenges the State 

5 has faced in implementing the programs and activi6 ties funded by the grant and how it has addressed 

7 or plans to address those challenges; and 

8 ‘‘(3) findings from the evaluation plan for the 

9 grant. 

10 ‘‘SEC. 297E. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

13 appropriated such sums as may be necessary for fis14 cal year 2018 and each succeeding fiscal year to 

15 carry out this part. 

16 ‘‘(2) NO CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF

17 FUNDS.—Any amount appropriated for a fiscal year 

18 pursuant to the authorization under paragraph (1) 

19 shall not remain available for any subsequent fiscal 

20 year. 

21 ‘‘(b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—From the amount 

22 made available to carry out this part for a fiscal year, the 

23 Commission may reserve not more than 10 percent of such 

24 amount to carry out activities related to— 

25 ‘‘(1) technical assistance; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) outreach and dissemination.’’. 

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

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

4 relating to subtitle D of title II the following: 

‘‘PART 7—PAYMENTS FOR IMPROVING VOTING SYSTEM SECURITY

‘‘Sec. 297. Incentives for States to improve voting system security. 

‘‘Sec. 297A. Criteria for awarding grants. 

‘‘Sec. 297B. Criteria for evaluating applications. 

‘‘Sec. 297C. Establishment of performance measures and targets. 

‘‘Sec. 297D. Reporting requirements. 

‘‘Sec. 297E. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

5 SEC. 5. DUTIES OF SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY. 

6 (a) NOTIFICATION OF BREACHES OF VOTING SYS7 TEM SECURITY OR RELATED INVESTIGATIONS.— 

8 (1) REQUIRING NOTIFICATION TO CONGRESS

9 AND STATE ELECTION OFFICIALS.—If the Secretary 

10 of Homeland Security makes a determination that 

11 the security of any voting system or any voter reg12 istration database that has been used or will be used 

13 in an election for Federal office has been breached, 

14 or if the Secretary is conducting an investigation re15 garding whether or not the security of such a system 

16 or database has been breached, the Secretary shall 

17 submit a report on the determination or investiga18 tion to the Committee on Homeland Security of the 

19 House of Representatives, the Committee on Home20 land Security and Governmental Affairs of the Sen21 ate, and the chief State election official of the State 

22 in which the system is used or will be used. 


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1 (2) DEADLINE.—The Secretary shall submit 

2 the report required under paragraph (1) not later 

3 than 30 days after making the determination in4 volved or initiating the investigation involved (as the 

5 case may be). 

6 (b) SHARING INFORMATION WITH STATE ELECTION

7 OFFICIALS.—At the request of a State, the Secretary of 

8 Homeland Security shall collaborate with the chief State 

9 election official of the State to help prevent and respond 

10 to threats to the security of the voting systems and data11 bases described in subsection (a), including assisting such 

12 official with obtaining the appropriate level of security 

13 clearance necessary to receive information regarding such 

14 threats. 

15 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection— 

16 (1) the ‘‘chief State election official’’ of a State 

17 is the individual designated by the State under sec18 tion 10 of the National Voter Registration Act of 

19 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20509) to be responsible for coordi20 nation of the State’s responsibilities under such Act; 

21 and 

22 (2) the term ‘‘voting system’’ has the meaning 

23 given such term under section 301(b) of the Help 

24 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(b)). 

Æ 


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