I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5147 

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

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

ballot of each vote cast on the system, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 1, 2018 

Ms. GABBARD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Budget, 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 paper ballot of each vote cast 

on the system, 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; SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Securing America’s Elections Act of 2018’’. 

6 (b) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con7 gress that according to the Department of Homeland SeVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 08, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5147.IH H5147

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1 curity there were attempts to hack the election infrastruc2 ture of 21 States during the 2016 elections. The failing 

3 security and vulnerabilities in our national election infra4 structure were later confirmed and highlighted by the 

5 hacking community in a report issued in September 2017, 

6 after the DEFCON 25 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. 

7 In light of these findings, the Government must act with 

8 all deliberate purpose to ensure that the integrity of elec9 tions in the United States is protected against hackers. 

10 SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU11 RITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMA12 NENT PAPER BALLOT. 

13 (a) BALLOT VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPACITY.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the 

15 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 

16 21081(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 

17 ‘‘(2) BALLOT VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPAC18 ITY.— 

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

20 ‘‘(i) VERIFICATION.—(I) The voting 

21 system shall require the production of a 

22 voter-verified paper ballot of the voter’s 

23 vote that shall be created by or made avail24 able for inspection and verification by the 

25 individual voter before the voter’s vote is 


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1 cast and counted. For purposes of this 

2 subclause, a voter-verified paper ballot in3 cludes (but is not limited to) a paper ballot 

4 marked by the voter for the purpose of 

5 being counted by hand or read by an opti6 cal scanner or other similar device, a paper 

7 ballot prepared by the voter to be mailed 

8 to an election official (whether from a do9 mestic or overseas location), a paper ballot 

10 created through the use of a ballot mark11 ing device or system, or a paper ballot pro12 duced by a touch screen or other electronic 

13 voting machine, so long as in each case the 

14 voter is permitted to verify the ballot in a 

15 paper form in accordance with this sub16 paragraph. 

17 ‘‘(II) The voting system shall provide 

18 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

19 any error made by the system in the voter20 verified paper ballot before the permanent 

21 voter-verified paper ballot is preserved in 

22 accordance with clause (ii). 

23 ‘‘(III) The voting system shall not 

24 preserve the voter-verified paper ballots in 

25 any manner that makes it possible, at any 


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1 time after the ballot has been cast, to asso2 ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 

3 vote. 

4 ‘‘(ii) PRESERVATION.—The voter5 verified paper ballot produced in accord6 ance with clause (i) shall be used as the of7 ficial ballot for purposes of any recount or 

8 audit conducted with respect to any elec9 tion for Federal office in which the voting 

10 system is used, and shall be preserved in 

11 accordance with regulations promulgated 

12 by the Commission to establish criteria for 

13 the proper preservation and retention of 

14 the official ballots in the election. 

15 ‘‘(iii) MANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY.— 

16 Each paper ballot produced pursuant to 

17 clause (i) shall be suitable for a manual 

18 audit equivalent to that of a paper ballot 

19 voting system, in accordance with the 

20 methods described in subparagraph (B). 

21 ‘‘(B) APPROVED METHODS FOR MANUAL

22 AUDITS.—The methods described in this sub23 paragraph with respect to the manual audit of 

24 voter-verified paper ballots are— 


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1 ‘‘(i) audits conducted through the use 

2 of programmable electronic counting ma3 chines which are not capable of being con4 nected to the Internet, as determined in 

5 accordance with regulations promulgated 

6 by the Commission; or 

7 ‘‘(ii) if no machine described in clause 

8 (i) is available, an audit conducted by a 

9 hand count. 

10 ‘‘(C) RESOLUTION OF DISPUTES WHEN

11 PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE

12 COMPROMISED.—In the event that the paper 

13 ballots produced pursuant to subparagraph (A) 

14 with respect to an election for Federal office 

15 have been compromised, the State shall resolve 

16 the dispute over the results of the election in 

17 accordance with dispute resolution processes es18 tablished under regulations promulgated by the 

19 Commission. 

20 ‘‘(D) DEADLINE FOR PROMULGATION OF

21 REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall promul22 gate the regulations described in this paragraph 

23 not later than June 30, 2018.’’. 

24 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT CLARIFYING AP25 PLICABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESSIVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:42 Mar 08, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5147.IH H5147

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1 BILITY.—Section 301(a)(4) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

2 21081(a)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(including 

3 the paper ballots required to be produced under 

4 paragraph (2))’’ after ‘‘voting system’’. 

5 (3) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Sec6 tion 301(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(1)) 

7 is amended— 

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

9 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord10 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

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

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

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

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

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

17 and (3)’’; and 

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

19 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord20 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 

21 (b) AVAILABILITY OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO EN22 ABLE STATES TO MEET COSTS OF REVISED REQUIRE23 MENT.— 

24 (1) EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS

25 FOR MEETING REVISED REQUIREMENT; AMOUNTS


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1 DEEMED TO MEET REQUIREMENTS FOR EMERGENCY

2 FUNDING.—Section 257(a) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

3 21007(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2018, such sums as may be 

6 necessary to enable States to meet the requirements 

7 of section 301(a)(2) which are first imposed on the 

8 State pursuant to the amendments made by section 

9 2(a) of the Securing America’s Elections Act of 

10 2018. Any amount appropriated pursuant to the au11 thorization under this paragraph shall be designated 

12 by the Congress as being for an emergency require13 ment pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Bal14 anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 

15 1985.’’. 

16 (2) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT BASED ON COSTS IN17 CURRED IN MEETING REVISED REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 Section 252 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21002) is 

19 amended— 

20 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘sub21 section (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (c) and 

22 (e)’’; 

23 (B) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub24 section (f); and 


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1 (C) by inserting after subsection (d) the 

2 following new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(e) SPECIAL RULE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018.— 

4 ‘‘(1) COVERAGE OF COSTS OF MEETING RE5 VISED BALLOT VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPACITY

6 REQUIREMENTS.—The amount of a requirements 

7 payment made to a State from funds appropriated 

8 for fiscal year 2018 shall be equal to the State’s es9 timate of the reasonable costs the State expects to 

10 incur to meet the requirements referred to in para11 graph (3), as contained in the statement filed by the 

12 State with the Commission under section 

13 253(f)(1)(A)(ii). 

14 ‘‘(2) RECOUPMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS.—If a 

15 State receives a requirements payment from funds 

16 appropriated for fiscal year 2018, the State shall 

17 agree to repay to the Commission the excess (if any) 

18 of— 

19 ‘‘(A) the amount of the payment; over 

20 ‘‘(B) the actual costs incurred by the State 

21 in meeting the requirements referred to in para22 graph (3), as contained in the statement filed 

23 by the State with the Commission under section 

24 253(f)(1)(B). 


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1 ‘‘(3) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—The re2 quirements referred to in this paragraph are the re3 quirements of section 301(a)(2) (relating to ballot 

4 verification and audit capacity) which are first im5 posed on the State pursuant to the amendments 

6 made by section 2(a) of the Securing America’s 

7 Elections Act of 2018.’’. 

8 (3) REVISED CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF

9 FUNDS.—Section 253 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

10 21003) is amended— 

11 (A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘A State 

12 is eligible’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 

13 subsection (f), a State is eligible’’; and 

14 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

15 subsection: 

16 ‘‘(f) SPECIAL RULE FOR FISCAL YEAR 2018.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

18 provision of this part, a State is eligible to receive 

19 a requirements payment from funds appropriated for 

20 fiscal year 2018 if, at any time after the funds are 

21 appropriated, the chief executive officer of the State, 

22 or designee, in consultation and coordination with 

23 the chief State election official— 

24 ‘‘(A) files a statement with the Commis25 sion— 


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1 ‘‘(i) describing how the State will use 

2 the payment to meet the requirements of 

3 section 301(a)(2) (relating to ballot 

4 verification and audit capacity) which are 

5 first imposed on the State pursuant to the 

6 amendment made by section 2(a) of the 

7 Securing America’s Elections Act of 2018, 

8 and 

9 ‘‘(ii) containing the State’s estimate 

10 of the reasonable costs the State expects to 

11 incur to meet such requirements; and 

12 ‘‘(B) certifies to the Commission that, 

13 upon completing the replacement or upgrading 

14 of its voting systems to meet such require15 ments, the State will file a statement with the 

16 Commission containing the actual costs in17 curred by the State in meeting such require18 ments. 

19 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES THAT RE20 QUIRE CHANGES TO STATE LAW.—In the case of a 

21 State that requires State legislation to carry out any 

22 activity covered by any certification submitted under 

23 this subsection, the State shall be permitted to make 

24 the certification notwithstanding that the legislation 

25 has not been enacted at the time the certification is 


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1 submitted and such State shall submit an additional 

2 certification once such legislation is enacted.’’. 

3 (4) PERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR REIM4 BURSEMENT FOR COSTS PREVIOUSLY INCURRED.— 

5 Section 251(c)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 

6 21001(c)(1)) is amended by striking the period at 

7 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or as a reim8 bursement for any costs incurred in meeting the re9 quirements of section 301(a)(2) which are first im10 posed pursuant to the amendments made by section 

11 2(a) of the Securing America’s Elections Act of 

12 2018 or in otherwise replacing or upgrading voting 

13 systems in response to such amendments.’’. 

14 (5) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING USE

15 OF FUNDS TO REPLACE OR UPGRADE SYSTEMS OB16 TAINED WITH FUNDS PROVIDED PREVIOUSLY UNDER

17 HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002.—Nothing in the 

18 amendments made by this subsection or in any other 

19 provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 may 

20 be construed to prohibit a State from using any 

21 funds provided under such Act pursuant to the 

22 amendments made by this subsection (or any funds 

23 provided under such Act prior to the date of the en24 actment of this Act which remain unexpended as of 

25 the date of the enactment of this Act) to replace or 


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1 upgrade a voting system purchased or otherwise ob2 tained in whole or in part using funds received 

3 under title I or II of the Help America Vote Act at 

4 any time before the date of the enactment of this 

5 Act. 

6 (6) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

7 by this subsection shall apply with respect to fiscal 

8 years beginning with fiscal year 2018. 

9 (c) STUDY AND REPORT ON USE OF OPEN-SOURCE

10 SOFTWARE IN VOTING SYSTEMS.— 

11 (1) STUDY.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu12 rity and the Election Assistance Commission, acting 

13 jointly, shall conduct a study of the feasibility and 

14 desirability of using open-source software in voting 

15 systems, based on information obtained from elec16 tions for Federal office held in 2018 through 2020. 

17 (2) REPORT.—Not later than July 1, 2021, the 

18 Secretary and the Commission shall submit to Con19 gress a report on the study conducted under para20 graph (1), and shall include in the report such rec21 ommendations as the Secretary and Commission 

22 consider appropriate regarding the possible use of 

23 open-source software in the voting systems used to 

24 administer elections for Federal office held in 2022. 


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1 (3) DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF

2 SOFTWARE.—If the Secretary and the Commission 

3 include in the report submitted under paragraph (2) 

4 a recommendation that State election officials use 

5 open-source software in the voting systems used to 

6 administer elections for Federal office in the State— 

7 (A) the Commission shall enter into a part8 nership with appropriate private entities, in9 cluding entities engaged in the business of 

10 maintaining open-source software, to develop, 

11 test, certify, and maintain open-source software 

12 for such purpose for elections held in 2024 or 

13 any succeeding year; and 

14 (B) the Commission shall ensure that such 

15 certified software is available without cost to 

16 State election officials. 

17 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE FOR NEW REQUIREMENTS.— 

18 Section 301(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)) is 

19 amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para22 graph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be re23 quired to comply with the requirements of this sec24 tion on and after January 1, 2006. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN REQUIRE2 MENTS.—The requirements of subsection (a)(2) 

3 which are first imposed on a State and jurisdiction 

4 pursuant to the amendments made by section 2(a) 

5 of the Securing America’s Elections Act of 2018 

6 shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled 

7 general election for Federal office held in November 

8 2018 and each succeeding election for Federal of9 fice.’’. 

Æ 


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