I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8991 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit the use of voting 

systems in elections for Federal office whose hardware and software 

components are not manufactured and maintained in the United States 

or which are produced by foreign entities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 16, 2020 

Mr. POSEY 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 prohibit 

the use of voting systems in elections for Federal office 

whose hardware and software components are not manufactured and maintained in the United States or which 

are produced by foreign entities, 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 ‘‘American Election Se5 curity Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING USE OF VOTING SYSTEM PRODUCED 

2 BY FOREIGN ENTITY IN ELECTIONS FOR FED3 ERAL OFFICE. 

4 (a) PROHIBITION.—Section 301(a) of the Help Amer5 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)) is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: 

7 ‘‘(7) SYSTEM HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MAN8 UFACTURED AND MAINTAINED IN UNITED

9 STATES.—All of the hardware components and all of 

10 the software components of the system shall be man11 ufactured in the United States, and all of the hard12 ware components or software components shall be 

13 maintained and serviced only by persons who are in 

14 the United States. 

15 ‘‘(8) SYSTEM NOT PRODUCED BY FOREIGN EN16 TITY.— 

17 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The voting system 

18 may not be produced by a foreign entity. 

19 ‘‘(B) FOREIGN ENTITY DEFINED.—In sub20 paragraph (A), the term ‘foreign entity’ means 

21 any of the following: 

22 ‘‘(i) A foreign national. 

23 ‘‘(ii) Any corporation which is not a 

24 foreign national and in which a foreign na25 tional or an alien directly or indirectly 

26 owns or controls any voting share. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) Any corporation which is not a 

2 foreign national and with respect to which 

3 any of the members of the board of direc4 tors are foreign nationals or aliens. 

5 ‘‘(iv) Any corporation which is not a 

6 foreign national and over which one or 

7 more foreign nationals or aliens has the 

8 power to direct, dictate, or control the de9 cision-making process of the corporation 

10 with respect to its interests in the United 

11 States. 

12 ‘‘(C) FOREIGN NATIONAL DEFINED.—In 

13 this paragraph, the term ‘foreign national’ has 

14 the meaning given such term in section 1(b) of 

15 the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, 

16 as amended (22 U.S.C. 611(b)), except that 

17 such term shall not include any individual who 

18 is a citizen of the United States. 

19 ‘‘(D) ALIEN DEFINED.—In this paragraph, 

20 the term ‘alien’ means an individual who is not 

21 a citizen of the United States or a national of 

22 the United States (as defined in section 

23 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality 

24 Act), and who is not lawfully admitted for perVerDate Sep 11 2014 16:30 Dec 31, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8991.IH H8991

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1 manent residence (as defined in section 

2 101(a)(20) of such Act).’’. 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 301(d) of such Act 

4 (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

5 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be re8 quired to comply with the requirements of this sec9 tion on and after January 1, 2006. 

10 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR REQUIREMENTS RE11 LATING TO FOREIGN ENTITIES.—In the case of the 

12 requirements of paragraphs (7) and (8) of sub13 section (a), each State and jurisdiction shall be re14 quired to comply with such requirements on and 

15 after the date of the enactment of the American 

16 Election Security Act.’’. 

Æ 


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