I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3412 

To protect the administration of Federal elections against cybersecurity 

threats. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 21, 2019 

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

Mr. WALTZ, Mr. COLLINS of Georgia, and Mr. UPTON) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 

(Permanent Select), 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 protect the administration of Federal elections against 

cybersecurity threats. 

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 ‘‘Election Security As5 sistance Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO STATES FOR ELECTION ADMINISTRA2 TION IMPROVEMENTS. 

3 (a) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.—Notwithstanding 

4 section 104(c)(2)(B) of the Help America Vote Act of 

5 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20904(c)(2)(B)), there is authorized to 

6 be appropriated $380,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 to the 

7 Election Assistance Commission for necessary expenses to 

8 make payments to States for activities to improve the ad9 ministration of elections for Federal office, including to 

10 enhance election technology and make election security im11 provements, as authorized by sections 101, 103, and 104 

12 of such Act. 

13 (b) PAYMENTS TO STATES.— 

14 (1) STATE MATCH.—Not later than two years 

15 after receiving funds under subsection (a), a State 

16 shall make available funds for activities described in 

17 such subsection in an amount equal to 25 percent of 

18 the total amount of the payment made to the State 

19 under such subsection. 

20 (2) TIMING.—The Election Assistance Commis21 sion shall make payments to States under subsection 

22 (a) not later than 45 days after the date of enact23 ment of this Act. 

24 (3) GUARANTEED MINIMUM PAYMENT.—For 

25 purposes of this section, with respect to section 103 

26 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20903)— 


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1 (A) each reference to ‘‘$5,000,000’’ shall 

2 be deemed to refer to ‘‘$3,000,000’’; and 

3 (B) each reference to ‘‘$1,000,000’’ shall 

4 be deemed to refer to ‘‘$600,000’’. 

5 (c) REFERENCE.—For purposes of this section, with 

6 respect to sections 101 and 103 of such Act, each ref7 erence to the ‘‘Administrator of General Services’’ or the 

8 ‘‘Administrator’’ shall be deemed to refer to the ‘‘Election 

9 Assistance Commission’’. 

10 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF ELECTRONIC POLL BOOKS AS PART 

11 OF VOTING SYSTEMS. 

12 (a) INCLUSION IN DEFINITION OF VOTING SYS13 TEM.—Section 301(b) of the Help America Vote Act of 

14 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(b)) is amended— 

15 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 

16 striking ‘‘this section’’ and inserting ‘‘this Act’’; 

17 (2) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

18 (1); 

19 (3) by redesignating paragraph (2) as para20 graph (3); and 

21 (4) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol22 lowing new paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(2) any electronic poll book used with respect 

24 to the election; and’’. 


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1 (b) DEFINITION.—Section 301 of such Act (52 

2 U.S.C. 21081) is amended— 

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

4 subsections (d) and (e); and 

5 (2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol6 lowing new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(c) ELECTRONIC POLL BOOK DEFINED.—In this 

8 Act, the term ‘electronic poll book’ means the total com9 bination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic 

10 equipment (including the software, firmware, and docu11 mentation required to program, control, and support the 

12 equipment) that is used— 

13 ‘‘(1) to retain the list of registered voters at a 

14 polling location, or vote center, or other location at 

15 which voters cast votes in an election for Federal of16 fice; and 

17 ‘‘(2) to identify registered voters who are eligi18 ble to vote in an election.’’. 

19 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 301(e) of such Act 

20 (52 U.S.C. 21081(e)), as redesignated by subsection (b), 

21 is amended by striking the period at the end and inserting 

22 the following: ‘‘, or, with respect to any requirements re23 lating to electronic poll books, on and after January 1, 

24 2020.’’. 


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1 SEC. 4. SECURITY CLEARANCE ASSISTANCE FOR ELECTION 

2 OFFICIALS. 

3 (a) STATE OFFICIALS.—In order to promote the 

4 timely sharing of information on threats to election infra5 structure, the Secretary of Homeland Security may— 

6 (1) help expedite a security clearance at the top 

7 secret level for the chief State election official and 

8 other appropriate State personnel involved in the ad9 ministration of elections, as designated by the chief 

10 State election official; 

11 (2) sponsor a security clearance at the top se12 cret level for the chief State election official and 

13 other appropriate State personnel involved in the ad14 ministration of elections, as designated by the chief 

15 State election official; and 

16 (3) facilitate the issuance of a temporary clear17 ance at the top secret level to the chief State election 

18 official and other appropriate State personnel in19 volved in the administration of elections, as des20 ignated by the chief State election official, if the 

21 Secretary determines classified information to be 

22 timely and relevant to the election infrastructure of 

23 the State at issue. 

24 (b) ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION.—The Sec25 retary shall expeditiously issue a security clearance at the 

26 top secret level to the following officials: 


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1 (1) Each member of the Election Assistance 

2 Commission appointed pursuant to section 203(a) of 

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

4 20923(a)). 

5 (2) The Executive Director of the Election As6 sistance Commission appointed pursuant to section 

7 204(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20924(a)(1)). 

8 (3) The General Counsel of the Election Assist9 ance Commission appointed pursuant to section 

10 204(a)(4) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20924(a)(4)). 

11 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

12 (1) the term ‘‘chief State election official’’ 

13 means, with respect to a State, the individual des14 ignated by the State under section 10 of the Na15 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

16 20509) to be responsible for coordination of the 

17 State’s responsibilities under such Act; 

18 (2) the term ‘‘election infrastructure’’ means 

19 storage facilities, polling places, and centralized vote 

20 tabulation locations used to support the administra21 tion of elections for public office, as well as related 

22 information and communications technology, includ23 ing voter registration databases, voting machines, 

24 electronic mail and other communications systems 

25 (including electronic mail and other systems of elecVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jun 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3412.IH H3412

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1 tion service providers who have entered into con2 tracts with election agencies to support the adminis3 tration of elections, manage the election process, and 

4 report and display election results), and other sys5 tems used to manage the election process and to re6 port and display election results on behalf of an elec7 tion agency; 

8 (3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

9 of Homeland Security; and 

10 (4) the term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 

11 such term in section 901 of the Help America Vote 

12 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141). 

13 SEC. 5. DUTY OF SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY TO 

14 NOTIFY STATE AND LOCAL OFFICIALS OF 

15 ELECTION CYBERSECURITY INCIDENTS. 

16 (a) DUTY TO SHARE INFORMATION WITH DEPART17 MENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.—If a Federal entity re18 ceives information about an election cybersecurity inci19 dent, the Federal entity shall promptly share that infor20 mation with the Department of Homeland Security, unless 

21 the head of the entity (or a Senate-confirmed official des22 ignated by the head) makes a specific determination in 

23 writing that there is good cause to withhold the particular 

24 information. 


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1 (b) RESPONSE TO RECEIPT OF INFORMATION BY

2 SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Upon receiving information 

4 about an election cybersecurity incident under sub5 section (a), the Secretary of Homeland Security, in 

6 consultation with the Attorney General, the Director 

7 of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Di8 rector of National Intelligence, shall promptly (but 

9 in no case later than 96 hours after receiving the in10 formation) review the information and make a deter11 mination whether each of the following apply: 

12 (A) There is credible evidence that the in13 cident occurred. 

14 (B) There is a basis to believe that the in15 cident resulted, could have resulted, or could re16 sult in voter information systems or voter tab17 ulation systems being altered or otherwise af18 fected. 

19 (2) DUTY TO NOTIFY STATE AND LOCAL OFFI20 CIALS.— 

21 (A) DUTY DESCRIBED.—If the Secretary 

22 makes a determination under paragraph (1) 

23 that subparagraphs (A) and (B) of such para24 graph apply with respect to an election cyberse25 curity incident, not later than 96 hours after 


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1 making the determination, the Secretary shall 

2 provide a notification of the incident to each of 

3 the following: 

4 (i) The chief executive of the State in5 volved. 

6 (ii) The State election official of the 

7 State involved. 

8 (iii) The local election official of the 

9 election agency involved. 

10 (B) TREATMENT OF CLASSIFIED INFORMA11 TION.— 

12 (i) EFFORTS TO AVOID INCLUSION OF

13 CLASSIFIED INFORMATION.—In preparing 

14 a notification provided under this para15 graph to an individual described in clause 

16 (i), (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (A), the 

17 Secretary shall attempt to avoid the inclu18 sion of classified information. 

19 (ii) PROVIDING GUIDANCE TO STATE

20 AND LOCAL OFFICIALS.—To the extent 

21 that a notification provided under this 

22 paragraph to an individual described in 

23 clause (i), (ii), or (iii) of subparagraph (A) 

24 includes classified information, the Sec25 retary (in consultation with the Attorney 


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1 General and the Director of National Intel2 ligence) shall indicate in the notification 

3 which information is classified. 

4 (3) EXCEPTION.— 

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary, in 

6 consultation with the Attorney General and the 

7 Director of National Intelligence, makes a de8 termination that it is not possible to provide a 

9 notification under paragraph (1) with respect to 

10 an election cybersecurity incident without com11 promising intelligence methods or sources or 

12 interfering with an ongoing investigation, the 

13 Secretary shall not provide the notification 

14 under such paragraph. 

15 (B) ONGOING REVIEW.—Not later than 30 

16 days after making a determination under sub17 paragraph (A) and every 30 days thereafter, 

18 the Secretary shall review the determination. If, 

19 after reviewing the determination, the Secretary 

20 makes a revised determination that it is pos21 sible to provide a notification under paragraph 

22 (2) without compromising intelligence methods 

23 or sources or interfering with an ongoing inves24 tigation, the Secretary shall provide the notifiVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:25 Jun 27, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3412.IH H3412

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1 cation under paragraph (2) not later than 96 

2 hours after making such revised determination. 

3 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the following defi4 nitions apply: 

5 (1) ELECTION AGENCY.—The term ‘‘election 

6 agency’’ means any component of a State, or any 

7 component of a unit of local government in a State, 

8 which is responsible for the administration of elec9 tions for Federal office in the State. 

10 (2) ELECTION CYBERSECURITY INCIDENT.— 

11 The term ‘‘election cybersecurity incident’’ means an 

12 occurrence that actually or imminently jeopardizes, 

13 without lawful authority, the integrity, confiden14 tiality, or availability of information on an informa15 tion system of election infrastructure, or actually or 

16 imminently jeopardizes, without lawful authority, an 

17 information system of election infrastructure. 

18 (3) FEDERAL ELECTION.—The term ‘‘Federal 

19 election’’ means any election (as defined in section 

20 301(1) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 

21 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(1))) for Federal office (as 

22 defined in section 301(3) of the Federal Election 

23 Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(3))). 


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1 (4) FEDERAL ENTITY.—The term ‘‘Federal en2 tity’’ means any agency (as defined in section 551 

3 of title 5, United States Code). 

4 (5) LOCAL ELECTION OFFICIAL.—The term 

5 ‘‘local election official’’ means the chief election offi6 cial of a component of a unit of local government of 

7 a State that is responsible for administering Federal 

8 elections. 

9 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

10 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 

11 (7) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 

12 the several States, the District of Columbia, the 

13 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 

14 Samoa, the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Is15 lands, and the United States Virgin Islands. 

16 (8) STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL.—The term 

17 ‘‘State election official’’ means— 

18 (A) the chief State election official of a 

19 State designated under section 10 of the Na20 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 

21 U.S.C. 20509); or 

22 (B) in the case of Puerto Rico, Guam, 

23 American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Is24 lands, and the United States Virgin Islands, a 


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1 chief State election official designated by the 

2 State for purposes of this Act. 

3 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 

4 respect to information about an election cybersecurity inci5 dent which is received on or after the date of the enact6 ment of this Act. 

7 SEC. 6. ESTABLISHMENT OF ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE 

8 UNIT IN ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS9 SION. 

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

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

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

13 ‘‘PART 4—ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT 

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

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

16 Commission the Election Cyber Assistance Unit (hereafter 

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

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

19 election officials in various geographic regions of the 

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

21 and technical support services provided by election admin22 istration and cybersecurity experts who will be based in 

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

24 by telephone, or online.’’. 


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

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

3 relating to subtitle A of title II the following: 

‘‘PART 4—ELECTION CYBER ASSISTANCE UNIT

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

4 SEC. 7. REPRESENTATIVE OF DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 

5 SECURITY ON TECHNICAL GUIDELINES DE6 VELOPMENT COMMITTEE. 

7 Section 221(c)(1) of the Help America Vote Act of 

8 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20961(c)(1)) is amended— 

9 (1) by redesignating subparagraph (E) as sub10 paragraph (F); and 

11 (2) by inserting after subparagraph (D) the fol12 lowing new subparagraph: 

13 ‘‘(E) A representative of the Department 

14 of Homeland Security.’’. 

15 SEC. 8. REPORTS TO CONGRESS ON FOREIGN THREATS TO 

16 ELECTIONS. 

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after the 

18 date of enactment of this Act, and 30 days after the end 

19 of each fiscal year thereafter, the Secretary of Homeland 

20 Security and the Director of National Intelligence, in co21 ordination with the heads of the appropriate Federal enti22 ties, shall submit a joint report to the appropriate congres23 sional committees and the chief State election official of 


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1 each State on foreign threats to elections in the United 

2 States, including physical and cybersecurity threats. 

3 (b) VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION BY STATES.—The 

4 Secretary shall solicit and consider comments from all 

5 State election agencies. Participation by an election agen6 cy in the report under this section shall be voluntary and 

7 at the discretion of the State. 

8 (c) APPROPRIATE FEDERAL ENTITIES.—In this sec9 tion, the term ‘‘appropriate Federal entities’’ means— 

10 (1) the Department of Commerce, including the 

11 National Institute of Standards and Technology; 

12 (2) the Department of Defense; 

13 (3) the Department of Homeland Security, in14 cluding the component of the Department that re15 ports to the Under Secretary responsible for over16 seeing critical infrastructure protection, cybersecu17 rity, and other related programs of the Department; 

18 (4) the Department of Justice, including the 

19 Federal Bureau of Investigation; 

20 (5) the Election Assistance Commission; and 

21 (6) the Office of the Director of National Intel22 ligence, the National Security Agency, and such 

23 other elements of the intelligence community (as de24 fined in section 3 of the National Security Act of 


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1 1947 (50 U.S.C. 3003)) as the Director of National 

2 Intelligence determines are appropriate. 

3 (d) OTHER DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 (1) the term ‘‘appropriate congressional com5 mittees’’ means— 

6 (A) the Committee on Rules and Adminis7 tration, the Committee on Homeland Security 

8 and Governmental Affairs, the Select Com9 mittee on Intelligence, and the Committee on 

10 Foreign Relations of the Senate; and 

11 (B) the Committee on House Administra12 tion, the Committee on Homeland Security, the 

13 Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, 

14 and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 

15 House of Representatives; 

16 (2) the term ‘‘chief State election official’’ 

17 means, with respect to a State, the individual des18 ignated by the State under section 10 of the Na19 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

20 20509) to be responsible for coordination of the 

21 State’s responsibilities under such Act; 

22 (3) the term ‘‘election agency’’ means any com23 ponent of a State or any component of a unit of 

24 local government of a State that is responsible for 

25 administering Federal elections; 


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1 (4) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

2 of Homeland Security; and 

3 (5) the term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 

4 such term in section 901 of the Help America Vote 

5 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141). 

6 SEC. 9. GAO ANALYSIS OF FEASIBILITY OF CONDUCTING 

7 RISK-LIMITING AUDITS. 

8 (a) ANALYSIS.—The Comptroller General of the 

9 United States shall conduct an analysis of the following: 

10 (1) The feasibility for States to conduct risk11 limiting audits of elections for Federal office. 

12 (2) The types of risk-limiting audits performed 

13 by States. 

14 (3) The extent to which risk-limiting audits per15 formed by States have improved the administration 

16 of elections in such States. 

17 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

18 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

19 United States shall submit to Congress a report on the 

20 analysis conducted under subsection (a). 

21 SEC. 10. GAO ANALYSIS OF FEASIBILITY OF REQUIRING 

22 USE OF PAPER BALLOTS. 

23 (a) ANALYSIS.—The Comptroller General of the 

24 United States shall conduct an analysis of the following: 


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1 (1) The feasibility of requiring the use of paper 

2 ballots in elections for Federal office on a nationwide 

3 basis. 

4 (2) The impacts with respect to accessibility for 

5 individuals with disabilities of requiring the use of 

6 paper ballots in elections for Federal office. 

7 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

8 of the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall 

9 submit to Congress a report on the analysis conducted 

10 under subsection (a). 

11 SEC. 11. STUDY AND REPORT ON OPTIMAL BALLOT DESIGN. 

12 (a) STUDY.—The Election Assistance Commission 

13 shall conduct a study of the best ways to design ballots 

14 used in elections for public office, including paper ballots 

15 and electronic or digital ballots, to minimize confusion and 

16 user errors. 

17 (b) REPORT.—Not later than January 1, 2020, the 

18 Election Assistance Commission shall submit to Congress 

19 a report on the study conducted under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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