I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 550

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

permanent paper record or hard copy under title III of such Act, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 2, 2005

Mr. HOLT (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DICKS, Ms. ESHOO, Mr. FARR, 

Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. KIND, Mr. LANTOS, 

Ms. LEE, Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MCDERMOTT, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. 

MORAN of Virginia, Mr. MOORE of Kansas, Mr. NADLER, Ms. 

SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Mr. WEXLER, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mrs. 

CAPPS, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. OBERSTAR, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. 

SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. SHERMAN, Mr. BAIRD, Mr. ALLEN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. KUCINICH, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. 

DEFAZIO, Mr. WU, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Ms. KAPTUR, Mr. 

COLE of Oklahoma, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. WAXMAN, Mr. 

SABO, Mr. COOPER, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Mr. HINCHEY, 

Mr. FILNER, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. MOLLOHAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. OBEY, 

Mr. CASE, Mr. CLAY, and Ms. MCKINNEY) 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 paper record or hard copy 

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Confidence and 

3 Increased Accessibility Act of 2005’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU5 RITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMA6 NENT RECORD OR HARD COPY. 

7 (a) VOTER VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPACITY.—

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

9 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 

10 15481(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 

11 ‘‘(2) VOTER-VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPAC12 ITY.—

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—

14 ‘‘(i) The voting system shall produce 

15 or require the use of an individual voter16 verified paper record of the voter’s vote 

17 that shall be made available for inspection 

18 and verification by the voter before the vot19 er’s vote is cast. For purposes of this 

20 clause, examples of such a record include a 

21 paper ballot prepared by the voter for the 

22 purpose of being read by an optical scan23 ner, a paper ballot prepared by the voter 

24 to be mailed to an election official (whether 

25 from a domestic or overseas location), a 

26 paper ballot created through the use of a 
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1 ballot marking device, or a paper print-out 

2 of the voter’s vote produced by a touch 

3 screen or other electronic voting machine, 

4 so long as in each case the record permits 

5 the voter to verify the record in accordance 

6 with this subparagraph. 

7 ‘‘(ii) The voting system shall provide 

8 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

9 any error made by the system in the voter10 verified paper record before the permanent 

11 voter-verified paper record is preserved in 

12 accordance with subparagraph (B)(i). 

13 ‘‘(iii) The voting system shall not pre14 serve the voter-verifiable paper records in 

15 any manner that makes it possible to asso16 ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 

17 vote. 

18 ‘‘(iv) In the case of a voting system 

19 which is purchased to meet the disability 

20 access requirements of paragraph (3) and 

21 which will be used exclusively by individ22 uals with disabilities, the system does not 

23 need to meet the requirements of clauses 

24 (i) through (iii), but shall meet the require25 ments described in paragraph (3)(B)(ii). 
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1 ‘‘(B) MANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY.—

2 ‘‘(i) The permanent voter-verified 

3 paper record produced in accordance with 

4 subparagraph (A) shall be preserved—

5 ‘‘(I) in the case of votes cast at 

6 the polling place on the date of the 

7 election, within the polling place in 

8 the manner or method in which all 

9 other paper ballots are preserved 

10 within such polling place; 

11 ‘‘(II) in the case of votes cast at 

12 the polling place prior to the date of 

13 the election or cast by mail, in a man14 ner which is consistent with the man15 ner employed by the jurisdiction for 

16 preserving such ballots in general; or 

17 ‘‘(III) in the absence of either 

18 such manner or method, in a manner 

19 which is consistent with the manner 

20 employed by the jurisdiction for pre21 serving paper ballots in general. 

22 ‘‘(ii) Each paper record produced pur23 suant to subparagraph (A) shall be suit24 able for a manual audit equivalent to that 

25 of a paper ballot voting system. 
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1 ‘‘(iii) In the event of any inconsist2 encies or irregularities between any elec3 tronic records and the individual perma4 nent paper records, the individual perma5 nent paper records shall be the true and 

6 correct record of the votes cast. 

7 ‘‘(iv) The individual permanent paper 

8 records produced pursuant to subpara9 graph (A) shall be the true and correct 

10 record of the votes cast and shall be used 

11 as the official records for purposes of any 

12 recount or audit conducted with respect to 

13 any election for Federal office in which the 

14 voting system is used. 

15 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR VOTES CAST BY

16 ABSENT MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS.—In 

17 the case of votes cast by absent uniformed serv18 ices voters and overseas voters under the Uni19 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 

20 Act, the ballots cast by such voters shall serve 

21 as the permanent paper record under subpara22 graph (A) in accordance with protocols estab23 lished by the Commission in consultation with 

24 the Secretary of Defense which preserve the 
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1 privacy of the voter and are consistent with the 

2 requirements of such Act.’’. 

3 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

4 301(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(1)) is 

5 amended—

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

7 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord8 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

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

10 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord11 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 

12 (C) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 

13 ‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord14 ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 

15 (b) ACCESSIBILITY AND VOTER VERIFICATION OF

16 RESULTS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(3)(B) of 

18 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3)(B)) is amended to 

19 read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(B)(i) satisfy the requirement of subpara21 graph (A) through the use of at least one direct 

22 recording electronic voting system or other vot23 ing system equipped for individuals with disabil24 ities at each polling place; and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) meet the requirements of paragraph 

2 (2)(A) by using a system that—

3 ‘‘(I) if strictly electronic, physically 

4 separates the function of vote generation 

5 from the functions of vote verification and 

6 casting, 

7 ‘‘(II) allows the voter to verify and 

8 cast the permanent record on paper or on 

9 another individualized, permanent medium 

10 privately and independently, and 

11 ‘‘(III) ensures that the entire process 

12 of voter verification and vote casting is ac13 cessible to the voter.’’. 

14 (2) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT OF STUDY, TEST15 ING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACCESSIBLE VOTER

16 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.—

17 (A) STUDY AND REPORTING.—Subtitle C 

18 of title II of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.) 

19 is amended—

20 (i) by redesignating section 247 as 

21 section 248; and 

22 (ii) by inserting after section 246 the 

23 following new section: 
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1 ‘‘SEC. 247. STUDY AND REPORT ON ACCESSIBLE VOTER 

2 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS. 

3 ‘‘The Commission shall study, test, and develop best 

4 practices to enhance the accessibility of voter-verification 

5 mechanisms for individuals with disabilities and for voters 

6 whose primary language is not English, including best 

7 practices for the mechanisms themselves and the processes 

8 through which the mechanisms are used.’’. 

9 (B) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of 

10 contents of such Act is amended—

11 (i) by redesignating the item relating 

12 to section 247 as relating to section 248; 

13 and 

14 (ii) by inserting after the item relating 

15 to section 246 the following new item:

‘‘Sec. 247. Study and report on accessible voter verification mechanisms.’’.

16 (c) ADDITIONAL VOTING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.—

17 (1) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 

18 301(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amend19 ed by adding at the end the following new para20 graphs: 

21 ‘‘(7) INSTRUCTION OF ELECTION OFFICIALS.—

22 Each State shall ensure that all election officials are 

23 instructed on the right of any individual who re24 quires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, 

25 other disability, or inability to read or write to be 
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1 given assistance by a person chosen by that indi2 vidual under section 208 of the Voting Rights Act 

3 of 1965. 

4 ‘‘(8) PROHIBITION OF USE OF UNDISCLOSED

5 SOFTWARE IN VOTING SYSTEMS.—No voting system 

6 shall at any time contain or use any undisclosed 

7 software. Any voting system containing or using 

8 software shall disclose the source code, object code, 

9 and executable representation of that software to the 

10 Commission, and the Commission shall make that 

11 source code, object code, and executable representa12 tion available for inspection upon request to any per13 son. 

14 ‘‘(9) PROHIBITION OF USE OF WIRELESS COM15 MUNICATIONS DEVICES IN VOTING SYSTEMS.—No 

16 voting system shall contain, use, or be accessible by 

17 any wireless, power-line, or concealed communication 

18 device at all. 

19 ‘‘(10) CERTIFICATION OF SOFTWARE AND

20 HARDWARE.—All software and hardware used in any 

21 electronic voting system shall be certified by labora22 tories accredited by the Commission as meeting the 

23 requirements of paragraphs (8) and (9). 

24 ‘‘(11) SECURITY STANDARDS FOR VOTING SYS25 TEMS USED IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No voting system may 

2 be used in an election for Federal office unless 

3 the manufacturer of such system and the elec4 tion officials using such system meet the appli5 cable requirements described in subparagraph 

6 (B). 

7 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—The 

8 requirements described in this subparagraph 

9 are as follows: 

10 ‘‘(i) The manufacturer and the elec11 tion officials shall document the chain of 

12 custody for the handling of software used 

13 in connection with voting systems. 

14 ‘‘(ii) The manufacturer of the soft15 ware used in the operation of the system 

16 shall provide the Commission with updated 

17 information regarding the identification of 

18 each individual who participated in the 

19 writing of the software, including specific 

20 information regarding whether the indi21 vidual has ever been convicted of a crime 

22 involving election fraud. 

23 ‘‘(iii) In the same manner and to the 

24 same extent described in paragraph (8), 

25 the manufacturer shall provide the codes 
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1 used in any software used in connection 

2 with the voting system to the Commission 

3 and may not alter such codes once the 

4 election officials have certified the system 

5 unless such system is recertified by such 

6 election officials. 

7 ‘‘(iv) The manufacturer shall meet 

8 standards established by the Commission 

9 to prevent the existence or appearance of 

10 any conflict of interest with respect to can11 didates for public office and political par12 ties, including standards to ensure that the 

13 manufacturer and its officers and directors 

14 do not hold positions of authority in any 

15 political party or in any partisan political 

16 campaign. 

17 ‘‘(12) PROHIBITING CONNECTION OF SYSTEM

18 OR TRANSMISSION OF SYSTEM INFORMATION OVER

19 THE INTERNET.—No component of any voting de20 vice upon which votes are cast shall be connected to 

21 the Internet.’’. 

22 (2) REQUIRING LABORATORIES TO MEET

23 STANDARDS PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

24 AS CONDITION OF ACCREDITATION FOR TESTING OF

25 VOTING SYSTEM HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.—
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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—Section 231(b) of such 

2 Act (42 U.S.C. 15371(b)) is amended by add3 ing at the end the following new paragraph: 

4 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; 

5 ENSURING AVAILABILITY OF RESULTS.—

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A laboratory may not 

7 be accredited by the Commission for purposes 

8 of this section unless—

9 ‘‘(i) the laboratory meets the stand10 ards applicable to the manufacturers of 

11 voting systems under section 

12 301(a)(11)(B)(iv), together with such 

13 standards as the Commission may estab14 lish to prevent the existence or appearance 

15 of any conflict of interest in the testing, 

16 certification, decertification, and recertifi17 cation carried out by the laboratory under 

18 this section, including standards to ensure 

19 that the laboratory does not have a finan20 cial interest in the manufacture, sale, and 

21 distribution of voting system hardware and 

22 software, and is sufficiently independent 

23 from other persons with such an interest; 

24 and 
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1 ‘‘(ii) the laboratory, upon completion 

2 of any testing, certification, decertification, 

3 and recertification carried out under this 

4 section, discloses the results to the Com5 mission. 

6 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF RESULTS.—Upon 

7 receipt of information under subparagraph 

8 (A)(ii), the Commission shall make the informa9 tion available to election officials and the pub10 lic.’’. 

11 (B) DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF

12 STANDARDS.—The Election Assistance Commis13 sion shall establish the standards described in 

14 section 231(b)(3) of the Help America Vote Act 

15 of 2002 (as added by subparagraph (A)) not 

16 later than January 1, 2006. 

17 (d) AVAILABILITY OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO EN18 ABLE STATES TO MEET COSTS OF REVISED REQUIRE19 MENTS.— 

20 (1) EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS

21 FOR MEETING REVISED REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

22 257(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 

23 U.S.C. 15407(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

24 the following new paragraph: 
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1 ‘‘(4) For fiscal year 2006, $150,000,000, except 

2 that any funds provided under the authorization 

3 made by this paragraph may be used by a State only 

4 to meet the requirements of title III which are first 

5 imposed on the State pursuant to the amendments 

6 made by section 2 of the Voter Confidence and In7 creased Accessibility Act of 2005.’’. 

8 (2) PERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR REIM9 BURSEMENT FOR COSTS PREVIOUSLY INCURRED.—

10 Section 251(c)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

11 15401(c)(1)) is amended by striking the period at 

12 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or as a reim13 bursement for any costs incurred in meeting the re14 quirements of title III which are imposed pursuant 

15 to the amendments made by section 2 of the Voter 

16 Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 

17 2005.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT OF HELP AMER19 ICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 

20 Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amend21 ed—

22 (1) by striking ‘‘The Attorney General’’ and in23 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General’’; 

24 and 
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1 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub2 sections: 

3 ‘‘(b) FILING OF COMPLAINTS BY AGGRIEVED PER4 SONS.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person who is aggrieved 

6 by a violation of section 301, 302, or 303 which is 

7 occurring or which is about to occur may file a writ8 ten, signed, notarized complaint with the Attorney 

9 General describing the violation and requesting the 

10 Attorney General to take appropriate action under 

11 this section. 

12 ‘‘(2) RESPONSE BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The 

13 Attorney General shall respond to each complaint 

14 filed under paragraph (1), in accordance with proce15 dures established by the Attorney General that re16 quire responses and determinations to be made with17 in the same (or shorter) deadlines which apply to a 

18 State under the State-based administrative com19 plaint procedures described in section 402(a)(2). 

20 ‘‘(c) CLARIFICATION OF AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE

21 RIGHT OF ACTION.—Nothing in this section may be con22 strued to prohibit any person from bringing an action 

23 under section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United 

24 States (42 U.S.C. 1983) to enforce the uniform and non-
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1 discriminatory election technology and administration re2 quirements under sections 301, 302, and 303. 

3 ‘‘(d) NO EFFECT ON STATE PROCEDURES.—Nothing 

4 in this section may be construed to affect the availability 

5 of the State-based administrative complaint procedures re6 quired under section 402 to any person filing a complaint 

7 under this subsection.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. PERMANENT EXTENSION OF AUTHORIZATION OF 

9 ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION. 

10 Section 210 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

11 (42 U.S.C. 15330) is amended by striking ‘‘each of the 

12 fiscal years 2003 through 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘each fiscal 

13 year beginning with fiscal year 2003’’. 

14 SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY MANUAL AUDITS 

15 BY HAND COUNT. 

16 (a) MANDATORY AUDITS IN RANDOM PRECINCTS.—

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 

18 Commission shall conduct random, unannounced, 

19 hand counts of the voter-verified records required to 

20 be produced and preserved pursuant to section 

21 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as 

22 amended by section 2) for each general election for 

23 Federal office (and, at the option of the State or ju24 risdiction involved, of elections for State and local 

25 office held at the same time as such an election for 
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1 Federal office) in at least 2 percent of the precincts 

2 (or equivalent locations) in each State. 

3 (2) PROCESS FOR CONDUCTING AUDITS.—The 

4 Commission shall conduct an audit under this sec5 tion of the results of an election in accordance with 

6 the following procedures: 

7 (A) Not later than 24 hours after a State 

8 announces the final vote count in each precinct 

9 in the State, the Commission shall determine 

10 and then announce the precincts in the State in 

11 which it will conduct the audits. 

12 (B) With respect to votes cast at the pre13 cinct or equivalent location on or before the 

14 date of the election (other than provisional bal15 lots described in subparagraph (C)), the Com16 mission shall count by hand the voter-verified 

17 records required to be produced and preserved 

18 under section 301(a)(2)(A) of the Help America 

19 Vote Act of 2002 (as amended by section 2) 

20 and compare those records with the count of 

21 such votes as announced by the State. 

22 (C) With respect to votes cast other than 

23 at the precinct on the date of the election (other 

24 than votes cast before the date of the election 

25 described in subparagraph (B)) or votes cast by 
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1 provisional ballot on the date of the election 

2 which are certified and counted by the State on 

3 or after the date of the election, including votes 

4 cast by absent uniformed services voters and 

5 overseas voters under the Uniformed and Over6 seas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the Commis7 sion shall count by hand the applicable voter8 verified records required to be produced and 

9 preserved under section 301(a)(2)(A) (as 

10 amended by section 2) and compare its count 

11 with the count of such votes as announced by 

12 the State. 

13 (3) SPECIAL RULE IN CASE OF DELAY IN RE14 PORTING ABSENTEE VOTE COUNT.—In the case of a 

15 State in which, under State law, the final count of 

16 absentee and provisional votes is not announced 

17 until after the expiration of the 7-day period which 

18 begins on the date of the election, the Commission 

19 shall initiate the process described in paragraph (2) 

20 for conducting the audit not later than 24 hours 

21 after the State announces the final vote count for 

22 the votes cast at the precinct or equivalent location 

23 on or before the date of the election, and shall ini24 tiate the recount of the absentee and provisional 

25 votes pursuant to paragraph (2)(C) not later than 
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1 24 hours after the State announces the final count 

2 of such votes. 

3 (4) AVAILABILITY OF INFORMATION.—Each 

4 State and jurisdiction in which an audit is conducted 

5 under this section shall provide the Commission with 

6 the information and materials requested by the 

7 Commission to enable it to carry out the audit. 

8 (b) SELECTION OF PRECINCTS.—The selection of the 

9 precincts in a State in which the Commission shall conduct 

10 hand counts under this section shall be made by the Com11 mission on an entirely random basis using a uniform dis12 tribution in which all precincts in a State have an equal 

13 chance of being selected, in accordance with such proce14 dures as the Commission determines appropriate, except 

15 that—

16 (1) at least one precinct shall be selected in 

17 each county (or equivalent jurisdiction); and 

18 (2) the Commission shall publish the procedures 

19 in the Federal Register prior to the selection of the 

20 precincts. 

21 (c) PUBLICATION.—

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 

23 the completion of an audit conducted under this sec24 tion, the Commission shall announce and publish the 

25 results of the audit, and shall include in the an-
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1 nouncement a comparison of the results of the elec2 tion in the precinct as determined by the Commis3 sion under the audit and the final vote count in the 

4 precinct as announced by the State, broken down by 

5 the categories of votes described in subparagraphs 

6 (B) and (C) of subsection (a)(2). 

7 (2) DELAY IN CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS BY

8 STATE.—No State may certify the results of any 

9 election which is subject to an audit under this sec10 tion prior to the completion of the audit and the an11 nouncement and publication of the results of the 

12 audit under paragraph (1), except to the extent nec13 essary to enable the State to provide for the final de14 termination of any controversy or contest concerning 

15 the appointment of its electors for President and 

16 Vice President prior to the deadline described in sec17 tion 6 of title 3, United States Code. 

18 (d) ADDITIONAL AUDITS IF CAUSE SHOWN.—If the 

19 Commission finds that any of the hand counts conducted 

20 under this section show cause for concern about the accu21 racy of the results of an election in a State or in a jurisdic22 tion within the State, the Commission may conduct hand 

23 counts under this section at such additional precincts (or 

24 equivalent locations) within the State or jurisdiction as the 
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1 Commission considers appropriate to resolve any concerns 

2 and ensure the accuracy of the results. 

3 (e) AVAILABILITY OF ENFORCEMENT UNDER HELP

4 AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002.—Section 401 of the Help 

5 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15511), as amended 

6 by section 3, is amended—

7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking the period at 

8 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘or to respond 

9 to an action taken by a State or jurisdiction in re10 sponse to an audit conducted by the Commission 

11 under the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessi12 bility Act of 2005 of the results of an election for 

13 Federal office or by the failure of a State or juris14 diction to take an action in response to such an 

15 audit.’’; 

16 (2) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘about to 

17 occur’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘about to occur, 

18 or by an action taken by a State or jurisdiction in 

19 response to an audit conducted by the Commission 

20 under the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessi21 bility Act of 2005 of the results of an election for 

22 Federal office or by the failure of a State or juris23 diction to take an action in response to such an 

24 audit’’; and 
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1 (3) in subsection (c), by striking the period at 

2 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘or to respond 

3 to an action taken by a State or jurisdiction in re4 sponse to an audit conducted by the Commission 

5 under the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessi6 bility Act of 2005 of the results of an election for 

7 Federal office or by the failure of a State or juris8 diction to take an action in response to such an 

9 audit.’’. 

10 (f) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—In addi11 tion to any other amounts authorized to be appropriated 

12 under any other law, there are authorized to be appro13 priated to the Election Assistance Commission such sums 

14 as may be necessary to carry out this section. 

15 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 

16 respect to regularly scheduled general elections for Fed17 eral office beginning with the elections held in November 

18 2006. 

19 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE 

20 COMMISSION FROM CERTAIN GOVERNMENT 

21 CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 

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

23 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15325) is amended by strik24 ing subsection (e). 
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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

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

3 into by the Election Assistance Commission on or after 

4 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

5 SEC. 7. REQUIREMENT FOR FEDERAL CERTIFICATION OF 

6 TECHNOLOGICAL SECURITY OF VOTER REG7 ISTRATION LISTS. 

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

9 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)(3)) is amended by striking 

10 ‘‘measures to prevent the’’ and inserting ‘‘measures, as 

11 certified by the Election Assistance Commission, to pre12 vent’’. 

13 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 Except as provided in section 6(b), the amendments 

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

16 enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

Æ