I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5228 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish standards for 

the publication of the poll tapes used in elections for Federal office, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2010 

Mr. HOLT 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 establish 

standards for the publication of the poll tapes used in 

elections for Federal office, 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 ‘‘Poll Tape Trans5 parency Act of 2010’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATES TO MEET STANDARDS FOR 

2 PUBLICATION OF POLL TAPES. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a) of the Help Amer4 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

6 ‘‘(7) REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLICATION OF

7 POLL TAPES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS.—Each State shall 

9 meet the following requirements: 

10 ‘‘(i) Upon the closing of the polls at 

11 each polling place, the appropriate election 

12 official, under the observation of the cer13 tified tabulation observers admitted to the 

14 polling place under subparagraph (E) (if 

15 any), shall announce the vote orally, post a 

16 copy of the poll tape reflecting the totals 

17 from each voting machine upon which 

18 votes were cast in the election at the poll19 ing place, and prepare and post a state20 ment of the total number of individuals 

21 who appeared at the polling place to cast 

22 ballots, determined by reference to the 

23 number of signatures in a sign-in book or 

24 other similar independent count. Such offi25 cials shall ensure that each of the certified 

26 tabulation observers admitted to the pollVerDate Mar 15 2010 00:56 May 07, 2010 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5228.IH H5228

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1 ing place has full access to observe the 

2 process by which the poll tapes and state3 ment are produced and a reasonable period 

4 of time to review the poll tapes and state5 ment before the polling place is closed, and 

6 (if feasible) shall provide such observers 

7 with identical duplicate copies of the poll 

8 tapes and statement. 

9 ‘‘(ii) As soon as practicable, but in no 

10 event later than noon of the day following 

11 the date of the election, the appropriate 

12 election official shall display (at a promi13 nent location accessible to the public dur14 ing regular business hours and in or within 

15 reasonable proximity to the polling place) a 

16 copy of each poll tape and statement pre17 pared under clause (i), and the information 

18 shall be displayed on the official public 

19 websites of the applicable local election of20 ficial and chief State election official, to21 gether with the name of the designated 

22 voting official who entered the information 

23 and the date and time the information was 

24 entered. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) Each website on which informa2 tion is posted under clause (ii) shall in3 clude information on the procedures by 

4 which discrepancies shall be reported to 

5 election officials. If any discrepancy exists 

6 between the posted information and the 

7 relevant poll tape or statement, the appro8 priate election official shall display infor9 mation on the discrepancy on the website 

10 on which the information is posted under 

11 clause (ii) not later than 24 hours after 

12 the official is made aware of the discrep13 ancy, and shall maintain the information 

14 on the discrepancy and its resolution (if 

15 applicable) on such website during the en16 tire period for which results of the election 

17 are typically maintained on such website. 

18 ‘‘(iv) The appropriate election official 

19 shall preserve archived copies of the poll 

20 tapes and statements prepared under 

21 clause (i) and reports of discrepancies filed 

22 by certified tabulation observers for the pe23 riod of time during which records and pa24 pers are required to be retained and pre25 served pursuant to title III of the Civil 


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1 Rights Act of 1960 (42 U.S.C. 1974 et 

2 seq.) or for the same duration for which 

3 archived copies of other records of the elec4 tion are required to be preserved under ap5 plicable State law, whichever is longer. 

6 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF BALLOTS CAST AT

7 EARLY VOTING SITES.— 

8 ‘‘(i) APPLICATION.—The requirements 

9 of this subparagraph shall apply with re10 spect to poll tapes and statements of the 

11 number of voters who voted in person at 

12 designated sites prior to the date of the 

13 election. 

14 ‘‘(ii) DAILY COUNT OF VOTERS.—At 

15 the close of business on each day on which 

16 ballots described in clause (i) may be cast 

17 prior to the date of the election, the appro18 priate election official at each such site 

19 shall— 

20 ‘‘(I) under the observation of cer21 tified tabulation observers admitted to 

22 the site under subparagraph (E) (if 

23 any), prepare and post a statement of 

24 the total number of individuals who 

25 appeared at the site to cast ballots, 


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1 determined by reference to the num2 ber of signatures in a sign-in book or 

3 other similar independent count, and 

4 the total number of ballots cast (ex5 cluding information on the votes re6 ceived by individual candidates), and 

7 shall ensure that each of the certified 

8 tabulation observers admitted to the 

9 site has full access to observe the 

10 process by which the statement is pro11 duced and a reasonable period of time 

12 to review the statement before the site 

13 is closed; and 

14 ‘‘(II) display at the site during 

15 regular business hours for the dura16 tion of the early voting period a paper 

17 copy of the statement prepared under 

18 subclause (I). 

19 ‘‘(iii) APPLICATION OF GENERAL RE20 QUIREMENTS FOR POLL TAPES AND

21 STATEMENTS.—Upon the closing of the 

22 polls on the date of the election, the appro23 priate election official at each designated 

24 site described in this subparagraph shall 

25 meet the requirements of subparagraph 


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1 (A) (including requirements relating to the 

2 role of certified tabulation observers) in 

3 the same manner as an election official at 

4 a polling place. 

5 ‘‘(C) TREATMENT OF ABSENTEE BAL6 LOTS.— 

7 ‘‘(i) DAILY COUNT OF BALLOTS

8 MAILED AND RECEIVED.—At the close of 

9 each business day on which a State mails 

10 or accepts absentee ballots cast in an elec11 tion for Federal office prior to the date of 

12 the election, the appropriate election offi13 cial shall— 

14 ‘‘(I) under the observation of cer15 tified tabulation observers admitted 

16 under subparagraph (E) to the site at 

17 which the ballots are mailed and re18 ceived (if any), prepare and post a 

19 statement of the total number of ab20 sentee ballots mailed and received by 

21 the official during that day and a sep22 arate count of the number of absentee 

23 ballots received but rejected (sepa24 rated into categories of the reasons 

25 for rejection), and ensure that each of 


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1 the certified tabulation observers ad2 mitted to the site has full access to 

3 observe the process by which the 

4 statement is produced and a reason5 able period of time to review the 

6 statement before the site is closed; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(II) display at the site during 

9 regular business hours for the dura10 tion of the period during which absen11 tee ballots are processed a paper copy 

12 of the statement prepared under sub13 clause (I). 

14 ‘‘(ii) APPLICATION OF GENERAL RE15 QUIREMENTS FOR POLL TAPES AND

16 STATEMENTS.—At the close of business on 

17 the last day on which absentee ballots are 

18 counted prior to the certification of the 

19 election, the appropriate election official at 

20 the site at which absentee ballots are re21 ceived and counted shall meet the require22 ments of subparagraph (A) (including re23 quirements relating to the role of certified 

24 tabulation observers) in the same manner 

25 as an election official at a polling place. 


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1 ‘‘(D) DAILY COUNT OF PROVISIONAL BAL2 LOTS.—At the close of business on the day on 

3 which the appropriate election official deter4 mines whether or not provisional ballots cast in 

5 an election for Federal office will be counted as 

6 votes in the election (as described in section 

7 302(a)(4)), the official shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) under the observation of certified 

9 tabulation observers admitted under sub10 paragraph (E) to the site at which the de11 termination is made (if any), prepare and 

12 post a statement of the number of such 

13 ballots for which a determination was 

14 made, the number of ballots counted, and 

15 the number of ballots rejected (separated 

16 into categories of the reason for the rejec17 tion), and ensure that each of the certified 

18 tabulation observers admitted to the site 

19 has full access to observe the process by 

20 which the statement is produced and a rea21 sonable period of time to review the state22 ment before the site is closed; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) display at the site during regular 

24 business hours for the duration of the pe25 riod during which provisional ballots are 


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1 processed a paper copy of the statement 

2 prepared under clause (i). 

3 ‘‘(E) ADMISSION OF CERTIFIED TABULA4 TION OBSERVERS.— 

5 ‘‘(i) CERTIFIED TABULATION OB6 SERVER DEFINED.—In this paragraph, a 

7 ‘certified tabulation observer’ is an indi8 vidual who is certified by an appropriate 

9 election official as authorized to carry out 

10 the responsibilities of a certified tabulation 

11 observer under this paragraph. 

12 ‘‘(ii) SELECTION.—In determining 

13 which individuals to certify as tabulation 

14 observers and admit to a polling place or 

15 other location to serve as certified tabula16 tion observers with respect to an election 

17 for Federal office, the election official shall 

18 give preference to individuals who are af19 filiated with a candidate in the election, ex20 cept that— 

21 ‘‘(I) the number of individuals 

22 admitted who are affiliated with the 

23 same candidate for Federal office may 

24 not exceed one; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the maximum number of in2 dividuals who may be admitted shall 

3 equal the number of candidates in the 

4 election plus 3, or such greater num5 ber as may be authorized under State 

6 law. 

7 ‘‘(iii) NO EFFECT ON ADMISSION OF

8 OTHER OBSERVERS.—Nothing in this sub9 paragraph may be construed to limit or 

10 otherwise affect the authority of other indi11 viduals to enter and observe polling place 

12 operations under any other law, including 

13 international observers authorized under 

14 any treaty or observers of the Federal Gov15 ernment authorized under the Voting 

16 Rights Act of 1965. 

17 ‘‘(F) NO EFFECT ON OTHER TABULATION

18 REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act may be 

19 construed to supersede any requirement that an 

20 election official at a polling place report vote to21 tals to a central tabulation facility and address 

22 discrepancies the official finds in the aggrega23 tion of those totals with other vote totals.’’. 

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

25 (42 U.S.C. 15481(d)) is amended by striking ‘‘January 


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1 1, 2006’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2006 (or, in the case 

2 of the requirements of subsection (a)(7), shall meet such 

3 requirements with respect to the first election for Federal 

4 office held after the date of the enactment of the Poll Tape 

5 Transparency Act of 2010 and each subsequent election 

6 for Federal office)’’. 

Æ 


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