I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1165

To provide for the establishment of an Election Voting Systems Standards

Commission, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MARCH 22, 2001

Mr. BARCIA (for himself, Ms. RIVERS, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr.

UDALL of Colorado, Mr. LAMPSON, and Mr. WEINER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Science

A BILL

To provide for the establishment of an Election Voting

Systems Standards Commission, 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 ‘‘Election Voting Sys5 tems Standards Act of 2001’’.

6 SEC. 2. ELECTION VOTING SYSTEMS STANDARDS COMMIS7 SION.

8 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the National

9 Institute of Standards and Technology, in consultation

10 with the chairman of the Federal Election Commission,
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1 shall establish the Election Voting Systems Standards

2 Commission (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commis3 sion’’).

4 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—The Commission shall consist of

5 the following members:

6 (1) The Director of the National Institute of

7 Standards and Technology, who shall serve as the

8 chair of the Commission.

9 (2) The chairman of the Federal Election Com10 mission, who shall serve as the vice-chair of the

11 Commission.

12 (3) Two representatives of the National Asso13 ciation of State Election Directors, selected by that

14 association.

15 (4) Two representatives of the National Gov16 ernors Association, selected by that association.

17 (5) One representative of the American Na18 tional Standards Institute, selected by that institute.

19 (6) Not more than 5 additional members that

20 the Director of the National Institute of Standards

21 and Technology, in consultation with the chairman

22 of the Federal Election Commission, the Speaker of

23 the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader

24 of the House of Representatives, the Majority Lead-
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1 er of the Senate, and the Minority Leader of the

2 Senate, considers appropriate.

3 (c) RESPONSIBILITIES.—

4 (1) STANDARDS AND CRITERIA.—The Commis5 sion shall establish—

6 (A) a set of technical performance-based

7 standards relating to the accuracy, integrity,

8 and security of voting products and systems

9 used in Federal elections; and

10 (B) criteria for the selection of an organi11 zation to operate the National Election Systems

12 Standards Laboratory under section 3.

13 Not later than 9 months after the date of the enact14 ment of this Act, the Commission shall transmit to

15 the Congress a report containing the standards and

16 criteria established under this paragraph.

17 (2) TESTING AND CERTIFICATION.—The Com18 mission shall—

19 (A) develop uniform testing and evaluation

20 procedures suitable for determining the con21 formance of voting products and systems to the

22 standards established under paragraph (1)(A);

23 (B) establish procedures for the certifi24 cation, by the Laboratory established under sec25 tion 3, of non-Federal laboratories to perform
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1 the testing and evaluation procedures developed

2 under subparagraph (A) of this paragraph; and

3 (C) make recommendations for methods of

4 promoting the use of the testing and evaluation

5 procedures developed under subparagraph (A)

6 of this paragraph.

7 Not later than 1 year after the date of the enact8 ment of this Act, the Commission shall transmit to

9 the Congress a report containing the procedures de10 veloped or established under subparagraphs (A) and

11 (B) of this paragraph, and the recommendations de12 scribed in subparagraph (C).

13 SEC. 3. NATIONAL ELECTION SYSTEMS STANDARDS LAB14 ORATORY.

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Director of the National

16 Institute of Standards and Technology shall select an or17 ganization to operate the National Election Systems

18 Standards Laboratory (in this section referred to as the

19 ‘‘Laboratory’’).

20 (b) SELECTION.—Selection of the Laboratory under

21 subsection (a) shall be carried out—

22 (1) in accordance with criteria established

23 under section 2(c)(1)(B); and
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1 (2) through a merit-based competition open to

2 any nonprofit, nonpartisan research entity or consor3 tium.

4 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The Laboratory shall—

5 (1) investigate and analyze issues with respect

6 to voting products and systems and their conform7 ance to the standards established under section

8 2(c)(1)(A), including—

9 (A) human factors in the design and appli10 cation of voting systems; and

11 (B) the design of remote-access voting sys12 tems;

13 (2) certify non-Federal laboratories to perform

14 the testing and evaluation procedures developed

15 under section 2(c)(2)(A); and

16 (3) maintain and make available to the public

17 a list of voting products and systems that have been

18 tested and evaluated by non-Federal laboratories

19 certified under paragraph (2) and that are found to

20 be in conformance with the standards established

21 under section 2(c)(1)(A).

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