II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1986

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voter verification 

and improved security for voting systems under title III of the Act, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2003

Mrs. CLINTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require 

voter verification and improved security for voting systems under title III of the 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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Protecting American 

5 Democracy Act of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. REQUIRING VERIFICATION FOR VOTERS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the Help 

8 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(2)) is 
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•S 1986 IS 

1 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara2 graph: 

3 ‘‘(C) VOTER VERIFICATION.—

4 ‘‘(i) The voting system shall provide a 

5 means by which each individual voter must 

6 be able to verify his or her vote at the time 

7 the vote is cast, and shall preserve each 

8 vote within the polling place on the day of 

9 the election in a manner that ensures the 

10 security of the votes as verified for later 

11 use in any audit. 

12 ‘‘(ii) The voting system shall provide 

13 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

14 any error made by the system before the 

15 permanent record is preserved for use in 

16 any audit. 

17 ‘‘(iii) The verified vote produced 

18 under this subparagraph shall be available 

19 as an official record. 

20 ‘‘(iv) Any method used to permit the 

21 individual voter to verify his or her vote at 

22 the time the vote is cast and before a per23 manent record is created—

24 ‘‘(I) shall use the most accurate 

25 technology, which may include voter-
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1 verifiable paper ballots, votemeters, 

2 modular voting architecture, and 

3 encrypted votes, in a uniform and 

4 nondiscriminatory manner; 

5 ‘‘(II) shall guarantee voters with 

6 disabilities and other affected voters 

7 the ability to cast a vote in private, 

8 consistent with paragraph (3)(A); and 

9 ‘‘(III) shall guarantee voters al10 ternative language accessibility under 

11 the requirements of section 203 of the 

12 Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 

13 1973aa–1a), consistent with para14 graph (4).’’. 

15 SEC. 3. REQUIRING INCREASED SECURITY FOR VOTING 

16 SYSTEMS. 

17 (a) Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 

18 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended by adding at the 

19 end the following new paragraph: 

20 ‘‘(7) INCREASED SECURITY FOR VOTING SYS21 TEMS.—

22 ‘‘(A) VOTING SYSTEM SECURITY REQUIRE23 MENT.—The voting system shall adhere to secu24 rity requirements for Federal computer systems 

25 or more stringent requirements adopted by the 
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1 Election Assistance Commission after receiving 

2 recommendations from the Technical Guidelines 

3 Development Committee under sections 221 

4 and 222. Such requirements shall provide that 

5 no voting system shall contain any wireless de6 vice. All software and hardware used in any 

7 electronic voting system shall be certified by 

8 laboratories accredited by the Commission as 

9 meeting the requirements of this subsection. 

10 ‘‘(B) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON SECURITY

11 REVIEW.—The Commission, in consultation 

12 with the National Institute of Standards and 

13 Technology (NIST), shall report to Congress 

14 not later than 6 months after the date of enact15 ment of the Protecting American Democracy 

16 Act of 2003 regarding a proposed security re17 view and certification process for all voting sys18 tems. 

19 ‘‘(C) GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE RE20 PORT.—Not later than 3 months after the date 

21 of enactment of the Protecting American De22 mocracy Act of 2003, the Government Account23 ing Office, unless the Commission has pre24 viously completed such report, shall issue a re25 port to Congress on the operational and man-
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1 agement systems that should be employed to 

2 safeguard the security of voting systems, to3 gether with a schedule for how quickly each 

4 such system should be implemented. 

5 ‘‘(D) PROVISION OF SECURITY CONSULTA6 TION SERVICES.—

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—On and after the 

8 date of enactment of the Protecting Amer9 ican Democracy Act of 2003, the National 

10 Institute of Standards and Technology 

11 (NIST) shall provide security consultation 

12 services to State and local jurisdictions. 

13 ‘‘(ii) AUTHORIZATION.—To carry out 

14 the purposes of this subparagraph, 

15 $2,000,0000 is authorized for each of fis16 cal years 2004 through 2006.’’. 

17 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

18 The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 

19 as if included in the enactment of the Help America Vote 

20 Act of 2002.

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