II 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1980

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

permanent record or hardcopy under title III of such Act, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 9, 2003

Mr. GRAHAM of Florida 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 

a voter-verified permanent record or hardcopy 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,

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

4 Increased Accessibility Act of 2003’’. 

5 SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF TIME PROVIDED FOR STATES TO RE6 QUEST PAYMENTS UNDER TITLE I. 

7 (a) PAYMENTS FOR ACTIVITIES TO IMPROVE ADMIN8 ISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.—Section 101(a) of the Help 

9 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15301(a)) is
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1 amended by striking ‘‘not later than 6 months after the 

2 date of the enactment of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘not later 

3 than the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 

4 2003’’. 

5 (b) PAYMENTS FOR REPLACEMENT OF PUNCH CARD

6 OR LEVER VOTING MACHINES.—Section 102(b)(1) of 

7 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15301(b)(1)) is amended by striking 

8 ‘‘not later than the date that is 6 months after the date 

9 of the enactment of this Act’’ and inserting ‘‘not later than 

10 the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 

11 2003’’. 

12 (c) EXTENSION OF PERIOD OF AUTHORIZATION OF

13 APPROPRIATIONS.—

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 104(a) of such Act 

15 (42 U.S.C. 15304(a)) is amended by striking 

16 ‘‘$650,000,000’’ and inserting ‘‘an aggregate 

17 amount of $650,000,000 for fiscal years 2003 and 

18 2004’’. 

19 (2) DATE FOR TRANSFER TO ELECTION ASSIST20 ANCE COMMISSION OF UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.—Sec21 tion 104(c)(2)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

22 15304(c)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ‘‘September 

23 1, 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2004’’. 

24 (d) REQUIREMENT TO DEPLOY INTERIM MEASURE

25 IF WAIVER REQUESTED.—Section 102(a)(3)(B) of such 
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1 Act (42 U.S.C. 15301(a)(3)(B)) is amended by striking 

2 the period at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, except 

3 that any State requesting any such waiver shall accept and 

4 implement a paper system for use on an interim basis as 

5 provided in section 5(b) of the Voter Confidence and In6 creased Accessibility Act of 2003 in time for use in the 

7 November 2004 general election.’’. 

8 SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE 

9 COMMISSION FROM CERTAIN GOVERNMENT 

10 CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 

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

12 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15325) is amended by strik13 ing subsection (e). 

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

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

16 into by the Election Assistance Commission on or after 

17 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

18 SEC. 4. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU19 RITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMA20 NENT RECORD OR HARD COPY. 

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

22 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(2)) is 

23 amended to read as follows: 

24 ‘‘(2) VOTER-VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPAC25 ITY.—
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1 ‘‘(A) VOTER-VERIFICATION IN GENERAL.—

2 The voting system shall produce a voter-verified 

3 paper record suitable for a manual audit equiv4 alent or superior to that of a paper ballot box 

5 system, as further specified in subparagraph 

6 (B). 

7 ‘‘(B) MANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY.—

8 ‘‘(i) The voting system shall produce a 

9 permanent paper record, each individual 

10 paper record of which shall be made avail11 able for inspection and verification by the 

12 voter at the time the vote is cast, and pre13 served within the polling place in the man14 ner in which all other paper ballots are 

15 preserved within the polling place on Elec16 tion Day for later use in any manual audit. 

17 ‘‘(ii) The voting system shall provide 

18 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

19 any error made by the system before the 

20 permanent record is preserved for use in 

21 any manual audit. 

22 ‘‘(iii) The voter verified paper record 

23 produced under subparagraph (A) and this 

24 subparagraph shall be available as an offi25 cial record and shall be the official record 
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1 used for any recount conducted with re2 spect to any election in which the system 

3 is used. 

4 ‘‘(C) SOFTWARE AND MODEMS.—

5 ‘‘(i) No voting system shall at any 

6 time contain or use undisclosed software. 

7 Any voting system containing or using 

8 software shall disclose the source code of 

9 that software to the Commission, and the 

10 Commission shall make that source code 

11 available for inspection upon request to 

12 any citizen. 

13 ‘‘(ii) No voting system shall contain 

14 any wireless communication device at all. 

15 ‘‘(iii) All software and hardware used 

16 in any electronic voting system shall be 

17 certified by laboratories accredited by the

18 Commission as meeting the requirements 

19 of clauses (i) and (ii).’’. 

20 (b) VOTER VERIFICATION OF RESULTS FOR INDIVID21 UALS WITH DISABILITIES.—Section 301(a)(3) of such 

22 Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3) is amended—

23 (1) in the heading, by inserting ‘‘AND VOTER24 VERIFICATION OF RESULTS’’ after ‘‘ACCESSIBILITY’’;
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1 (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ‘‘; and’’ 

2 and inserting the following: ‘‘, and such voting sys3 tem shall provide a mechanism for voter-verification 

4 of results which separates the function of vote gen5 eration from the function of vote casting in a man6 ner analogous to that described in section 4 with re7 spect to the separation of paper ballot generation 

8 and paper ballot verification and preservation, but 

9 does not require the use of paper.’’; 

10 (3) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as 

11 follows: 

12 ‘‘(C) The equipment deployed in accord13 ance with subparagraph (B) shall meet the vot14 ing system standards for disability access and 

15 voter-verification of results as outlined in this 

16 paragraph in accordance with the deadline set 

17 forth in section 5(a), provided that if it does 

18 not and an interim paper system is deployed in 

19 accordance with section 5(b), disabled voters 

20 shall have the option of using the interim paper 

21 system with the assistance of an aide of the vot22 er’s personal selection or using the voting sys23 tem otherwise put in place for use by disabled 

24 voters at the time in question in accordance 

25 with the Help America Vote Act of 2002, as in 
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1 effect prior to the enactment of this Act, except 

2 that the deadline set forth in section 

3 301(a)(3)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 15481(a)(3)(C)) is moved forward from Janu5 ary 1, 2007, to January 1, 2006.’’; and 

6 (4) by adding at the end the following new sub7 paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(D) Election officials shall be instructed 

9 in the rights of the disabled to vote with the as10 sistance of an aide of their selection under the 

11 Voting Rights Act of 1965.’’. 

12 (c) SPECIFIC, DELINEATED REQUIREMENT OF

13 STUDY, TESTING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRAC14 TICES.—In addition to any other requirements under the 

15 Help America Vote Act of 2002, the Election Assistance 

16 Commission shall study, test, and develop best practices 

17 to enhance accessibility and voter-verification mechanisms 

18 for disabled voters. 

19 SEC. 5. CHANGE IN DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH 

20 STANDARDS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(d) of the Help Amer22 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(d)) is amended 

23 by striking ‘‘on and after January 1, 2006’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘in time for elections for Federal office beginning with the 
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1 regularly scheduled general election to be held in Novem2 ber 2004’’. 

3 (b) INTERIM PAPER SYSTEM.—Each State and juris4 diction that certifies in the manner described in section 

5 102(a)(3)(B) that it shall be unable to comply with the 

6 requirements of section 301 in time for the regularly 

7 scheduled general election for Federal office to be held in 

8 November 2004 shall receive a paper voting system, based 

9 on paper systems in use in the jurisdiction, if any, at the 

10 expense of the Commission that shall be deemed compliant 

11 with section 301 by the Commission for use in the Novem12 ber 2004 general elections. 

13 SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT FOR FEDERAL CERTIFICATION OF 

14 TECHNOLOGICAL SECURITY OF VOTER REG15 ISTRATION LISTS. 

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

17 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)(3)) is amended by striking the 

18 period at the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, as cer19 tified by the Commission.’’. 

20 SEC. 7. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY RECOUNTS. 

21 The Election Assistance Commission shall conduct 

22 manual mandatory surprise recounts of the voter-verified 

23 records of each election for Federal office (and, at the op24 tion of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections for 

25 State and local office) in .5 percent of the jurisdictions 
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1 in each State and .5 percent of the overseas jurisdictions 

2 in which voter-verified records are preserved in accordance 

3 with this section immediately following each general elec4 tion for Federal office, and shall promptly publish the re5 sults of those recounts. The treatment of the results of 

6 the recount shall be governed by applicable Federal, State, 

7 or local law, except that any individual who is a citizen 

8 of the jurisdiction involved may file an appeal with the 

9 Commission if the individual believes that such law does 

10 not provide a fair remedy. 

11 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

12 Except as provided in section 3(b), the amendments 

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

14 enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

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