II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2313 

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 

APRIL 8, 2004 

Mr. GRAHAM of Florida (for himself, Mrs. CLINTON, Mrs. BOXER, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. HOLLINGS, and 

Mrs. LINCOLN) 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Restore Elector Confidence in Our Representative De6 mocracy Act of 2004’’ or the ‘‘RECORD Act of 2004’’. 

7 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

8 this Act is as follows: 
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Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

Sec. 2. Promoting accuracy, integrity, and security through preservation of a 

voter-verified permanent record or hard copy. 

Sec. 3. Change in deadline for compliance with standards. 

Sec. 4. Extension of Help America Vote Act waiver request deadline; requirement to deploy interim paper ballot voting system. 

Sec. 5. Requirement for Federal certification of technological security of voter 

registration lists. 

Sec. 6. Repeal of exemption of Election Assistance Commission from certain 

Government contracting requirements. 

Sec. 7. Requirement for mandatory recounts. 

Sec. 8. Specific, delineated requirement of study, testing, and development of 

best practices. 

Sec. 9. Voter verification and audit capacity funding. 

Sec. 10. Reports and provision of security consultation services. 

Sec. 11. Effective date. 

1 SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU2 RITY THROUGH PRESERVATION OF A VOTER3 VERIFIED PERMANENT RECORD OR HARD 

4 COPY. 

5 (a) VOTER VERIFICATION AND MANUAL AUDIT CA6 PACITY.— 

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

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

9 15481(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 

10 ‘‘(2) VOTER VERIFICATION AND MANUAL AUDIT

11 CAPACITY.— 

12 ‘‘(A) VOTER VERIFICATION.— 

13 ‘‘(i) The voting system shall produce 

14 an individual voter-verifiable paper record 

15 of the vote that shall be made available for 

16 inspection and verification by the voter at 

17 the time the vote is cast. 
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1 ‘‘(ii) The voting system shall provide 

2 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

3 any error made by the system in the voter4 verifiable paper record before the perma5 nent voter-verified paper record is pre6 served in accordance with subparagraph 

7 (B)(i). 

8 ‘‘(B) MANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY.—The per9 manent voter verified paper record produced in 

10 accordance with subparagraph (A) shall— 

11 ‘‘(i) be preserved within the polling 

12 place, in the manner, if any, in which all 

13 other paper ballots are preserved within 

14 that polling place, or, in the manner em15 ployed by the jurisdiction for preserving 

16 paper ballots in general, for later use in 

17 any manual audit; 

18 ‘‘(ii) be suitable for a manual audit 

19 equivalent or superior to that of a paper 

20 ballot voting system; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) be available as an official record 

22 and shall be the official record used for 

23 any recount conducted with respect to any 

24 election in which the system is used.’’. 
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1 (2) PROHIBITION OF USE OF THERMAL

2 PAPER.—Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote 

3 Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended by 

4 adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(7) PROHIBITION OF USE OF THERMAL

6 PAPER.—The permanent voter verified paper record 

7 produced in accordance with paragraph (2)(A) shall 

8 not be produced on thermal paper, but shall instead 

9 be produced on paper of archival quality.’’. 

10 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

11 301(a)(1)(A)(ii) of the Help America Vote Act (42 

12 U.S.C. 15481(a)(1)(A)(ii)) is amended by inserting 

13 ‘‘and before the permanent paper record is produced 

14 under paragraph (2)’’ before the semicolon at the 

15 end. 

16 (b) VOTER VERIFICATION OF RESULTS FOR INDIVID17 UALS WITH DISABILITIES.—Section 301(a)(3) of the 

18 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3)) 

19 is amended to read as follows: 

20 ‘‘(3) ACCESSIBILITY AND VOTER-VERIFICATION

21 OF RESULTS FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABIL22 ITIES.— 

23 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara24 graph (B), the voting system shall— 
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1 ‘‘(i) be accessible for individuals with 

2 disabilities, including nonvisual accessi3 bility for the blind and visually impaired, 

4 in a manner that provides the same oppor5 tunity for access and participation (includ6 ing privacy and independence) as for other 

7 voters; 

8 ‘‘(ii) satisfy the requirement of sub9 paragraph (A) through the use of at least 

10 one direct recording electronic voting sys11 tem or other voting system equipped for 

12 individuals with disabilities at each polling 

13 place, and such voting system shall meet 

14 the requirements of paragraph (2)(A) by 

15 using a mechanism that separates the 

16 function of vote generation from the func17 tion of vote casting without requiring the 

18 voter to view or handle paper; and 

19 ‘‘(iii) if purchased with funds made 

20 available under title II on or after January 

21 1, 2006, meet the voting system standards 

22 for disability access (as outlined in this 

23 subparagraph). 

24 ‘‘(B) TRANSITIONAL COMPLIANCE.—If an 

25 interim paper ballot voting system is deployed 
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1 in accordance with section 102(a)(3)(C), with re2 spect to any election for Federal office held on 

3 or after the date of the enactment of the Restore 

4 Elector Confidence in Our Representative De5 mocracy Act of 2004 and before January 1, 

6 2006, individuals with disabilities shall have the 

7 option of using such interim paper ballot voting 

8 system, any voting system purchased by the 

9 State or jurisdiction with funds made available 

10 under section 102, or any other voting system 

11 used by the State or jurisdiction before the date 

12 of the enactment of the Restore Elector Con13 fidence in our Representative Democracy Act of 

14 2004 that may be accessible for individuals with 

15 disabilities. Nothing in this paragraph shall be 

16 construed to waive the disability access require17 ments of this Act or the Voting Rights Act of 

18 1965.’’. 

19 (c) ADDITIONAL VOTING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS.— 

20 Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 

21 U.S.C. 15481(a)), as amended by subsection (a)(2), is 

22 amended by adding to the end the following new para23 graphs: 

24 ‘‘(8) INSTRUCTION OF ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 

25 Each State shall ensure that election officials are in-
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1 structed on the right of any individual who requires 

2 assistance to vote by reason of blindness, other dis3 ability, or inability to read or write to be given as4 sistance by a person chosen by that individual under 

5 section 208 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. 

6 ‘‘(9) PROHIBITION OF USE OF UNDISCLOSED

7 SOFTWARE IN VOTING SYSTEMS.—No voting system 

8 shall at any time contain or use any undisclosed 

9 software. Any voting system containing or using 

10 software shall disclose the source code, object code, 

11 and executable representation of that software to the 

12 Commission, and the Commission shall make that 

13 source code, object code, and executable representa14 tion available for inspection upon request to any cit15 izen. 

16 ‘‘(10) PROHIBITION OF USE OF WIRELESS COM17 MUNICATIONS DEVICES IN VOTING SYSTEMS.—No 

18 voting system shall use any wireless communication 

19 device. 

20 ‘‘(11) CERTIFICATION OF SOFTWARE AND

21 HARDWARE.—All software and hardware used in any 

22 electronic voting system shall be certified by labora23 tories accredited by the Commission as meeting the 

24 requirements of paragraphs (9) and (10). 
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1 ‘‘(12) SECURITY STANDARDS FOR MANUFAC2 TURERS OF VOTING SYSTEMS USED IN FEDERAL

3 ELECTIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No voting system may 

5 be used in an election for Federal office unless 

6 the manufacturer of such system meets the re7 quirements described in subparagraph (B). 

8 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—The 

9 requirements described in this subparagraph 

10 are as follows: 

11 ‘‘(i) The manufacturer shall document 

12 the chain of custody for the handling of 

13 software used in connection with voting 

14 systems. 

15 ‘‘(ii) The manufacturer shall ensure 

16 that any software used in connection with 

17 the voting system is not transferred over 

18 the Internet. 

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

20 same extent described in paragraph (9), 

21 the manufacturer shall provide the codes 

22 used in any software used in connection 

23 with the voting system to the Commission 

24 and may not alter such codes once certifi-
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1 cation has occurred unless such system is 

2 recertified. 

3 ‘‘(iv) The manufacturer shall imple4 ment procedures to ensure internal secu5 rity, as required by the Director of the Na6 tional Institute of Standards and Tech7 nology. 

8 ‘‘(v) The manufacturer shall meet 

9 such other requirements as may be estab10 lished by the Director of the National In11 stitute of Standards and Technology.’’. 

12 SEC. 3. CHANGE IN DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH 

13 STANDARDS. 

14 Section 301(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

15 (42 U.S.C. 15481(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State and jurisdiction 

17 shall be required to comply with— 

18 ‘‘(1) the requirements of paragraphs (1), (2), 

19 (3)(B), (8), (9), and (10) of section 301(a) in time 

20 for elections for Federal office beginning with the 

21 regularly scheduled general election to be held in 

22 November 2004; and 

23 ‘‘(2) the other requirements of this section on 

24 and after January 1, 2006.’’. 
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1 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT WAIVER 

2 REQUEST DEADLINE; REQUIREMENT TO DE3 PLOY INTERIM PAPER BALLOT VOTING SYS4 TEM. 

5 (a) EXTENSION OF HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT WAIV6 ER REQUEST DEADLINE.—Section 102(a)(3)(B) of the 

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

8 15302(a)(3)(b)) is amended by striking ‘‘January 1, 

9 2004’’ and inserting ‘‘August 1, 2004’’. 

10 (b) REQUIREMENT TO DEPLOY INTERIM PAPER

11 BALLOT VOTING SYSTEM.—Section 102(a)(3) of the Help 

12 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15302(a)(3)) is 

13 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara14 graphs: 

15 ‘‘(C) If a State either requests the waiver 

16 described in subparagraph (B) or is unable to 

17 comply with the requirements of section 301 

18 that are due by November 2004 in accordance 

19 with the deadline set forth in section 301(d), 

20 the State shall use a paper ballot voting system 

21 in November 2004 and, so long as such inabil22 ity continues, at any time in 2005 that complies 

23 with such requirements of section 301, based on 

24 paper ballot voting systems in use in the juris25 diction, if any, that shall be deemed compliant 

26 with such requirements of section 301 by the 
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1 Commission for use in any Federal election be2 tween and including the general election in No3 vember 2004 and the last Federal election in 

4 2005. The Commission shall reimburse the 

5 State or jurisdiction for any costs incurred in 

6 using such interim paper ballot voting system. 

7 ‘‘(D) The Commission will certify voting 

8 equipment that meets the requirements of sec9 tion 301. States must use certified voting 

10 equipment, or the interim paper ballot system 

11 described in subparagraph (C), or apply to the 

12 Commission for a waiver which the Commission 

13 may grant if the State demonstrates that it is 

14 technologically impossible to comply with such 

15 requirements. States receiving such a waiver 

16 shall submit reports to the Commission dem17 onstrating the steps the State is taking to rem18 edy the technological impossibility.’’. 

19 SEC. 5. REQUIREMENT FOR FEDERAL CERTIFICATION OF 

20 TECHNOLOGICAL SECURITY OF VOTER REG21 ISTRATION LISTS. 

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

23 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)(3)) is amended by striking 

24 ‘‘measures to prevent the’’ and inserting ‘‘measures, as 
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1 certified by the Election Assistance Commission, to pre2 vent’’. 

3 SEC. 6. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE 

4 COMMISSION FROM CERTAIN GOVERNMENT 

5 CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 

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

7 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15325) is amended by strik8 ing subsection (e). 

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

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

11 into by the Election Assistance Commission on or after 

12 the date of enactment of this Act. 

13 SEC. 7. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY RECOUNTS. 

14 Beginning with the regularly scheduled election for 

15 Federal office to be held in November 2004, the Election 

16 Assistance Commission shall conduct random unan17 nounced manual mandatory recounts of the voter-verified 

18 records of each election for Federal office (and, at the op19 tion of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections for 

20 State and local office held at the same time as such an 

21 election for Federal office) in 2 percent of the jurisdictions 

22 in each State and with respect to 2 percent of the ballots 

23 cast by uniformed and overseas voters immediately fol24 lowing the election and shall promptly publish the results 

25 of those recounts in the Federal Register. In addition, the 
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1 verification system used by the Election Assistance Com2 mission shall meet the error rate standards described in 

3 section 301(a)(5) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

4 SEC. 8. SPECIFIC, DELINEATED REQUIREMENT OF STUDY, 

5 TESTING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF BEST PRAC6 TICES. 

7 Subtitle C of title II of the Help America Vote Act 

8 of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.) is amended by— 

9 (1) redesignating section 247 as section 248; 

10 and 

11 (2) by inserting after section 246 the following 

12 new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 247. STUDY, TESTING, AND DEVELOPMENT OF BEST 

14 PRACTICES TO ENHANCE ACCESSIBILITY 

15 AND VOTER-VERIFICATION MECHANISMS 

16 FOR DISABLED VOTERS. 

17 ‘‘The Election Assistance Commission shall study, 

18 test, and develop best practices to enhance accessibility 

19 and voter-verification mechanisms for individuals with dis20 abilities.’’. 

21 SEC. 9. VOTER VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPACITY FUND22 ING. 

23 Title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 

24 U.S.C. 15321 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

25 the following new part: 
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1 ‘‘PART 7—VOTER-VERIFICATION AND AUDIT 

2 CAPACITY FUNDING 

3 ‘‘SEC. 297. VOTER-VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPACITY 

4 FUNDING. 

5 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS TO STATES.—Subject to subsection 

6 (b), not later than the date that is 30 days after the date 

7 of the enactment of the Restore Elector Confidence in Our 

8 Representative Democracy Act of 2004, the Election As9 sistance Commission shall pay to each State an amount 

10 to assist the State in paying for the implementation of 

11 the voter-verification and audit capacity requirements of 

12 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 301(a), as amended by 

13 subsections (a) and (b) of section 2 of such Act. 

14 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The amount paid to a State 

15 under subsection (a) for each voting system purchased by 

16 a State may not exceed the average cost of adding a print17 er with accessibility features to each type of voting system 

18 that the State could have purchased to meet the require19 ments described in such subsection. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 298. APPROPRIATION. 

21 ‘‘There are authorized and appropriated 

22 $150,000,000 to the Election Assistance Commission, 

23 without fiscal year limitation, to make payments to States 

24 in accordance with section 297(a). In addition, there are 

25 authorized and appropriated $5,000,000 to the Election 

26 Assistance Commission for each of fiscal years 2004 
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1 through 2006, in addition to any amounts otherwise ap2 propriated, for providing reimbursement to States and ju3 risdictions for costs incurred in using the interim paper 

4 ballot voting system in accordance with section 

5 102(a)(3)(C). Furthermore, there are authorized and ap6 propriated $5,000,000 to the Election Assistance Commis7 sion, for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2006, in addi8 tion to any amounts otherwise appropriated for adminis9 trative costs to assist with conducting recounts, the imple10 mentation of voter verification systems, and improved se11 curity measures.’’. 

12 SEC. 10. REPORTS AND PROVISION OF SECURITY CON13 SULTATION SERVICES. 

14 Subtitle C of title II of the Help America Vote Act 

15 of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.), as amended by section 

16 8, is amended by— 

17 (1) redesignating section 248 as section 249; 

18 and 

19 (2) by inserting after section 247 the following 

20 new section: 

21 ‘‘SEC. 248. REPORTS AND PROVISION OF SECURITY CON22 SULTATION SERVICES. 

23 ‘‘(a) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON SECURITY RE24 VIEW.—Not later than 6 months after the date of the en25 actment of the Restore Elector Confidence in Our Rep-
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1 resentative Democracy Act of 2004, the Commission, in 

2 consultation with the Director of the National Institute 

3 of Standards and Technology, shall submit to Congress 

4 a report on a proposed security review and certification 

5 process for all voting systems used in elections for Federal 

6 office, including a description of the certification process 

7 to be implemented under section 231. 

8 ‘‘(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON OPERATIONAL AND

9 MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS.—Not later than 3 months after 

10 the date of the enactment of the Restore Elector Con11 fidence in Our Representative Democracy Act of 2004, the 

12 Commission shall submit to Congress a report on oper13 ational and management systems applicable with respect 

14 to elections for Federal office, including the security 

15 standards for manufacturers described in section 

16 301(a)(7), that should be employed to safeguard the secu17 rity of voting systems, together with a proposed schedule 

18 for the implementation of each such system. 

19 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF SECURITY CONSULTATION SERV20 ICES.— 

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—On and after the date of 

22 the enactment of the Restore Elector Confidence in 

23 Our Representative Democracy Act of 2004, the Di24 rector of the National Institute of Standards and 

25 Technology shall provide security consultation serv-
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1 ices to States and local jurisdictions with respect to 

2 the administration of elections for Federal office. 

3 ‘‘(2) APPROPRIATION.—To carry out the pur4 poses of paragraph (1), $2,000,000 is appropriated 

5 for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2006.’’. 

6 SEC. 11. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

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

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

9 enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

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