U.S.C. 15481(a)(1)(A)) is amended in the matter pre-
ceding clause (i) by striking ‘‘any lever voting system’’ and 
inserting ‘‘any punch card voting system, lever voting sys-
tem’’. 
(c) 
RESIDUAL
VOTE
BENCHMARK.—Section 
301(a)(5) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(5)) is amend-
ed to read as follows: 
‘‘(5) ERROR RATES.— 
‘‘(A) INITIAL
RATES.—With respect to 
elections occurring prior to the regularly sched-
uled general election held in November 2008, 
the error rate of the voting system in counting 
ballots (determined by taking into account only 
those errors which are attributable to the voting 
system and not attributable to an act of the 
voter) shall comply with the error rate stand-
ards established under section 3.2.1 of the vot-
ing systems standards issued by the Federal 
Election Commission which are in effect on the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
‘‘(B) 
APPLICATION
OF
COMMISSION 
STANDARDS.—With respect to the regularly 
scheduled general election for Federal office 
held in November 2008 and each subsequent 
election for Federal office, the error rate of the 
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voting system in counting ballots (determined 
by taking into account only those errors which 
are attributable to the voting system and not 
attributable to an act of the voter) shall not ex-
ceed the error rate standards established under 
the voting systems standards issued and main-
tained by the Commission. 
‘‘(C) RESIDUAL
BALLOT
PERFORMANCE 
BENCHMARK.—In addition to the error rate 
standards described in subparagraph (B), the 
Commission shall issue and maintain a uniform 
benchmark for the residual ballot error rate 
that jurisdictions may not exceed. For purposes 
of the preceding sentence, the residual vote 
error rate shall be equal to the combination of 
overvotes, spoiled or uncountable votes, and 
undervotes cast in the contest at the top of the 
ballot, but excluding an estimate, based upon 
the best available research, of intentional 
undervotes. The Commission shall base the 
benchmark issued and maintained under this 
subparagraph on evidence of good practices in 
representative jurisdictions. 
‘‘(D) HISTORICALLY
HIGH
INTENTIONAL 
UNDERVOTES.— 
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‘‘(i) FINDING.—Congress finds that 
there are certain distinct communities in 
certain geographic areas that have histori-
cally high rates of intentional undervoting 
in elections for Federal office, relative to 
the rest of the Nation. 
‘‘(ii) TREATMENT
OF
CERTAIN
DIS-
TINCT COMMUNITIES.—In establishing the 
benchmark described in subparagraph (B), 
the 
Election 
Assistance 
Commission 
shall— 
‘‘(I) study and report to Con-
gress on the occurrences of distinct 
communities that have significantly 
higher than average rates of historical 
intentional undervoting; and 
‘‘(II) promulgate for local juris-
dictions in which that distinct commu-
nity has a substantial presence either 
a separate benchmark or an exclusion 
from the national benchmark, as ap-
propriate.’’. 
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SEC. 107. REQUIREMENTS FOR TESTING LABORATORIES. 
(a) REQUIREMENTS FOR LABORATORIES .—Section 
231 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 
15371(b)) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 
subsections (h) and (i); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol-
lowing new subsections: 
‘‘(c) ESCROW FUND
FOR PAYMENT
OF LABORA-
TORIES.— 
‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT OF ESCROW ACCOUNT.— 
The Commission shall establish an escrow account 
(to be known as the Testing Escrow Account) for 
making payments to accredited laboratories for the 
costs of the testing carried out in connection with 
the certification, decertification, and recertification 
of voting system hardware and software. 
‘‘(2) SCHEDULE
OF
FEES.—In consultation 
with the accredited laboratories, the Commission 
shall establish and regularly update a schedule of 
fees for the testing carried out in connection with 
the certification, decertification, and recertification 
of voting system hardware and software, based on 
the reasonable costs expected to be incurred by the 
accredited laboratories in carrying out the testing 
for various types of hardware and software. 
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‘‘(3) REQUESTS AND PAYMENTS BY MANUFAC-
TURERS.—A manufacturer of voting system hard-
ware and software may not have the hardware or 
software tested by an accredited laboratory under 
this section unless— 
‘‘(A) the manufacturer submits a detailed 
request for the testing to the Commission; and 
‘‘(B) the manufacturer pays to the Com-
mission, for deposit into the Testing Escrow 
Account, the applicable fee under the schedule 
established and in effect under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(4) SELECTION OF LABORATORY.—Upon re-
ceiving a request for testing and the payment from 
a manufacturer required under paragraph (3)(B), 
the Commission shall select at random, from all lab-
oratories which are accredited under this section to 
carry out the specific testing requested by the manu-
facturer, an accredited laboratory to carry out the 
testing. The Commission may exclude from the se-
lection process any laboratory that the Commission 
determines does not have the resources to complete 
the required testing in a timely manner. 
‘‘(5) PAYMENTS TO LABORATORIES.—Upon re-
ceiving a certification from a laboratory selected to 
carry out testing pursuant to paragraph (4) that the 
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testing is completed, along with a copy of the results 
of the test as required under subsection (d)(1)(D), 
the Commission shall make a payment to the labora-
tory from the Testing Escrow Account in an amount 
equal to the applicable fee paid by manufacturer 
under paragraph (3)(B). 
‘‘(d) PROHIBITION OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A laboratory may not be 
accredited by the Commission for purposes of this 
section unless— 
‘‘(A) the laboratory certifies that the only 
compensation it receives for the testing carried 
out in connection with the certification, decerti-
fication, and recertification of the manufactur-
ers voting system hardware and software is the 
payment made from the Testing Escrow Ac-
count established under subsection (c)(1); 
‘‘(B) the laboratory meets the standards 
applicable to the manufacturers of voting sys-
tems under section 301(a)(12)(B)(vi), together 
with such standards as the Commission shall 
establish (after notice and opportunity for pub-
lic comment) to prevent the existence or ap-
pearance of any conflict of interest in the test-
ing carried out by the laboratory under this sec-
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