Restore Elector Confidence in Our Representative Democracy Act of 2004

Bill: 108-s-2313
Sponsor: Sen. Graham, Bob [D-FL]
Introduced: 2004-04-08 in the Senate
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Advertising
Ballots
Blind
Business records
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Commerce
Competitive bidding
Computer security measures
Computer software
Computers
Congress
Congressional elections
Congressional reporting requirements
Consultants
Data banks
Directories
Disabled
Economics and Public Finance
Election administration
Federal-state relations
Freedom of information
Government paperwork
Government procurement
Government publicity
Governmental investigations
Grants-in-aid
Illiteracy
Internet
Law
Licenses
Manufacturing industries
Presidential elections
Printing
Public records
Science, Technology, Communications
Standards
Voting
Voting machines
Voting of the disabled
Voting rights
Wireless communication

Summary:
action_date: 2004-04-08
text: 
Restore Elector Confidence in Our Representative Democracy Act of 2004 or the RECORD Act of 2004 - Amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require each voting system used in an election for Federal office to: (1) produce an individual voter-verifiable paper record of the vote that shall be made available for inspection and verification by the voter at the time the vote is cast; and (2) provide the voter with an opportunity to correct any error made by the system in the voter-verifiable paper record before the permanent voter-verified paper record is preserved.
 
Requires the permanent voter verified paper record to be preserved within the polling place for later use in any manual audit. Makes such paper record the official record used for any recount.
 
Requires the voting system accessible for individuals with disabilities, including nonvisual accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, to meet the requirements of this Act by using a mechanism that separates the function of vote generation from the function of vote casting without requiring the voter to view or handle paper.
 
Requires each State to ensure that election officials are instructed on the right of any individual who requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, other disability, or inability to read or write to be given assistance by a person chosen by that individual under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
 
Prohibits any voting system from: (1) containing or using any software that does not disclose any source code, object code, and executable representation; or (2) using any wireless communication device.
 
Requires any electronic voting system to: (1) use only software and hardware certified by laboratories accredited by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC); and (2) meet specified security standards.
 
Requires each State and jurisdiction to: (1) meet the requirements of this Act in time for the November 2004 Federal general election; or (2) use a paper ballot voting system in such election.
 
Directs the EAC, beginning with the November 2004 Federal general election, and immediately following the election, to conduct random unannounced manual mandatory recounts of the voter-verified records in two percent of the jurisdictions in each State and with respect to two percent of the ballots cast by uniformed and overseas voters.
 
Directs the EAC to study, test, and develop best practices to enhance accessibility and voter-verification mechanisms for individuals with disabilities.
 
Requires the EAC to make certain payments to assist States in paying for implementation of the voter-verification and audit capacity requirements of this Act.
 
Requires the EAC to report to Congress on: (1) a proposed security review and certification process for all voting systems used in Federal elections; and (2) operational and management systems applicable to such elections.
 
Requires the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology to provide security consultation services to States and local jurisdictions on the administration of Federal elections.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-04-08
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
action_date: 2004-04-08
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S4051-4052)
action_date: 2004-04-08
text: Introduced in Senate