Election Infrastructure and Security Promotion Act of 2016

Bill: 114-hr-6073
Sponsor: Rep. Johnson, Henry C. "Hank," Jr. [D-GA-4]
Introduced: 2016-09-20 in the House
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Advanced technology and technological innovations
Computer security and identity theft
Congressional oversight
Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
Emergency planning and evacuation
Infrastructure development
Research and development
State and local government operations
Technology assessment
Terrorism

Summary:
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: 

Election Infrastructure and Security Promotion Act of 2016

 
This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to: (1) designate voting systems used in the United States as critical infrastructure; (2) include threats of compromise, disruption, or destruction of voting systems in national planning scenarios; and (3) conduct a campaign to proactively educate local election officials about the designation of voting systems as critical infrastructure and election officials at all levels of government of voting system threats.
 
In furtherance of local election official preparedness and response, DHS shall conduct research and development to mitigate the consequences of voting systems threats.
 
DHS shall prepare and submit to Congress a comprehensive plan to protect and prepare the critical infrastructure of the voting systems used in the United States against threats, including from acts of terrorism.
 
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shall develop standards for ensuring the operational security of the voting systems used in elections for federal office.
 
This bill amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a state, in operating the voting system, to comply with applicable standards for ensuring the operational security of voting systems.
 
The testing and certification of voting systems hardware and software shall test whether voting systems are in compliance with applicable standards developed by NIST for ensuring the operational security of voting systems.
 
NIST shall develop standards for ensuring that the process by which ballots are counted in elections for federal office is transparent and permits voters to verify that votes in such elections are counted correctly.
 
States shall comply with applicable standards, in operating the voting system, for ensuring that the process by which ballots are counted in elections for federal office is transparent and permits voters to verify that votes in such elections are counted correctly.
 
The National Science Foundation shall establish an election technology innovation research and development program. 


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2016-09-30
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Security Technologies.
action_date: 2016-09-30
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Research and Technology.
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on Science, Space, and Technology, and Homeland Security, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: Introduced in House
action_date: 2016-09-20
text: Introduced in House