[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 897 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 897

  To authorize a project to demonstrate the feasibility of voting by 
                               telephone.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                May 5 (legislative day, April 19), 1993

 Mr. Bingaman introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To authorize a project to demonstrate the feasibility of voting by 
                               telephone.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PHONE VOTING DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

    (a) Findings.--The Congress finds that perfecting voting by phone 
would greatly enhance voter participation, and the national 
laboratories have the technology to monitor the results of telephone 
voting and to ensure the security of the process.
    (b) Demonstration Project.--The Federal Elections Commission shall 
make a grant to a consortium described in subsection (d) for the 
purpose of conducting a project to demonstrate the feasibility of 
voting by telephone.
    (c) Matters To Be Addressed.--A demonstration project under 
subsection (b) shall explore the following areas of interest:
            (1) Ensuring that each voter votes only once and that the 
        vote is tallied, stored, and reported correctly.
            (2) Ensuring the anonymity of the voter by means of a 
        confidential but simple method to identify each voter.
            (3) Ensuring that the system cannot be accessed by 
        outsiders or insiders for the purpose of changing votes.
            (4) Ensuring that the system remains accessible and secure 
        to callers throughout the voting period.
            (5) Ensuring the encryption of voters' choices to minimize 
        fraud.
            (6) Exploring future security options, such as the use of 
        voice biometrics for voter identification.
            (7) Studying the effect of telephone voting on 
        participation rates.
    (d)  Consortium.--A consortium is described in this subsection if 
it is a consortium that includes a State government and 1 or more of 
the national laboratories.
    (e) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized to be 
appropriated $2,000,000 to carry out this Act.

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