[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2239 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2239

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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 22, 2003

   Mr. Holt introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House 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.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Voter Confidence and Increased 
Accessibility Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF TIME PROVIDED FOR STATES TO REQUEST PAYMENTS UNDER 
              TITLE I.

    (a) Payments For Activities To Improve Administration of 
Elections.--Section 101(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 
U.S.C. 15301(a)) is amended by striking ``not later than 6 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act'' and inserting ``not later than 
the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 2003''.
    (b) Payments For Replacement of Punch Card or Lever Voting 
Machines.--Section 102(b)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15301(b)(1)) is 
amended by striking ``not later than the date that is 6 months after 
the date of the enactment of this Act'' and inserting ``not later than 
the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November 2003''.
    (c) Extension of Period of Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--Section 104(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
        15304(a)) is amended by striking ``$650,000,000'' and inserting 
        ``an aggregate amount of $650,000,000 for fiscal years 2003 and 
        2004''.
            (2) Date for transfer to election assistance commission of 
        unobligated funds.--Section 104(c)(2)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
        15304(c)(2)(B)) is amended by striking ``September 1, 2003'' 
        and inserting ``January 1, 2004''.
    (d) Requirement To Deploy Interim Measure if Waiver Requested.--
Section 102(a)(3)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15301(a)(3)(B)) is amended 
by striking the period at the end and inserting the following: ``, 
except that any State requesting any such waiver shall accept and 
implement a paper system for use on an interim basis as provided in 
section 5(b) of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 
2003 in time for use in the November 2004 general election.''.

SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMISSION FROM 
              CERTAIN GOVERNMENT CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) In General.--Section 205 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 
(42 U.S.C. 15325) is amended by striking subsection (e).
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to contracts entered into by the Election Assistance 
Commission on or after the date of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 4. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECURITY THROUGH VOTER-
              VERIFIED PERMANENT RECORD OR HARD COPY.

    (a) In General.--Section 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 
2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows:
            ``(2) Voter-verification and audit capacity.--
                    ``(A) Voter-verification in general.--The voting 
                system shall produce a voter-verified paper record 
                suitable for a manual audit equivalent or superior to 
                that of a paper ballot box system, as further specified 
                in subparagraph (B).
                    ``(B) Manual audit capacity.--
                            ``(i) The voting system shall produce a 
                        permanent paper record, each individual paper 
                        record of which shall be made available for 
                        inspection and verification by the voter at the 
                        time the vote is cast, and preserved within the 
                        polling place in the manner in which all other 
                        paper ballots are preserved within the polling 
                        place on Election Day for later use in any 
                        manual audit.
                            ``(ii) The voting system shall provide the 
                        voter with an opportunity to correct any error 
                        made by the system before the permanent record 
                        is preserved for use in any manual audit.
                            ``(iii) The voter verified paper record 
                        produced under subparagraph (A) and this 
                        subparagraph shall be available as an official 
                        record and shall be the official record used 
                        for any recount conducted with respect to any 
                        election in which the system is used.
                    ``(C) Software and modems.--
                            ``(i) No voting system shall at any time 
                        contain or use undisclosed software. Any voting 
                        system containing or using software shall 
                        disclose the source code of that software to 
                        the Commission, and the Commission shall make 
                        that source code available for inspection upon 
                        request to any citizen.
                            ``(ii) No voting system shall contain any 
                        wireless communication device at all.
                            ``(iii) All software and hardware used in 
                        any electronic voting system shall be certified 
                        by laboratories accredited by the Commission as 
meeting the requirements of clauses (i) and (ii).''.
    (b) Voter Verification of Results for Individuals With 
Disabilities.--Section 301(a)(3) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3) is 
amended--
            (1) in the heading, by inserting ``and voter-verification 
        of results'' after ``accessibility'';
            (2) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``; and'' and 
        inserting the following: ``, and such voting system shall 
        provide a mechanism for voter-verification of results which 
        separates the function of vote generation from the function of 
        vote casting in a manner analogous to that described in section 
        4 with respect to the separation of paper ballot generation and 
        paper ballot verification and preservation, but does not 
        require the use of paper.'';
            (3) by amending subparagraph (C) to read as follows:
                    ``(C) The equipment deployed in accordance with 
                subparagraph (B) shall meet the voting system standards 
                for disability access and voter-verification of results 
                as outlined in this paragraph in accordance with the 
                deadline set forth in section 5(a), provided that if it 
                does not and an interim paper system is deployed in 
                accordance with section 5(b), disabled voters shall 
                have the option of using the interim paper system with 
                the assistance of an aide of the voter's personal 
                selection or using the voting system otherwise put in 
                place for use by disabled voters at the time in 
                question in accordance with the Help America Vote Act 
                of 2002, as in effect prior to the enactment of this 
                Act, except that the deadline set forth in section 
                301(a)(3)(C) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3)(C)) is 
                moved forward from January 1, 2007, to January 1, 
                2006.''; and
            (4) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(D) Election officials shall be instructed in the 
                rights of the disabled to vote with the assistance of 
                an aide of their selection under the Voting Rights Act 
                of 1965.''.
    (c) Specific, Delineated Requirement of Study, Testing, and 
Development of Best Practices.--In addition to any other requirements 
under the Help America Vote Act of 2002, the Election Assistance 
Commission shall study, test, and develop best practices to enhance 
accessibility and voter-verification mechanisms for disabled voters.

SEC. 5. CHANGE IN DEADLINE FOR COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARDS.

    (a) In General.--Section 301(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 
2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(d)) is amended by striking ``on and after January 
1, 2006'' and inserting ``in time for elections for Federal office 
beginning with the regularly scheduled general election to be held in 
November 2004''.
    (b) Interim Paper System.--Each State and jurisdiction that 
certifies in the manner described in section 102(a)(3)(B) that it shall 
be unable to comply with the requirements of section 301 in time for 
the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office to be held 
in November 2004 shall receive a paper voting system, based on paper 
systems in use in the jurisdiction, if any, at the expense of the 
Commission that shall be deemed compliant with section 301 by the 
Commission for use in the November 2004 general elections.

SEC. 6. REQUIREMENT FOR FEDERAL CERTIFICATION OF TECHNOLOGICAL SECURITY 
              OF VOTER REGISTRATION LISTS.

    Section 303(a)(3) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 
15483(a)(3)) is amended by striking the period at the end and inserting 
the following: ``, as certified by the Commission.''.

SEC. 7. REQUIREMENT FOR MANDATORY RECOUNTS.

    The Election Assistance Commission shall conduct manual mandatory 
surprise recounts of the voter-verified records of each election for 
Federal office (and, at the option of the State or jurisdiction 
involved, of elections for State and local office) in .5 percent of the 
jurisdictions in each State and .5 percent of the overseas 
jurisdictions in which voter-verified records are preserved in 
accordance with this section immediately following each general 
election for Federal office, and shall promptly publish the results of 
those recounts. The treatment of the results of the recount shall be 
governed by applicable Federal, State, or local law, except that any 
individual who is a citizen of the jurisdiction involved may file an 
appeal with the Commission if the individual believes that such law 
does not provide a fair remedy.

SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Except as provided in section 3(b), the amendments made by this Act 
shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the Help America 
Vote Act of 2002.
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