[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3943 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3943

 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to reimburse jurisdictions 
    for amounts paid or incurred in preparing, producing, and using 
  contingency paper ballots in the November 7, 2006, Federal general 
                               election.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 26, 2006

  Mrs. Boxer (for herself, Mr. Dodd, and Mr. Feingold) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                        Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to reimburse jurisdictions 
    for amounts paid or incurred in preparing, producing, and using 
  contingency paper ballots in the November 7, 2006, Federal general 
                               election.

    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 ``Confidence in Voting Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that a bipartisan report by former Attorney General 
Richard Thornburgh and former Governor Richard Celeste concluded that 
``it will be essential this year that jurisdictions have backup and 
contingency plans that anticipate a wide range of possible failures in 
their electronic voting systems'', and that contingency paper ballots 
provide a sufficient backup plan for the failure of such systems.

SEC. 3. REIMBURSEMENTS FOR CONTINGENCY PAPER BALLOTS.

    (a) Reimbursement.--Part 1 of subtitle D of title II of the Help 
America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401 et seq.) is amended by 
inserting after section 257 the following new section:

``SEC. 257A. PAYMENTS FOR CONTINGENCY PAPER BALLOTS FOR THE 2006 
              GENERAL ELECTION.

    ``(a) In General.--The Commission shall pay to each jurisdiction 
that conducts a general election on November 7, 2006, and uses a voting 
system other than a paper ballot voting system in such election an 
amount equal to the documented costs paid or incurred by such 
jurisdiction for the preparation, production, and use of contingency 
paper ballots for such election, but not to exceed 75 cents for each 
contingency paper ballot printed by such jurisdiction for such 
election.
    ``(b) Requirements.--No payment shall be made under subsection (a) 
unless the jurisdiction--
            ``(1) permits an individual, upon request, to cast a vote 
        by means of a contingency paper ballot without regard to the 
        means of voting otherwise specified in the jurisdiction where 
        such individual votes; and
            ``(2) posts, in a conspicuous manner at the polling place, 
        a notice stating that contingency paper ballots are available 
        at the polling place and that a voter may request to use such a 
        ballot at the voter's discretion.
    ``(c) Amounts.--Such sums shall be appropriated to the Commission 
as necessary for payments under subsection (a).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of sections of the Help 
America Vote Act fo 2002 is amended by inserting after the item 
relating to section 257 the following new item:

``Sec. 257A. Payments for contingency paper ballots for the 2006 
                            general election.''.
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