[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6794 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6794

To direct the Election Assistance Commission to reimburse jurisdictions 
 for the costs incurred in conducting manual audits of the results of 
 the general elections for Federal office to be held in November 2008.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             August 1, 2008

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Election Assistance Commission to reimburse jurisdictions 
 for the costs incurred in conducting manual audits of the results of 
 the general elections for Federal office to be held in November 2008.

    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 ``Emergency Election Audit Act of 
2008''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENTS FOR CONDUCTING MANUAL AUDITS OF RESULTS OF 2008 
              GENERAL ELECTIONS.

    (a) Payments.--
            (1) Eligibility for payments.--If a State conducts manual 
        audits of the results of any of the regularly scheduled general 
        elections for Federal office in November 2008 (and, at the 
        option of the State, conducts audits of elections for State and 
        local office held at the same time as such election) in 
        accordance with the requirements of this section, the Election 
        Assistance Commission (hereafter in this Act referred to as the 
        ``Commission'') shall make a payment to the State in an amount 
        equal to the documented reasonable costs incurred by the State 
        in conducting the audits.
            (2) Certification of compliance and costs.--
                    (A) Certification required.--In order to receive a 
                payment under this section, a State shall submit to the 
                Commission, in such form as the Commission may require, 
                a statement containing--
                            (i) a certification that the State 
                        conducted the audits in accordance with all of 
                        the requirements of this section;
                            (ii) a statement of the reasonable costs 
                        incurred in conducting the audits; and
                            (iii) such other information and assurances 
                        as the Commission may require.
                    (B) Amount of payment.--The amount of a payment 
                made to a State under this section shall be equal to 
                the reasonable costs incurred in conducting the audits.
                    (C) Determination of reasonableness of costs.--The 
                determinations under this paragraph of whether costs 
                incurred by a State are reasonable shall be made by the 
                Commission.
            (3) Timing of payments.--The Commission shall make the 
        payment required under this section to a State not later than 
        30 days after receiving the statement submitted by the State 
        under paragraph (2).
            (4) Mandatory immediate reimbursement of counties and other 
        jurisdictions.--If a county or other jurisdiction responsible 
        for the administration of an election in a State incurs costs 
        as the result of the State conducting an audit of the election 
        in accordance with this section, the State shall reimburse the 
        county or jurisdiction for such costs immediately upon 
        receiving the payment from the Commission under paragraph (3).
            (5) Authorization of appropriations.--There are authorized 
        to be appropriated to the Commission such sums as may be 
        necessary for payments under this section. Any amounts 
        appropriated pursuant to the authorization under this 
        subsection shall remain available until expended.
    (b) Audit Requirements.--In order to receive a payment under this 
section for conducting an audit, the State shall meet the following 
minimum requirements:
            (1) Not later than 30 days before the date of the regularly 
        scheduled general election for Federal office in November 2008, 
        the State shall establish and publish guidelines, standards, 
        and procedures to be used in conducting audits in accordance 
        with this section.
            (2) The State shall select an appropriate entity to oversee 
        the administration of the audit, in accordance with such 
        criteria as the State considers appropriate consistent with the 
        requirements of this section, except that the entity must meet 
        a general standard of independence as defined by the State.
            (3) The State shall determine whether the units in which 
        the audit will be conducted will be precincts or some 
        alternative auditing unit, and shall apply that determination 
        in a uniform manner for all audits conducted in accordance with 
        this section.
            (4) The State shall select the precincts or alternative 
        auditing units in which audits are conducted in accordance with 
        this section in a random manner following the election after 
        the final unofficial vote count (as defined by the State) has 
        been announced, such that each precinct or alternative auditing 
        unit in which the election was held has an equal chance of 
        being selected, subject to paragraph (9), except that the State 
        shall ensure that at least one precinct or alternative auditing 
        unit is selected in each county in which the election is held.
            (5) The audit shall be conducted in not less than 2 percent 
        of the precincts or alternative auditing units in the State (in 
        the case of a general election for the office of Senator) or 
        the Congressional district involved (in the case of an election 
        for the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident 
        Commissioner to, the Congress).
            (6) The State shall determine the stage of the tabulation 
        process at which the audit will be conducted, and shall apply 
        that determination in a uniform manner for all audits conducted 
        in accordance with this section, except that the audit shall 
        commence within 48 hours after the State or jurisdiction 
        involved announces the final unofficial vote count (as defined 
        by the State) in each precinct in which votes are cast in the 
        election which is the subject of the audit.
            (7) With respect to each precinct or alternative audit unit 
        audited, the State shall ensure that a voter verified paper 
        ballot or paper ballot printout verifiable by the voter at the 
        time the vote is cast is available for every vote cast in the 
        precinct or alternative audit unit, and that the tally produced 
        by counting all of those paper ballots or paper ballot 
        printouts by hand is compared with the corresponding final 
        unofficial vote count (as defined by the State) announced with 
        respect to that precinct or audit unit in the election.
            (8) Within each precinct or alternative audit unit, the 
        audit shall include all ballots cast by all individuals who 
        voted in or who are under the jurisdiction of the precinct or 
        alternative audit unit with respect to the election, including 
        absentee ballots (subject to paragraph (9)), early ballots, 
        emergency ballots, and provisional ballots, without regard to 
        the time, place, or manner in which the ballots were cast.
            (9) If a State establishes a separate precinct for purposes 
        of counting the absentee ballots cast in the election and 
        treats all absentee ballots as having been cast in that 
        precinct, and if the state does not make absentee ballots 
        sortable by precinct and include those ballots in the hand 
        count, the State may divide absentee ballots into audit units 
        approximately equal in size to the average precinct in the 
        State in terms of the number of ballots cast, and shall 
        randomly select and include at least 2 percent of those audit 
        units in the audit. Any audit carried out with respect to such 
        an audit unit shall meet the completeness requirement and the 
        other standards set forth under paragraph (7) and applicable to 
        audits carried out with respect to other precincts and 
        alternative audit units, including the requirement that all 
        paper ballots be counted by hand.
            (10) The audit shall be conducted in a public and 
        transparent manner, such that members of the public are able to 
        observe the entire process.
    (c) Collection and Submission of Audit Results; Publication.--
            (1) State submission of report.--In order to receive a 
        payment under this section, a State shall submit to the 
        Commission a report, in such form as the Commission may 
        require, on the results of each audit conducted under this 
        section.
            (2) Commission action.--The Commission may request 
        additional information from a State based on the report 
        submitted under paragraph (1).
            (3) Publication.--The Commission shall publish each report 
        submitted under paragraph (1) upon receipt.
    (d) Delay in Certification of Results by State.--No State may 
certify the results of any election which is subject to an audit under 
this section prior to completing the audit, resolving discrepancies 
discovered in the audit, and submitting the report required under 
subsection (c).
    (e) State Defined.--In this Act, the term ``State'' includes the 
District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American 
Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands.
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