HR
2894
TITLE I -- VOTER VERIFIED
PERMANENT PAPER BALLOT
(A) (i) This Act requires
a durable paper ballot marked by the voter by hand or by a non-tabulating
ballot marking device which can be
corrected by the voter before it is preserved.
(ii) This paper ballot shall be used for purposes of any audit or recount
and shall be the official ballot.
(iii)
Audits and recounts shall be counted by hand.
(iv) All absentee, overseas and uniformed
service ballots shall be paper and as described above.
(B) (i)& (ii) If it has
been convincingly demonstrated that sufficient voter-verified paper ballots
have been compromised so that the outcome of the election could be changed,
then the remedy shall be determined in accordance with State law, except that
the electronic record shall not be the exclusive basis for determining the
official result. Only paper ballots deemed compromised shall be considered in
the calculation of whether the election outcome could be changed due to the
compromised paper ballots.
Section 102 ACCESSIBILITY
(B) (i)
& (ii) At least one voting
system in each polling place shall be equipped for visual and dexterity impairments and shall allow:
verification of the printed or marked
ballot in accessible form;
independent casting of the paper
ballot without requiring the voter to manually handle the ballot.
SEC. 247. STUDY AND REPORT ON ACCESSIBLE PAPER BALLOT
VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.
$5 million in grants shall be made available through the National
Science Foundation (NSF) to study and develop accessible paper ballot voting,
verification and casting mechanisms and best practices.
Such technology shall be non-proprietary.
Such funds may be used to enforce election related disability access.
Such
activities shall be carried out by December 31, 2011.
Section 103 ADDITIONAL VOTING SYSTEM
REQUIREMENTS
(7) PROHIBITS
UNCERTIFIED VOTING SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES
(A) Voting system technology
must be certified and deposited and held in escrow with an accredited
laboratory.
(B) The accredited laboratory shall disclose voting system technology
to qualified persons who have entered into non- disclosure agreements or when
such disclosure is permitted or required by state law.
(C ) A qualified person is:
(i) a governmental administrative entity analyzing
or reporting on the technology;
(ii) a
party to litigation pertaining to an election;
(iii) a
scientific, technical or other investigator analyzing or reporting on the
integrity of the technology;
(D) The non-disclosure agreement must:
(D)(vi) specify only damages available under
applicable law,
(vii) allow disclosure of evidence of a
crime;
(viii)
allow the signatory to execute the technology and perform analyses on it,
report operational issues pertaining to the technology (including
vulnerabilities to tampering, errors, risks associated with use, failures as a
result of use, and other problems), and describe or explain why or how a voting
system failed or otherwise did not perform as intended;
(ix) provide that the agreement shall be
governed by the trade secret laws of the applicable State.
(E) ELECTION-DEDICATED VOTING SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY DEFINED (consult bill)
(8)
PROHIBITING WIRELESS COMMUNICATION DEVICES
` No system or device upon which ballots are programmed or
votes are cast or tabulated shall contain, use, or be accessible by any
wireless, power-line, or concealed communication device,
except
that enclosed
infrared communications devices which are certified for use in such device by
the State and which cannot be used for any remote or wide area communications
or used without the knowledge of poll workers shall be permitted.
(9)
PROHIBITING CONNECTION OF VOTING SYSTEM TO THE INTERNET
No
system or device upon which ballots are programmed or votes are cast or
tabulated shall be connected to the Internet at any time.
(10)
SECURITY STANDARDS AND CHAIN OF CUSTODY FOR VOTING SYSTEMS USED IN FEDERAL
ELECTIONS
(A)&(B) Systems must meet the following requirements:
(i) The
manufacturer and the election officials shall document the secure chain of
custody for the handling of all software, hardware, vote storage media, blank
ballots, and completed ballots used in connection with voting systems.
(ii) The manufacturer shall disclose
information required to be disclosed to the accredited laboratory under section
231 and to election officials under paragraph (7).
(iii)
After the appropriate election official certifies software the manufacturer may
NOT:
(I)
Alter
such software
(II)
Insert
any uncertified software patch or modification
(iv) At
the request of the EAC (Election Assistance Commission) the State and the
manufacturer shall provide a record of their compliance with (i), (ii) and
(iii) above.
(C ) DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLICATION OF BEST PRACTICES OF
SECURE CHAIN OF CUSTODY- Not later than August 1, 2010, the EAC shall develop
and make publicly available best practices regarding the requirement of
subparagraph (B)(i) and (B)(iii), and in the case of subparagraph (B)(iii),
shall include best practices for certifying software patches and minor software
modifications under short deadlines.
(D) PUBLIC DISCLOSURE OF SECURE CHAIN OF CUSTODY- The
EAC shall make information under subparagraph (B)(i) available to any person
upon request.
(11)
(A)
PAPER BALLOTS MUST BE DURABLE AND READABLE
(i) All
voter-verified paper ballots required under this Act shall be durable.
(ii)
Definition of DURABLE - Capable of withstanding multiple counts and recounts by
hand, and capable of retaining the information marked on them for 22 months.
(11)
(B)
READABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PAPER BALLOTS MARKED BY BALLOT MARKING DEVICE- All
voter-verified paper ballots shall be clearly readable by the [sighted] voter
(3)
VOTING SYSTEM CERTIFICATION LABS:
PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; MAKING RESULTS AVAILABLE
(A) (i) The only compensation for
testing and certification, shall be the payment made from the Testing Escrow
Account under paragraph (4).
(ii) The
EAC shall establish (after opportunity for public comment) standards to ensure
that the laboratory is sufficiently independent from those with an interest in
the manufacture, sale and distribution of voting system hardware and software.
(iii) An
expert designated by the EAC or by the State may observe any testing under this
section.
(iv) The
lab, upon completion of any testing, shall disclose to the EAC test protocols,
results, and all communications with the manufacturer.
(B) Upon receipt of the information under sub-paragraph
A above, the EAC shall make such information available promptly to election
officials and to the public.
(4)
PROCEDURES FOR PAYMENT OF COMPENSATION TO ACCREDITED LABORATORIES-
(A) The EAC shall ESTABLISH a Testing Escrow Account.
(B) The EAC shall ESTABLISH and regularly update a
schedule of fees for the testing In consultation with the accredited
laboratories.
(C) THE MANUFACTURER shall submit a detailed request for
testing to the EAC and pay a fee for deposit into the Escrow Account. `
(D) The EAC shall select the laboratory from among all
accredited testing labs.
(E) PAYMENTS TO TESTING LABORATORIES shall be made by
the EAC from the Testing Escrow Account upon completion of testing
(5)
DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION REGARDING ACCREDITED LABORATORIES-
(A) Upon completion of the testing EAC shall promptly
disseminate to the public the identification of the laboratory that carried out
the testing.
(B) The Commission shall promptly notify Congress and
the public whenever (i) it revokes, terminates, or suspends the accreditation
of a laboratory; (ii) restores accreditation or (iii) has evidence of a
significant security failure at an accredited lab.
(3)
DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS, ESCROW ACCOUNT, AND SCHEDULE OF FEES
is January 1, 2010.
(4)
AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS to the Election Assistance Commission is for such
sums as may be necessary to carry out the Commission's duties under paragraghs
(3) and (4) of section 231 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as added by
paragraph (1)).
Subtitle
D of title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401 et seq.) is
amended by:
`PART 7 SEC. 297. GRANTS FOR RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT OF
ELECTION-DEDICATED VOTING SYSTEM SOFTWARE.
(a) The National Science Foundation
(NSF) shall make grants to at least 3 eligible entities for development of
election-dedicated voting system software which is easily understandable and
that will meet the requirements for voting systems under title III.
(c) Any technology developed
with such grants shall be non-proprietary and shall be made available to the
public and to manufacturers of voting systems.
(d) Authorization of Appropriations for such grants: $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 and 2011.