Sec. 603. Additional voting system requirements
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Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: A voting system used in an election for Federal office in a State may not at any time during the election contain or use any election-dedicated voting system technology— which has not been certified by the State for use in the election; and which has not been deposited with an accredited laboratory described in section 231 to be held in escrow and disclosed in accordance with this section.
An accredited laboratory under section 231 with whom an election-dedicated voting system technology has been deposited shall— hold the technology in escrow; and disclose technology and information regarding the technology to another person if— the person is a qualified person described in subparagraph
(C)who has entered into a nondisclosure agreement with respect to the technology which meets the requirements of subparagraph (D); or the laboratory is permitted or required to disclose the technology to the person under State law, in accordance with the terms and conditions applicable under such law. With respect to the disclosure of election-dedicated voting system technology by a laboratory under subparagraph (B)(ii)(I), a qualified person is any of the following: A governmental entity with responsibility for the administration of voting and election-related matters for purposes of reviewing, analyzing, or reporting on the technology. A party to pre- or post-election litigation challenging the result of an election or the administration or use of the technology used in an election, including but not limited to election contests or challenges to the certification of the technology, or an expert for a party to such litigation, for purposes of reviewing or analyzing the technology to support or oppose the litigation, and all parties to the litigation shall have access to the technology for such purposes. A person not described in clause
(i)or
(ii)who reviews, analyzes, or reports on the technology solely for an academic, scientific, technological, or other investigation or inquiry concerning the accuracy or integrity of the technology. A nondisclosure agreement entered into with respect to an election-dedicated voting system technology meets the requirements of this subparagraph if the agreement— is limited in scope to coverage of the technology disclosed under subparagraph
(B)and any trade secrets and intellectual property rights related thereto; does not prohibit a signatory from entering into other nondisclosure agreements to review other technologies under this paragraph; exempts from coverage any information the signatory lawfully obtained from another source or any information in the public domain; remains in effect for not longer than the life of any trade secret or other intellectual property right related thereto; prohibits the use of injunctions barring a signatory from carrying out any activity authorized under subparagraph (C), including injunctions limited to the period prior to a trial involving the technology; is silent as to damages awarded for breach of the agreement, other than a reference to damages available under applicable law; allows disclosure of evidence of crime, including in response to a subpoena or warrant; allows the signatory to perform analyses on the technology (including by executing the technology), disclose reports and analyses that describe 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; and provides that the agreement shall be governed by the trade secret laws of the applicable State. For purposes of this paragraph: The term election-dedicated voting system technology means the following: The source code used for the trusted build and its file signatures. A complete disk image of the pre-build, build environment, and any file signatures to validate that it is unmodified. A complete disk image of the post-build, build environment, and any file signatures to validate that it is unmodified. All executable code produced by the trusted build and any file signatures to validate that it is unmodified. Installation devices and software file signatures. Such term does not include commercial-off-the-shelf software and hardware defined under the 2005 voluntary voting system guidelines adopted by the Commission under section 222. 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. No system or device upon which ballots are programmed or votes are cast or tabulated shall be connected to the Internet at any time. Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be deemed to prohibit the Commission from conducting the studies under section 242 or to conduct other similar studies under any other provision of law in a manner consistent with this paragraph. No voting system may be used in an election for Federal office unless the manufacturer of such system and the election officials using such system meet the applicable requirements described in subparagraph (B). The requirements described in this subparagraph are as follows: 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, and shall make the information available upon request to the Commission. The manufacturer shall disclose to an accredited laboratory under section 231 and to the appropriate election official any information required to be disclosed under paragraph (7). After the appropriate election official has certified the election-dedicated and other voting system software for use in an election, the manufacturer may not— alter such software; or insert or use in the voting system any software, software patch, or other software modification not certified by the State for use in the election. At the request of the Commission— the appropriate election official shall submit information to the Commission regarding the State’s compliance with this subparagraph; and the manufacturer shall submit information to the Commission regarding the manufacturer’s compliance with this subparagraph. Not later than August 1, 2016, the Commission 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. The Commission shall make information provided to the Commission under subparagraph (B)(i) available to any person upon request. All voter-verified paper ballots required to be used under this Act shall be marked or printed on durable paper. For purposes of this Act, paper is durable if it is capable of withstanding multiple counts and recounts by hand without compromising the fundamental integrity of the ballots, and capable of retaining the information marked or printed on them for the full duration of a retention and preservation period of 22 months. All voter-verified paper ballots completed by the voter through the use of a ballot marking device shall be clearly readable by the voter without assistance (other than eyeglasses or other personal vision enhancing devices) and by an optical character recognition device or other device equipped for individuals with disabilities. Each State shall meet the following requirements: Upon the closing of the polls at each polling place, the appropriate election official, under the observation of the certified tabulation observers admitted to the polling place under subparagraph
(E)(if any), shall announce the vote orally, post a copy of the poll tape reflecting the totals from each voting machine upon which votes were cast in the election at the polling place, and prepare and post a statement of the total number of individuals who appeared at the polling place to cast ballots, determined by reference to the number of signatures in a sign-in book or other similar independent count. Such officials shall ensure that each of the certified tabulation observers admitted to the polling place has full access to observe the process by which the poll tapes and statement are produced and a reasonable period of time to review the poll tapes and statement before the polling place is closed, and (if feasible) shall provide such observers with identical duplicate copies of the poll tapes and statement. As soon as practicable, but in no event later than noon of the day following the date of the election, the appropriate election official shall display (at a prominent location accessible to the public during regular business hours and in or within reasonable proximity to the polling place) a copy of each poll tape and statement prepared under clause (i), and the information shall be displayed on the official public websites of the applicable local election official and chief State election official, together with the name of the designated voting official who entered the information and the date and time the information was entered. Each website on which information is posted under clause
(ii)shall include information on the procedures by which discrepancies shall be reported to election officials. If any discrepancy exists between the posted information and the relevant poll tape or statement, the appropriate election official shall display information on the discrepancy on the website on which the information is posted under clause
(ii)not later than 24 hours after the official is made aware of the discrepancy, and shall maintain the information on the discrepancy and its resolution (if applicable) on such website during the entire period for which results of the election are typically maintained on such website. The appropriate election official shall preserve archived copies of the poll tapes and statements prepared under clause
(i)and reports of discrepancies filed by certified tabulation observers for the period of time during which records and papers are required to be retained and preserved pursuant to title III of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 (42 U.S.C. 1974 et seq.) or for the same duration for which archived copies of other records of the election are required to be preserved under applicable State law, whichever is longer. The requirements of this subparagraph shall apply with respect to poll tapes and statements of the number of voters who voted in person at designated sites prior to the date of the election. At the close of business on each day on which ballots described in clause
(i)may be cast prior to the date of the election, the appropriate election official at each such site shall— under the observation of certified tabulation observers admitted to the site under subparagraph
(E)(if any), prepare and post a statement of the total number of individuals who appeared at the site to cast ballots, determined by reference to the number of signatures in a sign-in book or other similar independent count, and the total number of ballots cast (excluding information on the votes received by individual candidates), and shall ensure that each of the certified tabulation observers admitted to the site has full access to observe the process by which the statement is produced and a reasonable period of time to review the statement before the site is closed; and display at the site during regular business hours for the duration of the early voting period a paper copy of the statement prepared under subclause (I). Upon the closing of the polls on the date of the election, the appropriate election official at each designated site described in this subparagraph shall meet the requirements of subparagraph
(A)(including requirements relating to the role of certified tabulation observers) in the same manner as an election official at a polling place. At the close of each business day on which a State mails or accepts absentee ballots cast in an election for Federal office prior to the date of the election, the appropriate election official shall— under the observation of certified tabulation observers admitted under subparagraph
(E)to the site at which the ballots are mailed and received (if any), prepare and post a statement of the total number of absentee ballots mailed and received by the official during that day and a separate count of the number of absentee ballots received but rejected (separated into categories of the reasons for rejection), and ensure that each of the certified tabulation observers admitted to the site has full access to observe the process by which the statement is produced and a reasonable period of time to review the statement before the site is closed; and display at the site during regular business hours for the duration of the period during which absentee ballots are processed a paper copy of the statement prepared under subclause (I). At the close of business on the last day on which absentee ballots are counted prior to the certification of the election, the appropriate election official at the site at which absentee ballots are received and counted shall meet the requirements of subparagraph
(A)(including requirements relating to the role of certified tabulation observers) in the same manner as an election official at a polling place. At the close of business on the day on which the appropriate election official determines whether or not provisional ballots cast in an election for Federal office will be counted as votes in the election (as described in section 302(a)(4)), the official shall— under the observation of certified tabulation observers admitted under subparagraph
(E)to the site at which the determination is made (if any), prepare and post a statement of the number of such ballots for which a determination was made, the number of ballots counted, and the number of ballots rejected (separated into categories of the reason for the rejection), and ensure that each of the certified tabulation observers admitted to the site has full access to observe the process by which the statement is produced and a reasonable period of time to review the statement before the site is closed; and display at the site during regular business hours for the duration of the period during which provisional ballots are processed a paper copy of the statement prepared under clause (i). In this paragraph, a certified tabulation observer is an individual who is certified by an appropriate election official as authorized to carry out the responsibilities of a certified tabulation observer under this paragraph. In determining which individuals to certify as tabulation observers and admit to a polling place or other location to serve as certified tabulation observers with respect to an election for Federal office, the election official shall give preference to individuals who are affiliated with a candidate in the election, except that— the number of individuals admitted who are affiliated with the same candidate for Federal office may not exceed one; and the maximum number of individuals who may be admitted shall equal the number of candidates in the election plus 3, or such greater number as may be authorized under State law. Nothing in this subparagraph may be construed to limit or otherwise affect the authority of other individuals to enter and observe polling place operations under any other law, including international observers authorized under any treaty or observers of the Federal Government authorized under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Nothing in this Act may be construed to supersede any requirement that an election official at a polling place report vote totals to a central tabulation facility and address discrepancies the official finds in the aggregation of those totals with other vote totals. . Section 231(b) of such Act ( 42 U.S.C. 15371(b) ) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs: A laboratory may not be accredited by the Commission for purposes of this section unless— the laboratory certifies that the only compensation it receives for the testing carried out in connection with the certification, decertification, and recertification of the manufacturer’s voting system hardware and software is the payment made from the Testing Escrow Account under paragraph (4); the laboratory meets such standards as the Commission shall establish (after notice and opportunity for public comment) to prevent the existence or appearance of any conflict of interest in the testing carried out by the laboratory under this section, including standards to ensure that the laboratory does not have a financial interest in the manufacture, sale, and distribution of voting system hardware and software, and is sufficiently independent from other persons with such an interest; the laboratory certifies that it will permit an expert designated by the Commission or by the State requiring certification of the system being tested to observe any testing the laboratory carries out under this section; and the laboratory, upon completion of any testing carried out under this section, discloses the test protocols, results, and all communication between the laboratory and the manufacturer to the Commission. Upon receipt of information under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall make the information available promptly to election officials and the public. The Commission shall establish an escrow account (to be known as the Testing Escrow Account ) for making payments to accredited laboratories for the costs of the testing carried out in connection with the certification, decertification, and recertification of voting system hardware and software. In consultation with the accredited laboratories, the Commission shall establish and regularly update a schedule of fees for the testing carried out in connection with the certification, decertification, and recertification of voting system hardware and software, based on the reasonable costs expected to be incurred by the accredited laboratories in carrying out the testing for various types of hardware and software. A manufacturer of voting system hardware and software may not have the hardware or software tested by an accredited laboratory under this section unless— the manufacturer submits a detailed request for the testing to the Commission; and the manufacturer pays to the Commission, for deposit into the Testing Escrow Account established under subparagraph (A), the applicable fee under the schedule established and in effect under subparagraph (B). Upon receiving a request for testing and the payment from a manufacturer required under subparagraph (C), the Commission shall select, from all laboratories which are accredited under this section to carry out the specific testing requested by the manufacturer, an accredited laboratory to carry out the testing. Upon receiving a certification from a laboratory selected to carry out testing pursuant to subparagraph
(D)that the testing is completed, along with a copy of the results of the test as required under paragraph (3)(A)(iv), the Commission shall make a payment to the laboratory from the Testing Escrow Account established under subparagraph
(A)in an amount equal to the applicable fee paid by the manufacturer under subparagraph (C)(ii). Upon completion of the testing of a voting system under this section, the Commission shall promptly disseminate to the public the identification of the laboratory which carried out the testing. The Commission shall promptly notify Congress, the chief State election official of each State, and the public whenever— the Commission revokes, terminates, or suspends the accreditation of a laboratory under this section; the Commission restores the accreditation of a laboratory under this section which has been revoked, terminated, or suspended; or the Commission has credible evidence of significant security failure at an accredited laboratory. . Section 231 of such Act ( 42 U.S.C. 15371 ) is further amended— in subsection (a)(1), by striking testing, certification, and all that follows and inserting the following: testing of voting system hardware and software by accredited laboratories in connection with the certification, decertification, and recertification of the hardware and software for purposes of this Act. ; in subsection (a)(2), by striking testing, certification, and all that follows and inserting the following: testing of its voting system hardware and software by the laboratories accredited by the Commission under this section in connection with certifying, decertifying, and recertifying the hardware and software. ; in subsection (b)(1), by striking testing, certification, decertification, and recertification and inserting testing ; and in subsection (d), by striking testing, certification, decertification, and recertification each place it appears and inserting testing . The Election Assistance Commission shall establish the standards described in section 231(b)(3) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the Testing Escrow Account and schedule of fees described in section 231(b)(4) of such Act (as added by paragraph (1)) not later than January 1, 2016. There are authorized to be appropriated to the Election Assistance Commission such sums as may be necessary to carry out the Commission’s duties under paragraphs
(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 adding at the end the following new part: The Director of the National Science Foundation (hereafter in this part referred to as the Director ) shall make grants to not fewer than 3 eligible entities to conduct research on the development of election-dedicated voting system software. An entity is eligible to receive a grant under this part if it submits to the Director (at such time and in such form as the Director may require) an application containing— certifications regarding the benefits of operating voting systems on election-dedicated software which is easily understandable and which is written exclusively for the purpose of conducting elections; certifications that the entity will use the funds provided under the grant to carry out research on how to develop voting systems that run on election-dedicated software and that will meet the applicable requirements for voting systems under title III; and such other information and certifications as the Director may require. Any technology developed with the grants made under this section shall be treated as non-proprietary and shall be made available to the public, including to manufacturers of voting systems. There is authorized to be appropriated for grants under this section $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2017 and 2018, to remain available until expended. . The table of contents of such Act is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to subtitle D of title II the following: Part 7—Grants for research on development of election-Dedicated voting system software Sec. 297. Grants for research on development of election-dedicated voting system software. .
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