Sec. 3. Risk-limiting audits
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Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( 52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 303 the following new section: In this section: The term risk-limiting audit means, with respect to any election contest, a post-election process that— has a probability of at least 95 percent of correcting the reported outcome if the reported outcome is not the correct outcome; will not change the outcome if the reported outcome is the correct outcome; and involves a manual adjudication of voter intent from some or all of the ballots validly cast in the election contest.
The term reported outcome means the outcome of an election contest which is determined according to the canvass and which will become the official, certified outcome unless it is revised by an audit, recount, or other legal process. The term correct outcome means the outcome that would be determined by a manual adjudication of voter intent for all votes validly cast in the election contest. The term outcome means the winner or set of winners of an election contest. The term manual adjudication of voter intent means direct inspection and determination by humans, without assistance from electronic or mechanical tabulation devices, of the ballot choices marked by voters on each voter-verifiable paper record.
The term ballot manifest means a record maintained by each jurisdiction that— is created without reliance on any part of the voting system used to tabulate votes; functions as a sampling frame for conducting a risk-limiting audit; and accounts for all ballots validly cast regardless of how or whether they were tabulated and includes a precise description of the manner in which the ballots are physically stored, including the total number of physical groups of ballots, the numbering system for each group, a unique label for each group, and the number of ballots in each such group.
Each State and jurisdiction shall administer risk-limiting audits of the results of all election contests for Federal office held in the State in accordance with the requirements of paragraph (2). Clause
(i)shall not apply to any election contest for which the State or jurisdiction conducts a full recount through a manual adjudication of voter intent. If a risk-limiting audit conducted under subparagraph
(A)corrects the reported outcome of an election contest, the State or jurisdiction shall use the results of the manual adjudication of voter intent conducted as part of the risk-limiting audit as the official results of the election contest. Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, the chief State election official of the State shall establish rules and procedures for conducting risk-limiting audits. The rules and procedures established under clause
(i)shall include the following: Rules and procedures for ensuring the security of ballots and documenting that prescribed procedures were followed. Rules and procedures for ensuring the accuracy of ballot manifests produced by jurisdictions. Rules and procedures for governing the format of ballot manifests and other data involved in risk-limiting audits. Methods to ensure that any cast vote records used in a risk-limiting audit are those used by the voting system to tally the results of the election contest sent to the chief State election official of the State and made public. Rules and procedures for the random selection of ballots to be inspected manually during each audit. Rules and procedures for the calculations and other methods to be used in the audit and to determine whether and when the audit of each election contest is complete. Rules and procedures for testing any software used to conduct risk-limiting audits. After the completion of the risk-limiting audit and at least 5 days before the election contest is certified, the State shall publish a report on the results of the audit, together with such information as necessary to confirm that the audit was conducted properly. All data published with the report under clause
(i)shall be published in machine-readable, open data formats. Information and data published by the State under this subparagraph shall not compromise the anonymity of votes. Each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with the requirements of this section for the first regularly scheduled election for Federal office held more than 1 year after the date of the enactment of the Protecting American Votes and Elections Act of 2019 , and for each subsequent election for Federal office. . Section 401 of such Act ( 52 U.S.C. 21111 ) is amended by striking and 303 and inserting 303, and 303A . The table of contents for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the following new item: Sec. 303A. Risk-limiting audits. .
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