Sec. 3001. Grants for obtaining compliant paper ballot voting systems and carrying out voting system security improvements
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Subtitle D of title II of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( 52 U.S.C. 21001 et seq.), as amended by section 1905(a), is amended by adding at the end the following new part: The Commission shall make a grant to each eligible State— to replace a voting system— which does not meet the requirements which are first imposed on the State pursuant to the amendments made by the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2019 with a voting system which does meet such requirements, for use in the regularly scheduled general elections for Federal office held in November 2020, or which does meet such requirements but which is not in compliance with the most recent voluntary voting system guidelines issued by the Commission prior to the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held in November 2020 with another system which does meet such requirements and is in compliance with such guidelines; to carry out voting system security improvements described in section 298A with respect to the regularly scheduled general elections for Federal office held in November 2020 and each succeeding election for Federal office; and to implement and model best practices for ballot design, ballot instructions, and the testing of ballots.
The amount of a grant made to a State under this section shall be such amount as the Commission determines to be appropriate, except that such amount may not be less than the product of $1 and the average of the number of individuals who cast votes in any of the two most recent regularly scheduled general elections for Federal office held in the State. If the amount of funds appropriated for grants under this part is insufficient to ensure that each State receives the amount of the grant calculated under subsection (b), the Commission shall make such pro rata reductions in such amounts as may be necessary to ensure that the entire amount appropriated under this part is distributed to the States.
If the amount of funds appropriated for grants authorized under section 298D(a)(2) exceed the amount necessary to meet the requirements of subsection (b), the Commission shall consider the following in making a determination to award remaining funds to a State: The record of the State in carrying out the following with respect to the administration of elections for Federal office: Providing voting machines that are less than 10 years old. Implementing strong chain of custody procedures for the physical security of voting equipment and paper records at all stages of the process.
Conducting pre-election testing on every voting machine and ensuring that paper ballots are available wherever electronic machines are used. Maintaining offline backups of voter registration lists. Providing a secure voter registration database that logs requests submitted to the database. Publishing and enforcing a policy detailing use limitations and security safeguards to protect the personal information of voters in the voter registration process. Providing secure processes and procedures for reporting vote tallies.
Providing a secure platform for disseminating vote totals. Evidence of established conditions of innovation and reform in providing voting system security and the proposed plan of the State for implementing additional conditions. Evidence of collaboration between relevant stakeholders, including local election officials, in developing the grant implementation plan described in section 298B. The plan of the State to conduct a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the activities carried out with the grant.
To the greatest extent practicable, an eligible State which receives a grant to replace a voting system under this section shall ensure that the replacement system is capable of administering a system of ranked choice voting under which each voter shall rank the candidates for the office in the order of the voter’s preference. A voting system security improvement described in this section is any of the following: The acquisition of goods and services from qualified election infrastructure vendors by purchase, lease, or such other arrangements as may be appropriate.
Cyber and risk mitigation training. A security risk and vulnerability assessment of the State’s election infrastructure which is carried out by a provider of cybersecurity services under a contract entered into between the chief State election official and the provider. The maintenance of election infrastructure, including addressing risks and vulnerabilities which are identified under either of the security risk and vulnerability assessments described in paragraph (3), except that none of the funds provided under this part may be used to renovate or replace a building or facility which is used primarily for purposes other than the administration of elections for public office.
Providing increased technical support for any information technology infrastructure that the chief State election official deems to be part of the State’s election infrastructure or designates as critical to the operation of the State’s election infrastructure. Enhancing the cybersecurity and operations of the information technology infrastructure described in paragraph (4). Enhancing the cybersecurity of voter registration systems. For purposes of this part, a qualified election infrastructure vendor is any person who provides, supports, or maintains, or who seeks to provide, support, or maintain, election infrastructure on behalf of a State, unit of local government, or election agency (as defined in section 3601 of the Election Security Act) who meets the criteria described in paragraph (2).
The criteria described in this paragraph are such criteria as the Chairman, in coordination with the Secretary of Homeland Security, shall establish and publish, and shall include each of the following requirements: The vendor must be owned and controlled by a citizen or permanent resident of the United States. The vendor must disclose to the Chairman and the Secretary, and to the chief State election official of any State to which the vendor provides any goods and services with funds provided under this part, of any sourcing outside the United States for parts of the election infrastructure.
The vendor agrees to ensure that the election infrastructure will be developed and maintained in a manner that is consistent with the cybersecurity best practices issued by the Technical Guidelines Development Committee. The vendor agrees to maintain its information technology infrastructure in a manner that is consistent with the cybersecurity best practices issued by the Technical Guidelines Development Committee. The vendor agrees to meet the requirements of paragraph
(3)with respect to any known or suspected cybersecurity incidents involving any of the goods and services provided by the vendor pursuant to a grant under this part. The vendor agrees to permit independent security testing by the Commission (in accordance with section 231(a)) and by the Secretary of the goods and services provided by the vendor pursuant to a grant under this part. A vendor meets the requirements of this paragraph if, upon becoming aware of the possibility that an election cybersecurity incident has occurred involving any of the goods and services provided by the vendor pursuant to a grant under this part— the vendor promptly assesses whether or not such an incident occurred, and submits a notification meeting the requirements of subparagraph
(B)to the Secretary and the Chairman of the assessment as soon as practicable (but in no case later than 3 days after the vendor first becomes aware of the possibility that the incident occurred); if the incident involves goods or services provided to an election agency, the vendor submits a notification meeting the requirements of subparagraph
(B)to the agency as soon as practicable (but in no case later than 3 days after the vendor first becomes aware of the possibility that the incident occurred), and cooperates with the agency in providing any other necessary notifications relating to the incident; and the vendor provides all necessary updates to any notification submitted under clause
(i)or clause (ii). Each notification submitted under clause
(i)or clause
(ii)of subparagraph
(A)shall contain the following information with respect to any election cybersecurity incident covered by the notification: The date, time, and time zone when the election cybersecurity incident began, if known. The date, time, and time zone when the election cybersecurity incident was detected. The date, time, and duration of the election cybersecurity incident. The circumstances of the election cybersecurity incident, including the specific election infrastructure systems believed to have been accessed and information acquired, if any. Any planned and implemented technical measures to respond to and recover from the incident. In the case of any notification which is an update to a prior notification, any additional material information relating to the incident, including technical data, as it becomes available. A State is eligible to receive a grant under this part if the State submits to the Commission, at such time and in such form as the Commission may require, an application containing— a description of how the State will use the grant to carry out the activities authorized under this part; a certification and assurance that, not later than 5 years after receiving the grant, the State will carry out risk-limiting audits and will carry out voting system security improvements, as described in section 298A; and such other information and assurances as the Commission may require. Not later than 90 days after the end of each fiscal year, the Commission shall submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees, including the Committees on Homeland Security, House Administration, and the Judiciary of the House of Representatives and the Committees on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, the Judiciary, and Rules and Administration of the Senate, on the activities carried out with the funds provided under this part. There are authorized to be appropriated for grants under this part— $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2019; and $175,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2020, 2022, 2024, and 2026. Any amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of this section shall remain available until expended. . The table of contents of such Act, as amended by section 1905(b), is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to subtitle D of title II the following: Part 8—Grants for Obtaining Compliant Paper Ballot Voting Systems and Carrying Out Voting System Security Improvements Sec. 298. Grants for obtaining compliant paper ballot voting systems and carrying out voting system security improvements. Sec. 298A. Voting system security improvements described. Sec. 298B. Eligibility of States. Sec. 298C. Reports to Congress. Sec. 298D. Authorization of appropriations.
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Sec. 3001
Grants for obtaining compliant paper ballot voting systems and carrying out voting system security improvements
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