Sec. 3902. Paper ballot and manual counting requirements
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Section 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( 52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(2) ) is amended to read as follows: The voting system shall require the use of an individual, durable, voter-verifiable paper ballot of the voter’s vote selections that shall be marked by the voter and presented to the voter for verification before the voter’s ballot is preserved in accordance with subparagraph (B), and which shall be counted by hand or other counting device or read by a ballot tabulation device.
For purposes of this subclause, the term individual, durable, voter-verifiable paper ballot means a paper ballot marked by the voter by hand or a paper ballot marked through the use of a nontabulating ballot marking device or system, so long as the voter shall have the option at every in-person voting location to mark by hand a printed ballot that includes all relevant contests and candidates. The voting system shall provide the voter with an opportunity to correct any error on the paper ballot before the permanent voter-verifiable paper ballot is preserved in accordance with subparagraph (B).
The voting system shall not preserve the voter-verifiable paper ballots in any manner that makes it possible, at any time after the ballot has been cast, to associate a voter with the record of the voter’s vote selections. The voting system shall prevent, through mechanical means or through independently verified protections, the modification or addition of vote selections on a printed or marked ballot at any time after the voter has been provided an opportunity to correct errors on the ballot pursuant to clause (ii).
The individual, durable, voter-verifiable paper ballot used in accordance with subparagraph
(A)shall constitute the official ballot and shall be preserved and used as the official ballot for purposes of any recount or audit conducted with respect to any election for Federal office in which the voting system is used. Each paper ballot used pursuant to subparagraph
(A)shall be suitable for a manual audit, and such ballots, or at least those ballots the machine could not count, shall be counted by hand in any recount or audit conducted with respect to any election for Federal office. In the event of any inconsistencies or irregularities between any electronic vote tallies and the vote tallies determined by counting by hand the individual, durable, voter-verifiable paper ballots used pursuant to subparagraph (A), the individual, durable, voter-verifiable paper ballots shall be the true and correct record of the votes cast. It is the sense of Congress that as innovation occurs in the election infrastructure sector, Congress should ensure that this Act and other Federal requirements for voting systems are updated to keep pace with best practices and recommendations for security and accessibility. . Section 301(a)(4) of such Act ( 52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(4) ) is amended by inserting (including the paper ballots required to be used under paragraph (2)) after voting system . Section 301(a)(1) of such Act ( 52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(1) ) is amended— in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking counted and inserting counted, in accordance with paragraphs
(2)and
(3); in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking counted and inserting counted, in accordance with paragraphs
(2)and
(3); in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking counted each place it appears and inserting counted, in accordance with paragraphs
(2)and
(3); and in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking counted and inserting counted, in accordance with paragraphs
(2)and
(3).
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Sec. 3902
Paper ballot and manual counting requirements
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