To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voter verification and improved security for voting systems under title III of the Act, and for other purposes.

December 9, 2003

Mrs. CLINTON introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voter verification and improved security for voting systems under title III of the Act, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Protecting American Democracy Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. REQUIRING VERIFICATION FOR VOTERS.

(a) IN GENERAL- Section 301(a)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(2)) is amended by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:

`(C) VOTER VERIFICATION-

`(i) The voting system shall provide a means by which each individual voter must be able to verify his or her vote at the time the vote is cast, and shall preserve each vote within the polling place on the day of the election in a manner that ensures the security of the votes as verified for later use in any audit.

`(ii) The voting system shall provide the voter with an opportunity to correct any error made by the system before the permanent record is preserved for use in any audit.

`(iii) The verified vote produced under this subparagraph shall be available as an official record.

`(iv) Any method used to permit the individual voter to verify his or her vote at the time the vote is cast and before a permanent record is created--

`(I) shall use the most accurate technology, which may include voter-verifiable paper ballots, votemeters, modular voting architecture, and encrypted votes, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner;

`(II) shall guarantee voters with disabilities and other affected voters the ability to cast a vote in private, consistent with paragraph (3)(A); and

`(III) shall guarantee voters alternative language accessibility under the requirements of section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973aa-1a), consistent with paragraph (4).'.

SEC. 3. REQUIRING INCREASED SECURITY FOR VOTING SYSTEMS.

(a) 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 paragraph:

`(7) INCREASED SECURITY FOR VOTING SYSTEMS-

`(A) VOTING SYSTEM SECURITY REQUIREMENT- The voting system shall adhere to security requirements for Federal computer systems or more stringent requirements adopted by the Election Assistance Commission after receiving recommendations from the Technical Guidelines Development Committee under sections 221 and 222. Such requirements shall provide that no voting system shall contain any wireless device. All software and hardware used in any electronic voting system shall be certified by laboratories accredited by the Commission as meeting the requirements of this subsection.

`(B) REPORT TO CONGRESS ON SECURITY REVIEW- The Commission, in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), shall report to Congress not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of the Protecting American Democracy Act of 2003 regarding a proposed security review and certification process for all voting systems.

`(C) GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE REPORT- Not later than 3 months after the date of enactment of the Protecting American Democracy Act of 2003, the Government Accounting Office, unless the Commission has previously completed such report, shall issue a report to Congress on the operational and management systems that should be employed to safeguard the security of voting systems, together with a schedule for how quickly each such system should be implemented.

`(D) PROVISION OF SECURITY CONSULTATION SERVICES-

`(i) IN GENERAL- On and after the date of enactment of the Protecting American Democracy Act of 2003, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shall provide security consultation services to State and local jurisdictions.

`(ii) AUTHORIZATION- To carry out the purposes of this subparagraph, $2,000,0000 is authorized for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2006.'.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amendments made by this Act shall take effect as if included in the enactment of the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

END