I
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 466
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voting systems
used in elections for Federal office to produce a voter-verified paper
ballot of each vote cast on the system, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY24, 2023
Mr. G
OSARintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the Budg-
et, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each
case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of
the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require
voting systems used in elections for Federal office to
produce a voter-verified paper ballot of each vote cast
on the system, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing America’s 4
Elections Act of 2023’’. 5
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SEC. 2. PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECU-1
RITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMA-2
NENT PAPER BALLOT. 3
(a) B
ALLOTVERIFICATION ANDAUDITCAPACITY.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the 5
Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 6
21081(a)(2)) is amended to read as follows: 7
‘‘(2) B
ALLOT VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPAC -8
ITY.— 9
‘‘(A) V
OTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS .— 10
‘‘(i) V
ERIFICATION.—(I) The voting 11
system shall require the production of a 12
voter-verified paper ballot of the voter’s 13
vote that shall be created by or made avail-14
able for inspection and verification by the 15
individual voter before the voter’s vote is 16
cast and counted. For purposes of this 17
subclause, a voter-verified paper ballot in-18
cludes (but is not limited to) a paper ballot 19
marked by the voter for the purpose of 20
being counted by hand or read by an opti-21
cal scanner or other similar device, a paper 22
ballot prepared by the voter to be mailed 23
to an election official (whether from a do-24
mestic or overseas location), a paper ballot 25
created through the use of a ballot mark-26
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•HR 466 IH
ing device or system, or a paper ballot pro-1
duced by a touch screen or other electronic 2
voting machine, so long as in each case the 3
voter is permitted to verify the ballot in a 4
paper form in accordance with this sub-5
paragraph. 6
‘‘(II) The voting system shall provide 7
the voter with an opportunity to correct 8
any error made by the system in the voter- 9
verified paper ballot before the permanent 10
voter-verified paper ballot is preserved in 11
accordance with clause (ii). 12
‘‘(III) The voting system shall not 13
preserve the voter-verified paper ballots in 14
any manner that makes it possible, at any 15
time after the ballot has been cast, to asso-16
ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 17
vote. 18
‘‘(ii) P
RESERVATION.—The voter- 19
verified paper ballot produced in accord-20
ance with clause (i) shall be used as the of-21
ficial ballot for purposes of any recount or 22
audit conducted with respect to any elec-23
tion for Federal office in which the voting 24
system is used, and shall be preserved in 25
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accordance with regulations promulgated 1
by the Commission to establish criteria for 2
the proper preservation and retention of 3
the official ballots in the election. 4
‘‘(iii) M
ANUAL AUDIT CAPACITY .— 5
Each paper ballot produced pursuant to 6
clause (i) shall be suitable for a manual 7
audit equivalent to that of a paper ballot 8
voting system, in accordance with the 9
methods described in subparagraph (B). 10
‘‘(B) A
PPROVED METHODS FOR MANUAL 11
AUDITS.—The methods described in this sub-12
paragraph with respect to the manual audit of 13
voter-verified paper ballots are— 14
‘‘(i) audits conducted through the use 15
of programmable electronic counting ma-16
chines which are not capable of being con-17
nected to the Internet, as determined in 18
accordance with regulations promulgated 19
by the Commission; or 20
‘‘(ii) if no machine described in clause 21
(i) is available, an audit conducted by a 22
hand count. 23
‘‘(C) R
ESOLUTION OF DISPUTES WHEN 24
PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN SHOWN TO BE 25
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COMPROMISED.—In the event that the paper 1
ballots produced pursuant to subparagraph (A) 2
with respect to an election for Federal office 3
have been compromised, the State shall resolve 4
the dispute over the results of the election in 5
accordance with dispute resolution processes es-6
tablished under regulations promulgated by the 7
Commission. 8
‘‘(D) D
EADLINE FOR PROMULGATION OF 9
REGULATIONS.—The Commission shall promul-10
gate the regulations described in this paragraph 11
not later than November 1, 2023.’’. 12
(2) C
ONFORMING AMENDMENT CLARIFYING AP -13
PLICABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESSI -14
BILITY.—Section 301(a)(4) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 15
21081(a)(4)) is amended by inserting ‘‘(including 16
the paper ballots required to be produced under 17
paragraph (2))’’ after ‘‘voting system’’. 18
(3) O
THER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS .—Sec-19
tion 301(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(1)) 20
is amended— 21
(A) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking 22
‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord-23
ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 24
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(B) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking 1
‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord-2
ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 3
(C) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking 4
‘‘counted’’ each place it appears and inserting 5
‘‘counted, in accordance with paragraphs (2) 6
and (3)’’; and 7
(D) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking 8
‘‘counted’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accord-9
ance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 10
(b) A
VAILABILITY OFADDITIONALFUNDINGTOEN-11
ABLESTATESTOMEETCOSTS OFREVISEDREQUIRE-12
MENT.— 13
(1) E
XTENSION OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS 14
FOR MEETING REVISED REQUIREMENT ; AMOUNTS 15
DEEMED TO MEET REQUIREMENTS FOR EMERGENCY 16
FUNDING.—Section 257(a) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 17
21007(a)) is amended by adding at the end the fol-18
lowing new paragraph: 19
‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2023, such sums as may be 20
necessary to enable States to meet the requirements 21
of section 301(a)(2) which are first imposed on the 22
State pursuant to the amendments made by section 23
2(a) of the Securing America’s Elections Act of 24
2021. Any amount appropriated pursuant to the au-25
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thorization under this paragraph shall be designated 1
by the Congress as being for an emergency require-2
ment pursuant to section 251(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Bal-3
anced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 4
1985.’’. 5
(2) A
MOUNT OF PAYMENT BASED ON COSTS IN -6
CURRED IN MEETING REVISED REQUIREMENTS .— 7
Section 252 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21002) is 8
amended— 9
(A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘sub-10
section (c)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (c) and 11
(e)’’; 12
(B) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-13
section (f); and 14
(C) by inserting after subsection (d) the 15
following new subsection: 16
‘‘(e) S
PECIALRULE FORFISCALYEAR2023.— 17
‘‘(1) C
OVERAGE OF COSTS OF MEETING RE -18
VISED BALLOT VERIFICATION AND AUDIT CAPACITY 19
REQUIREMENTS.—The amount of a requirements 20
payment made to a State from funds appropriated 21
for fiscal year 2023 shall be equal to the State’s es-22
timate of the reasonable costs the State expects to 23
incur to meet the requirements referred to in para-24
graph (3), as contained in the statement filed by the 25
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State with the Commission under section 1
253(f)(1)(A)(ii). 2
‘‘(2) R
ECOUPMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS .—If a 3
State receives a requirements payment from funds 4
appropriated for fiscal year 2020, the State shall 5
agree to repay to the Commission the excess (if any) 6
of— 7
‘‘(A) the amount of the payment; over 8
‘‘(B) the actual costs incurred by the State 9
in meeting the requirements referred to in para-10
graph (3), as contained in the statement filed 11
by the State with the Commission under section 12
253(f)(1)(B). 13
‘‘(3) R
EQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED .—The re-14
quirements referred to in this paragraph are the re-15
quirements of section 301(a)(2) (relating to ballot 16
verification and audit capacity) which are first im-17
posed on the State pursuant to the amendments 18
made by section 2(a) of the Securing America’s 19
Elections Act of 2023.’’. 20
(3) R
EVISED CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF 21
FUNDS.—Section 253 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 22
21003) is amended— 23
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(A) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘A State 1
is eligible’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 2
subsection (f), a State is eligible’’; and 3
(B) by adding at the end the following new 4
subsection: 5
‘‘(f) S
PECIALRULE FORFISCALYEAR2023.— 6
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 7
provision of this part, a State is eligible to receive 8
a requirements payment from funds appropriated for 9
fiscal year 2023 if, at any time after the funds are 10
appropriated, the chief executive officer of the State, 11
or designee, in consultation and coordination with 12
the chief State election official— 13
‘‘(A) files a statement with the Commis-14
sion— 15
‘‘(i) describing how the State will use 16
the payment to meet the requirements of 17
section 301(a)(2) (relating to ballot 18
verification and audit capacity) which are 19
first imposed on the State pursuant to the 20
amendment made by section 2(a) of the 21
Securing America’s Elections Act of 2023, 22
and 23
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‘‘(ii) containing the State’s estimate 1
of the reasonable costs the State expects to 2
incur to meet such requirements; and 3
‘‘(B) certifies to the Commission that, 4
upon completing the replacement or upgrading 5
of its voting systems to meet such require-6
ments, the State will file a statement with the 7
Commission containing the actual costs in-8
curred by the State in meeting such require-9
ments. 10
‘‘(2) C
ERTIFICATIONS BY STATES THAT RE -11
QUIRE CHANGES TO STATE LAW .—In the case of a 12
State that requires State legislation to carry out any 13
activity covered by any certification submitted under 14
this subsection, the State shall be permitted to make 15
the certification notwithstanding that the legislation 16
has not been enacted at the time the certification is 17
submitted and such State shall submit an additional 18
certification once such legislation is enacted.’’. 19
(4) P
ERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR REIM -20
BURSEMENT FOR COSTS PREVIOUSLY INCURRED .— 21
Section 251(c)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 22
21001(c)(1)) is amended by striking the period at 23
the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or as a reim-24
bursement for any costs incurred in meeting the re-25
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quirements of section 301(a)(2) which are first im-1
posed pursuant to the amendments made by section 2
2(a) of the Securing America’s Elections Act of 3
2023 or in otherwise replacing or upgrading voting 4
systems in response to such amendments.’’. 5
(5) R
ULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING USE 6
OF FUNDS TO REPLACE OR UPGRADE SYSTEMS OB -7
TAINED WITH FUNDS PROVIDED PREVIOUSLY UNDER 8
HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002 .—Nothing in the 9
amendments made by this subsection or in any other 10
provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 may 11
be construed to prohibit a State from using any 12
funds provided under such Act pursuant to the 13
amendments made by this subsection (or any funds 14
provided under such Act prior to the date of the en-15
actment of this Act which remain unexpended as of 16
the date of the enactment of this Act) to replace or 17
upgrade a voting system purchased or otherwise ob-18
tained in whole or in part using funds received 19
under title I or II of the Help America Vote Act at 20
any time before the date of the enactment of this 21
Act. 22
(6) E
FFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 23
by this subsection shall apply with respect to fiscal 24
years beginning with fiscal year 2023. 25
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(c) STUDY ANDREPORT ONUSE OFOPEN-SOURCE 1
S
OFTWARE INVOTINGSYSTEMS.— 2
(1) S
TUDY.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-3
rity and the Election Assistance Commission, acting 4
jointly, shall conduct a study of the feasibility and 5
desirability of using open-source software in voting 6
systems, based on information obtained from elec-7
tions for Federal office held in 2020 through 2022. 8
(2) R
EPORT.—Not later than July 1, 2025, the 9
Secretary and the Commission shall submit to Con-10
gress a report on the study conducted under para-11
graph (1), and shall include in the report such rec-12
ommendations as the Secretary and Commission 13
consider appropriate regarding the possible use of 14
open-source software in the voting systems used to 15
administer elections for Federal office held in 2024. 16
(3) D
EVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF 17
SOFTWARE.—If the Secretary and the Commission 18
include in the report submitted under paragraph (2) 19
a recommendation that State election officials use 20
open-source software in the voting systems used to 21
administer elections for Federal office in the State— 22
(A) the Commission shall enter into a part-23
nership with appropriate private entities, in-24
cluding entities engaged in the business of 25
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maintaining open-source software, to develop, 1
test, certify, and maintain open-source software 2
for such purpose for elections held in 2028 or 3
any succeeding year; and 4
(B) the Commission shall ensure that such 5
certified software is available without cost to 6
State election officials. 7
(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE FORNEWREQUIREMENTS.— 8
Section 301(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)) is 9
amended to read as follows: 10
‘‘(d) E
FFECTIVEDATE.— 11
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-12
graph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be re-13
quired to comply with the requirements of this sec-14
tion on and after January 1, 2006. 15
‘‘(2) S
PECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN REQUIRE -16
MENTS.—The requirements of subsection (a)(2) 17
which are first imposed on a State and jurisdiction 18
pursuant to the amendments made by section 2(a) 19
of the Securing America’s Elections Act of 2023 20
shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled 21
general election for Federal office held in November 22
2024 and each succeeding election for Federal of-23
fice.’’. 24
Æ
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