PRIDE Voting Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1319 To establish an Election Security grant program. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 2, 2019 Mr. MENENDEZ (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To establish an Election Security grant program. 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 ‘‘Protecting the Right 4 to Independent and Democratic Elections Act’’ or the 5 ‘‘PRIDE Voting Act’’. 6 SEC. 2. ELECTION SECURITY GRANT PROGRAM. 7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby established 9 an Election Security grant program (in this section 10 referred to as the ‘‘program’’) under which the Sec- 11 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1319 IS retary of Homeland Security awards grants to 1 States to carry out one or more of the following ac- 2 tivities: 3 (A) Implementing or improving the use of 4 auditable paper ballots in accordance with the 5 requirements of paragraph (2), including the 6 updating of any voting system in order to im- 7 plement or improve the use of auditable paper 8 ballots. 9 (B) Conducting post-election risk-limiting 10 audits. 11 (C) Implementing cybersecurity standards 12 and best practices developed by the National 13 Institute of Standards and Technology, includ- 14 ing frameworks, consistent with section 2(c) of 15 the National Institute of Standards and Tech- 16 nology Act (15 U.S.C. 272(c)). In implementing 17 such standards and best practices, a State 18 shall, to the extent practicable, utilize CIS Con- 19 trols from the nonprofit Center for Internet Se- 20 curity (formerly the 20 Critical Security Con- 21 trols). 22 (2) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 23 (A) VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS.— 24 The requirements described in this paragraph, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1319 IS with respect to the use of paper ballots in a vot- 1 ing system, are the following: 2 (i) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 3 (I) The voting system shall require the use 4 of an individual, durable, voter-verified, 5 paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall 6 be marked and made available for inspec- 7 tion and verification by the voter before 8 the voter’s vote is cast and counted, and 9 which shall be counted by hand or read by 10 a digital scanning device or other counting 11 device. For purposes of this subclause, the 12 term ‘‘individual, durable, voter-verified, 13 paper ballot’’ means a paper ballot marked 14 by the voter by hand or a paper ballot 15 marked through the use of a nontabulating 16 ballot marking device or system. 17 (II) The voting system shall provide 18 the voter with an opportunity to correct 19 any error on the paper ballot before the 20 permanent voter-verified paper ballot is 21 preserved in accordance with clause (ii). 22 (III) The voting system shall not pre- 23 serve the voter-verified paper ballots in any 24 manner that makes it possible, at any time 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1319 IS after the ballot has been cast, to associate 1 a voter with the record of the voter’s vote. 2 (ii) PRESERVATION AS OFFICIAL 3 RECORD.—The individual, durable, voter- 4 verified, paper ballot used in accordance 5 with clause (i) shall constitute the official 6 ballot and shall be preserved and used as 7 the official ballot for purposes of any re- 8 count or audit conducted with respect to 9 any election for Federal office in which the 10 voting system is used. 11 (iii) MANUAL COUNTING REQUIRE- 12 MENTS FOR RECOUNTS AND AUDITS.—(I) 13 Each paper ballot used pursuant to clause 14 (i) shall be suitable for a manual audit, 15 and shall be counted by hand in any re- 16 count or audit conducted with respect to 17 any election for Federal office. 18 (II) In the event of any inconsist- 19 encies or irregularities between any elec- 20 tronic vote tallies and the vote tallies de- 21 termined by counting by hand the indi- 22 vidual, durable, voter-verified, paper ballots 23 used pursuant to clause (i), and subject to 24 subparagraph (B), the individual, durable, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1319 IS voter-verified, paper ballots shall be the 1 true and correct record of the votes cast. 2 (iv) CLARIFICATION REGARDING USE 3 OF GRANT FUNDS.—Grant funds awarded 4 to the State for the purposes described in 5 paragraph (1)(A) shall not be used with 6 respect to any form of remote ballot cast- 7 ing that results in an electronic trans- 8 mission of a voted ballot. 9 (B) SPECIAL RULE FOR TREATMENT OF 10 DISPUTES WHEN PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN 11 SHOWN TO BE COMPROMISED.— 12 (i) IN GENERAL.—In the event that— 13 (I) there is any inconsistency be- 14 tween any electronic vote tallies and 15 the vote tallies determined by count- 16 ing by hand the individual, durable, 17 voter-verified, paper ballots used pur- 18 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) with re- 19 spect to any election for Federal of- 20 fice; and 21 (II) it is demonstrated by clear 22 and convincing evidence (as deter- 23 mined in accordance with the applica- 24 ble standards in the jurisdiction in- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1319 IS volved) in any recount, audit, or con- 1 test of the result of the election that 2 the paper ballots have been com- 3 promised (by damage or mischief or 4 otherwise) and that a sufficient num- 5 ber of the ballots have been so com- 6 promised that the result of the elec- 7 tion could be changed, 8 the determination of the appropriate rem- 9 edy with respect to the election shall be 10 made in accordance with applicable State 11 law, except that the electronic tally shall 12 not be used as the exclusive basis for de- 13 termining the official certified result. 14 (ii) RULE FOR CONSIDERATION OF 15 BALLOTS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH VOTING 16 MACHINE.—For purposes of clause (i), 17 only the paper ballots deemed com- 18 promised, if any, shall be considered in the 19 calculation of whether or not the result of 20 the election could be changed due to the 21 compromised paper ballots. 22 (3) OUTSIDE EXPERT SUPPORT.—A State may 23 use grant funds provided under the program to em- 24 ploy or contract with entities or individuals with ex- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1319 IS pertise in information technology or cybersecurity to 1 carry out activities under the program. 2 (b) DURATION.— 3 (1) INITIAL PERIOD.—Except as provided in 4 paragraph (2), the program shall be carried out for 5 a period of 5 years. 6 (2) ADDITIONAL PERIOD.—The Secretary may 7 carry out the program for an additional period of 5 8 years if the Secretary determines, based on the re- 9 port submitted under subsection (d)(2), that the 10 program is efficacious and such additional period is 11 appropriate. 12 (c) APPLICATION.— 13 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State desiring a grant 14 under this section shall submit to the Secretary of 15 Homeland Security an application at such time, in 16 such manner, and containing or accompanied by 17 such information, as the Secretary may reasonably 18 require. 19 (2) CONTENTS.—An application submitted 20 under paragraph (1) shall describe the activities for 21 which a grant under this section is sought. 22 (d) REPORTS.— 23 (1) GRANTEE REPORTING.—Not later than 1 24 year after the execution of a grant agreement pursu- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1319 IS ant to this section, the State shall submit to the Sec- 1 retary a report on the activities conducted with the 2 funds provided, including information regarding how 3 and where such funds were spent and such addi- 4 tional information as the Secretary determines is ap- 5 propriate for oversight of the program under this 6 section. 7 (2) REPORT TO CONGRESS BY THE SEC- 8 RETARY.—Not later than 18 months after the date 9 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit 10 to the appropriate Congressional committees a re- 11 port on the program under this section, together 12 with recommendations for such legislation and ad- 13 ministrative action as the Secretary determines ap- 14 propriate. 15 (e) INDIAN TRIBE ELIGIBILITY.—An Indian Tribe is 16 eligible to apply for and receive a grant under this section 17 in the same manner as a State, except that the Secretary 18 may adjust any requirement under this section for an In- 19 dian Tribe to accomplish the purposes of this grant. 20 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 21 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT- 22 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate Congressional com- 23 mittees’’ means— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1319 IS (A) the Committee on Homeland Security 1 and Governmental Affairs, the majority leader, 2 and the minority leader of the Senate; and 3 (B) the Committee on Homeland Security, 4 the Speaker, and the minority leader of the 5 House of Representatives. 6 (2) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 7 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 8 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 9 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 10 (3) RISK-LIMITING AUDIT.—The term ‘‘risk- 11 limiting audit’’ means an audit protocol that makes 12 use of statistical methods and is designed to limit to 13 acceptable levels the risk of certifying a preliminary 14 election outcome that constitutes an incorrect out- 15 come. 16 (4) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 17 the Secretary of Homeland Security. 18 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ includes the 19 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 20 Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the United 21 States Virgin Islands. 22 (6) VOTING SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘voting sys- 23 tem’’ has the meaning given that term in section 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1319 IS 301(b) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 1 U.S.C. 21081(b)). 2 (g) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—To carry 3 out this section, there is authorized to be appropriated 4 $2,500,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2020 5 through 2029. Amounts appropriated under the preceding 6 sentence shall remain available until expended. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 May 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1319.IS S1319 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS