Election Security Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1540 To protect elections for public office by providing financial support and enhanced security for the infrastructure used to carry out such elections, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 16, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. WARNER, Mr. REED, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. BALDWIN, Mr. BENNET, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BROWN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. CASEY, Mr. COONS, Ms. HARRIS, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. HEINRICH, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. JONES, Mr. KAINE, Mr. KING, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. MERKLEY, Mrs. MURRAY, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. SCHATZ, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. SMITH, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. TESTER, Mr. UDALL, Mr. VAN HOL- LEN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. CARPER, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, and Mr. PETERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To protect elections for public office by providing financial support and enhanced security for the infrastructure used to carry out such elections, 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 3 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 4 ‘‘Election Security Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1540 IS (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 1 this Act is as follows: 2 Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. TITLE I—FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ELECTION INFRASTRUCTURE Subtitle A—Voting System Security Improvement Grants PART 1—PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECURITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED PERMANENT PAPER BALLOT Sec. 101. Short title. Sec. 102. Paper ballot and manual counting requirements. Sec. 103. Accessibility and ballot verification for individuals with disabilities. Sec. 104. Durability and readability requirements for ballots. Sec. 105. Paper ballot printing requirements. Sec. 106. Study and report on optimal ballot design. Sec. 107. Effective date for new requirements. PART 2—GRANTS TO CARRY OUT IMPROVEMENTS Sec. 111. Grants for obtaining compliant paper ballot voting systems and car- rying out voting system security improvements. ‘‘PART 7—GRANTS FOR OBTAINING COMPLIANT PAPER BALLOT VOTING SYSTEMS AND CARRYING OUT VOTING SYSTEM SECURITY IMPROVEMENTS ‘‘Sec. 297. Grants for obtaining compliant paper ballot voting systems and carrying out voting system security improvements. ‘‘Sec. 297A. Voting system security improvements described. ‘‘Sec. 297B. Eligibility of States. ‘‘Sec. 297C. Reports to Congress. ‘‘Sec. 297D. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 112. Coordination of voting system security activities with use of require- ments payments and election administration requirements under Help America Vote Act of 2002. Sec. 113. Incorporation of definitions. Subtitle B—Grants for Risk-Limiting Audits of Results of Elections Sec. 121. Grants to States for conducting risk-limiting audits of results of elec- tions. ‘‘PART 8—GRANTS FOR CONDUCTING RISK-LIMITING AUDITS OF RESULTS OF ELECTIONS ‘‘Sec. 298. Grants for conducting risk-limiting audits of results of elec- tions. ‘‘Sec. 298A. Eligibility of States. ‘‘Sec. 298B. Authorization of appropriations. Sec. 122. GAO analysis of effects of audits. Subtitle C—Election Infrastructure Innovation Grant Program Sec. 131. Election infrastructure innovation grant program. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1540 IS TITLE II—SECURITY MEASURES Sec. 201. Election infrastructure designation. Sec. 202. Timely threat information. Sec. 203. Security clearance assistance for election officials. Sec. 204. Security risk and vulnerability assessments. Sec. 205. Annual reports. Sec. 206. Pre-election threat assessments. TITLE III—ENHANCING PROTECTIONS FOR UNITED STATES DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS Sec. 301. National strategy to protect United States democratic institutions. Sec. 302. National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institu- tions. TITLE IV—PROMOTING CYBERSECURITY THROUGH IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTION ADMINISTRATION Sec. 401. Testing of existing voting systems to ensure compliance with election cybersecurity guidelines and other guidelines. Sec. 402. Treatment of electronic poll books as part of voting systems. Sec. 403. Pre-election reports on voting system usage. Sec. 404. Streamlining collection of election information. TITLE V—PREVENTING ELECTION HACKING Sec. 501. Short title. Sec. 502. Election Security Bug Bounty Program. Sec. 503. Definitions. TITLE VI—ELECTION SECURITY GRANTS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Sec. 601. Establishment of advisory committee. TITLE VII—USE OF VOTING MACHINES MANUFACTURED IN THE UNITED STATES Sec. 701. Use of voting machines manufactured in the United States. TITLE VIII—MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS Sec. 801. Definitions. Sec. 802. Initial report on adequacy of resources available for implementation. TITLE IX—SEVERABILITY Sec. 901. Severability. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1540 IS TITLE I—FINANCIAL SUPPORT 1 FOR ELECTION INFRASTRUC- 2 TURE 3 Subtitle A—Voting System Security 4 Improvement Grants 5 PART 1—PROMOTING ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, 6 AND SECURITY THROUGH VOTER-VERIFIED 7 PERMANENT PAPER BALLOT 8 SEC. 101. SHORT TITLE. 9 This subtitle may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Confidence 10 and Increased Accessibility Act of 2019’’. 11 SEC. 102. PAPER BALLOT AND MANUAL COUNTING RE- 12 QUIREMENTS. 13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the Help 14 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(2)) is 15 amended to read as follows: 16 ‘‘(2) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 17 ‘‘(A) VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS.— 18 ‘‘(i) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 19 (I) The voting system shall require the use 20 of an individual, durable, voter-verified 21 paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall 22 be marked and made available for inspec- 23 tion and verification by the voter before 24 the voter’s vote is cast and counted, and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 1540 IS which shall be counted by hand or read by 1 an optical character recognition device or 2 other counting device. For purposes of this 3 subclause, the term ‘individual, durable, 4 voter-verified paper ballot’ means a paper 5 ballot marked by the voter by hand or a 6 paper ballot marked through the use of a 7 nontabulating ballot marking device or sys- 8 tem, so long as the voter shall have the op- 9 tion to mark his or her ballot by hand. 10 ‘‘(II) The voting system shall provide 11 the voter with an opportunity to correct 12 any error on the paper ballot before the 13 permanent voter-verified paper ballot is 14 preserved in accordance with clause (ii). 15 ‘‘(III) The voting system shall not 16 preserve the voter-verified paper ballots in 17 any manner that makes it possible, at any 18 time after the ballot has been cast, to asso- 19 ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 20 vote without the voter’s consent. 21 ‘‘(ii) PRESERVATION AS OFFICIAL 22 RECORD.—The individual, durable, voter- 23 verified paper ballot used in accordance 24 with clause (i) shall constitute the official 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 1540 IS ballot and shall be preserved and used as 1 the official ballot for purposes of any re- 2 count or audit conducted with respect to 3 any election for Federal office in which the 4 voting system is used. 5 ‘‘(iii) MANUAL COUNTING REQUIRE- 6 MENTS FOR RECOUNTS AND AUDITS.—(I) 7 Each paper ballot used pursuant to clause 8 (i) shall be suitable for a manual audit, 9 and shall be counted by hand in any re- 10 count or audit conducted with respect to 11 any election for Federal office. 12 ‘‘(II) In the event of any inconsist- 13 encies or irregularities between any elec- 14 tronic vote tallies and the vote tallies de- 15 termined by counting by hand the indi- 16 vidual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots 17 used pursuant to clause (i), and subject to 18 subparagraph (B), the individual, durable, 19 voter-verified paper ballots shall be the 20 true and correct record of the votes cast. 21 ‘‘(iv) APPLICATION TO ALL BAL- 22 LOTS.—The requirements of this subpara- 23 graph shall apply to all ballots cast in elec- 24 tions for Federal office, including ballots 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 1540 IS cast by absent uniformed services voters 1 and overseas voters under the Uniformed 2 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 3 and other absentee voters. 4 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR TREATMENT OF 5 DISPUTES WHEN PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN 6 SHOWN TO BE COMPROMISED.— 7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the event 8 that— 9 ‘‘(I) there is any inconsistency 10 between any electronic vote tallies and 11 the vote tallies determined by count- 12 ing by hand the individual, durable, 13 voter-verified paper ballots used pur- 14 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) with re- 15 spect to any election for Federal of- 16 fice; and 17 ‘‘(II) it is demonstrated by clear 18 and convincing evidence (as deter- 19 mined in accordance with the applica- 20 ble standards in the jurisdiction in- 21 volved) in any recount, audit, or con- 22 test of the result of the election that 23 the paper ballots have been com- 24 promised (by damage or mischief or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 1540 IS otherwise) and that a sufficient num- 1 ber of the ballots have been so com- 2 promised that the result of the elec- 3 tion could be changed, 4 the determination of the appropriate rem- 5 edy with respect to the election shall be 6 made in accordance with applicable State 7 law, except that the electronic tally shall 8 not be used as the exclusive basis for de- 9 termining the official certified result. 10 ‘‘(ii) RULE FOR CONSIDERATION OF 11 BALLOTS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH VOTING 12 MACHINE.—For purposes of clause (i), 13 only the paper ballots deemed com- 14 promised, if any, shall be considered in the 15 calculation of whether or not the result of 16 the election could be changed due to the 17 compromised paper ballots.’’. 18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT CLARIFYING APPLI- 19 CABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESSIBILITY.— 20 Section 301(a)(4) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(4)) 21 is amended by inserting ‘‘(including the paper ballots re- 22 quired to be used under paragraph (2))’’ after ‘‘voting sys- 23 tem’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 9 •S 1540 IS (c) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 1 301(a)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(1)) is amend- 2 ed— 3 (1) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘count- 4 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 5 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 6 (2) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ‘‘count- 7 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 8 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 9 (3) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking ‘‘count- 10 ed’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘counted, in 11 accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 12 (4) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘count- 13 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 14 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 15 SEC. 103. ACCESSIBILITY AND BALLOT VERIFICATION FOR 16 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(3)(B) of the Help 18 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)(3)(B)) is 19 amended to read as follows: 20 ‘‘(B)(i) ensure that individuals with dis- 21 abilities and others are given an equivalent op- 22 portunity to vote, including with privacy and 23 independence, in a manner that produces a 24 voter-verified paper ballot as for other voters; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 10 •S 1540 IS ‘‘(ii) satisfy the requirement of subpara- 1 graph (A) through the use of at least one voting 2 system equipped for individuals with disabil- 3 ities, including nonvisual and enhanced visual 4 accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, 5 and nonmanual and enhanced manual accessi- 6 bility for the mobility and dexterity impaired, at 7 each polling place; and 8 ‘‘(iii) meet the requirements of subpara- 9 graph (A) and paragraph (2)(A) by using a sys- 10 tem that— 11 ‘‘(I) allows the voter to privately and 12 independently verify the permanent paper 13 ballot through the presentation, in acces- 14 sible form, of the printed or marked vote 15 selections from the same printed or 16 marked information that would be used for 17 any vote counting or auditing; and 18 ‘‘(II) allows the voter to privately and 19 independently verify and cast the perma- 20 nent paper ballot without requiring the 21 voter to manually handle the paper bal- 22 lot;’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 May 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1540.IS S1540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 11 •S 1540 IS (b) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT OF STUDY, TESTING, 1 AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACCESSIBLE PAPER BALLOT 2 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.— 3 (1) STUDY AND REPORTING.—Subtitle C of 4 title II of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is 5 amended— 6 (A) by redesignating section 247 as section 7 248; and 8 (B) by inserting after section 246 the fol- 9 lowing new section: 10 ‘‘SEC. 247. STUDY AND REPORT ON ACCESSIBLE PAPER 11 BALLOT VERIFICATION MECHANISMS. 12 ‘‘(a) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Commission shall 13 make grants to not fewer than 3 eligible entities to study, 14 test, and develop accessible paper ballot voting, 15 verification, and casting mechanisms and devices and best 16 practices to enhance the accessibility of paper ballot voting 17 and verification mechanisms for individuals with disabil- 18 ities, for voters whose primary language is not English, 19 and for voters with difficulties in literacy, including best 20 practices for the mechanisms themselves and the processes 21 through which the mechanisms are used. 22 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity is eligible to receive a 23 grant under this part if it submits to the Commission (at 24 VerDate Sep 11 [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]