Bill > HR5816

Introduced Session

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2011 [sic] - Amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) to revise requirements for the audit capacity of voting systems, particularly those for a permanent paper record. Requires the voting system to require the use of an individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballot of the voter's vote that shall be marked and made available for inspection by the voter before the voter's vote is cast and counted, and which shall be counted by hand or read by an optical scanner or other counting device. Requires the voting system to provide the voter with an opportunity to correct any system-made error in the voter-verified paper ballot before it is permanently preserved. Requires each paper ballot used to be: (1) suitable for a manual audit, and (2) counted by hand in any recount or audit conducted with respect to any federal election. Sets forth a special rule for treatment of disputes when paper ballots have been shown to be compromised. Requires the Director of the National Science Foundation (NSF) to make grants to eligible entities to study, test, and develop accessible ballot voting, verification, and casting mechanisms and devices and best practices to enhance the accessibility of paper ballot voting and verification mechanisms for individuals with disabilities, for voters whose primary language is not English, and for voters with difficulties in literacy. Specifies additional voting system requirements and prohibitions. Requires the NSF Director to make grants to eligible entities to conduct research on the development of election-dedicated voting system software. Makes available additional funding to enable states to meet the costs of the requirements imposed by this Act. Provides for complaints to the Attorney General by persons aggrieved by violations of HAVA. Requires each state to administer audits of federal election results, without advance notice to the precincts selected, consisting of random hand counts of the voter-verified paper ballots. Makes an exception from this requirement for elections in which the winning candidate had no opponent or received 80% or more of the vote total. Prescribes requirements for determination of the number of ballots counted under the audit. Prescribes the process for administering audits. Requires the Election Auditor of a state, as soon as practicable after the completion of an audit, to submit the results to the Election Assistance Commission (EAC) for publication. Prohibits certification of the results of any election until completion of audits. Provides for payments to states for the costs of conducting audits. Exempts from this Act any election for which a recount under state law will commence before certification of the election results. Repeals the EAC's exemption from certain federal government contracting requirements.

Committee Categories

Gary Ackerman (D),  Jason Altmire (D),  Robert Andrews (D),  Xavier Becerra (D),  Sanford Bishop (D),  Timothy Bishop (D),  Earl Blumenauer (D),  Leonard Boswell (D),  Bruce Braley (D),  Corrine Brown (D),  G. Butterfield (D),  Lois Capps (D),  Michael Capuano (D),  Dennis Cardoza (D),  André Carson (D),  Kathy Castor (D),  Ben Chandler (D),  Lacy Clay (D),  Steve Cohen (D),  Jerry Costello (D),  Joe Courtney (D),  Joseph Crowley (WFP),  Elijah Cummings (D),  Danny Davis (D),  Peter DeFazio (D),  Diana DeGette (D),  Rosa DeLauro (D),  Lloyd Doggett (D),  Michael Doyle (D),  Donna Edwards (D),  Keith Ellison (D),  Anna Eshoo (D),  Sam Farr (D),  Barney Frank (D),  John Garamendi (D),  Gene Green (D),  Raúl Grijalva (D),  Luis Gutiérrez (D),  Janice Hahn (D),  Alcee Hastings (D),  Jim Himes (D),  Maurice Hinchey (D),  Tim Holden (D),  Rush Holt (D),  Michael Honda (D),  Steve Israel (D),  Jesse Jackson (D),  Marcy Kaptur (D),  Bill Keating (D),  Larry Kissell (D),  Rick Larsen (D),  John Larson (D),  Barbara Lee (D),  Sander Levin (D),  John Lewis (D),  David Loebsack (D),  Nita Lowey (D),  Carolyn Maloney (D),  Doris Matsui (D),  Carolyn McCarthy (D),  Betty McCollum (D),  Jim McDermott (D),  Jim McGovern (D),  Mike McIntyre (D),  Gregory Meeks (D),  George Miller (D),  Gwen Moore (D),  James Moran (D),  Jerry Nadler (D),  Grace Napolitano (D),  Eleanor Holmes Norton (D),  John Olver (D),  Frank Pallone (D),  Ed Perlmutter (D),  Gary Peters (D),  Chellie Pingree (D),  Jared Polis (D),  Charles Rangel (D),  Cedric Richmond (D),  Steven Rothman (D),  Loretta Sanchez (D),  Linda Sánchez (D),  John Sarbanes (D),  Jan Schakowsky (D),  Adam Schiff (D),  Allyson Schwartz (D),  Bobby Scott (D),  José Serrano (D),  Heath Shuler (D),  Louise Slaughter (D),  Adam Smith (D),  Fortney Stark (D),  Bennie Thompson (D),  John Tierney (D),  Edolphus Towns (D),  Chris Van Hollen (D),  Timothy Walz (D),  Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D),  Melvin Watt (D),  Henry Waxman (D),  Lynn Woolsey (D), 

Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation. (on 06/18/2012)

Official Document