Bill > HR6246

This bill, titled the Verifying Official Totals for Elections Act, amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require that any specialized software and related components used in voting systems for federal elections must be deposited with the National Software Reference Library, managed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), before the election. NIST's Director will hold this technology in a secure escrow and can disclose it to authorized individuals, such as government election officials or parties involved in election litigation, provided they sign a non-disclosure agreement that protects intellectual property while allowing for necessary scrutiny. The bill also outlines specific conditions for when this technology can be used even if deposited slightly late due to last-minute updates, and it allows for civil penalties against vendors who fail to comply if the state opts to delegate the deposit responsibility to them.