118th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit States from using in the administration of an election for Federal office proprietary voting system hardware or software which prevents the system from meeting the voluntary voting system guidelines for interoperability and auditability issued by the Election Assistance Commission under such Act, a voting system whose hardware and software components are manufactured, maintained, or serviced outside the United States, or a voting system which is connected to the internet.
May 11, 2023
Mr. Posey introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit States from using in the administration of an election for Federal office proprietary voting system hardware or software which prevents the system from meeting the voluntary voting system guidelines for interoperability and auditability issued by the Election Assistance Commission under such Act, a voting system whose hardware and software components are manufactured, maintained, or serviced outside the United States, or a voting system which is connected to the internet.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Election Integrity Act of 2023”.
SEC. 2. Prohibiting use of proprietary voting system hardware or software not enabling audits.
(a) Prohibition.—Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(7) PROHIBITING USE OF PROPRIETARY HARDWARE OR SOFTWARE NOT MEETING VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE FOR INTEROPERABILITY AND AUDITABILITY.—The voting system may not use any proprietary hardware or software unless the manufacturer of the hardware or software provides the appropriate election official with such information and assistance as the official may require to enable the voting system to be interoperable and auditable in accordance with the most recent voluntary voting system guidelines issued by the Commission under this title.”.
(b) Effective date.—Section 301(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)) is amended by striking the period at the end and inserting the following: “, or, in the case of the requirements of paragraph (7) of subsection (a), on and after January 1, 2024.”.
SEC. 3. Prohibiting use of voting system produced by foreign entity in elections for Federal office.
(a) Prohibition.—Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)), as amended by section 2(a), is further amended by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
“(8) SYSTEM HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE MANUFACTURED AND MAINTAINED IN UNITED STATES.—All of the hardware components and all of the software components of the system shall be manufactured in the United States and shall be maintained and serviced only by persons who are in the United States.
“(9) SYSTEM NOT PRODUCED BY FOREIGN ENTITY.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—The voting system may not be produced by a foreign entity.
“(B) FOREIGN ENTITY DEFINED.—In subparagraph (A), the term ‘foreign entity’ means any of the following:
“(i) A foreign national.
“(ii) Any corporation which is not a foreign national and in which a foreign national or an alien directly or indirectly owns or controls any voting share.
“(iii) Any corporation which is not a foreign national and with respect to which any of the members of the board of directors are foreign nationals or aliens.
“(iv) Any corporation which is not a foreign national and over which one or more foreign nationals or aliens has the power to direct, dictate, or control the decision-making process of the corporation with respect to its interests in the United States.
“(C) FOREIGN NATIONAL DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘foreign national’ has the meaning given such term in section 1(b) of the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, as amended (22 U.S.C. 611(b)), except that such term shall not include any individual who is a citizen of the United States.
“(D) ALIEN DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the term ‘alien’ means an individual who is not a citizen of the United States or a national of the United States (as defined in section 101(a)(22) of the Immigration and Nationality Act), and who is not lawfully admitted for permanent residence (as defined in section 101(a)(20) of such Act).”.
(b) Effective date.—Section 301(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)), as amended by section 2(b), is further amended to read as follows:
“(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with the requirements of this section on and after January 1, 2006, or, in the case of the requirements of paragraph (7) of subsection (a), on and after January 1, 2024.
“(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR REQUIREMENTS RELATING TO FOREIGN ENTITIES.—In the case of the requirements of paragraphs (8) and (9) of subsection (a), each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with such requirements on and after the date of the enactment of the Election Integrity Act of 2023.”.
SEC. 4. Prohibiting connection of voting systems to internet.
(a) Prohibition.—Section 301(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081(a)), as amended by section 2(a) and section 3(a), is further amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
“(10) PROHIBITING CONNECTION OF SYSTEM TO THE INTERNET.—
“(A) IN GENERAL.—No system or device upon which ballots are programmed or votes are cast or tabulated shall be connected to the internet at any time.
“(B) PROHIBITING ACCEPTANCE OF BALLOTS TRANSMITTED ONLINE.—The voting system may not directly tabulate any voted ballot which is transmitted to an election official online.
“(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing contained in this paragraph shall be deemed to prohibit the Commission from conducting the studies under section 242 or to conduct other similar studies under any other provision of law in a manner consistent with this paragraph.”.
(b) Effective date.—Section 301(d)(1) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21081(d)(1)), as amended by section 2(b) and section 3(b), is further amended by striking “paragraph (7) of subsection (a)” and inserting “paragraphs (7) and (10) of subsection (a)”.