Title II — Promoting Cybersecurity Through Improvements in Election Administration

“2215. Mandatory cybersecurity requirements for systems used in Federal elections

“Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of Securing America's Federal Elections Act, the Secretary, acting through the Director and in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Technical Guidelines Development Committee established under section 221 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20961), shall establish mandatory cybersecurity standards for the use in Federal elections of the following:

“(1) Ballot tabulation devices (within the meaning of section 301(a)(9) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002).

“(2) Ballot marking devices (within the meaning of section 301(a)(12) of such Act).

“(3) Election management systems, including those systems used—

“(A) to configure ballot tabulation devices and ballot marking devices;

“(B) to aggregate election results; and

“(C) to design paper ballots.

“(4) Electronic poll books;

“(5) Any government database, website, or associated information system used by voters or government agencies for voter registration (including the management of voter registration status).

“(6) Systems used to deliver or publish election results.

“(7) Such other components of voting systems (as defined in section 301(b) of such Act) as is determined appropriate by the Director.

“2216. Testing and certification of ballot marking and ballot tabulation device cybersecurity

“(a) In general—Any State or jurisdiction which intends to use a ballot marking device or a ballot tabulation device in an election for Federal office may submit an application to the Director for cybersecurity testing and certification of the hardware and software of such device under this section.

“(b) Application, assignment, and testing

“(1) Assignment

“(A) In general—Upon receipt of an application for testing under this section, the Director, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, shall contract with a qualified laboratory for the testing of whether—

“(i) in the case of a ballot tabulation device intended to be used by the State or jurisdiction, the device meets the requirements of section 301(a)(9)(B) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002; and

“(ii) in the case of a ballot marking device intended to be used by the State or jurisdiction, the device meets the requirements of section 301(a)(12)(A) of such Act.

“(B) Optional testing of State requirements—In the case of a ballot marking device or ballot tabulation device for which the source code has been published under an open source license, the contract under subparagraph (A) shall also include, at the request of any State or jurisdiction, testing of whether such device meets any applicable requirements of the State or jurisdiction.

“(2) Requirements for testing—Any contract described in paragraph (1) shall require the qualified research laboratory to—

“(A) not later than 30 days before testing begins, submit to the Director for approval the protocol for the simulated election scenario used for testing the security of the ballot marking device or ballot tabulation device, as the case may be;

“(B) use only protocols approved by the Director in conducting such security testing; and

“(C) submit to the Director a report on the results of the security testing.

“(3) Qualified research laboratory—For purposes of this section, the term qualified research laboratory means a laboratory accredited under this subsection by the Director, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“(c) Reporting and certification—The Director shall—

“(1) publish on the website of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency the results of the testing conducted under subsection (b); and

“(2) certify—

“(A) a ballot tabulation device if the ballot tabulation device is determined by the qualified research laboratory to meet the requirements of section 301(a)(9)(B) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002; and

“(B) a ballot marking device if the ballot marking device is determined by the qualified research laboratory to meet the requirements of section 301(a)(12)(A) of such Act.

“(d) Prohibition on fees—The Director may not charge any fee to a State or jurisdiction, a developer or manufacturer of a ballot marking device or ballot tabulation device, or any other person in connection with testing and certification under this section (including any testing conducted under subsection (b)(1)(B)).”

“(9) Ballot tabulation methods

“(A) In general—The voting system tabulates ballots by hand or through the use of a ballot tabulation device that meets the requirements of subparagraph (B).

“(B) Requirements for ballot tabulation devices—Except as provided in subparagraph (C), the requirements of this subparagraph are as follows:

“(i) The device is designed and built in a manner in which it is mechanically impossible for the device to add or change the vote selections on a printed or marked ballot.

“(ii) The device is capable of exporting its data (including vote tally data sets and cast vote records) in a machine-readable, open data standard format required by the Commission, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

“(iii) The device consists of hardware that—

“(I) is certified under section 2216 of the Homeland Security Act; and

“(II) demonstrably conforms to a hardware component manifest describing point-of-origin information (including upstream hardware supply chain information for each component) that—

“(aa) has been provided to the Commission, the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security, and the chief State election official for each State in which the device is used; and

“(bb) may be shared by any entity to whom it has been provided under item (aa) with independent experts for cybersecurity analysis.

“(iv) The device utilizes technology that prevents the operation of the device if any hardware components do not meet the requirements of clause (iii).

“(v) The device operates using software—

“(I) that is certified under section 2216 of the Homeland Security Act; and

“(II) for which the source code, system build tools, and compilation parameters—

“(aa) have been provided to the Commission, the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security, and the chief State election official for each State in which the device is used; and

“(bb) may be shared by any entity to whom it has been provided under item (aa) with independent experts for cybersecurity analysis.

“(vi) The device utilizes technology that prevents the running of software on the device that does not meet the requirements of clause (v).

“(vii) The device utilizes technology that enables election officials, cybersecurity researchers, and voters to verify that the software running on the device—

“(I) was built from a specific, untampered version of the code that is described in clause (v); and

“(II) uses the system build tools and compilation parameters that are described in clause (v).

“(viii) The device contains such other security requirements as established by the Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology and the Technical Guidelines Development Committee.

“(C) Waiver

“(i) In general—The Director of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security, in consultation with the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, may waive one or more of the requirements of subparagraph (B) (other than the requirement of clause (i) thereof) with respect to any device for a period of not to exceed 2 years.

“(ii) Publication—Information relating to any waiver granted under clause (i) shall be made publicly available on the internet.

“(D) Effective date—Each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with the requirements of this paragraph for the regularly scheduled election for Federal office in November 2024, and for each subsequent election for Federal office.”

“(10) Prohibition of use of wireless communications devices in systems or devices

“(A) In general—No system or device upon which ballot marking devices or ballot tabulation devices are configured, upon which ballots are marked by voters (except as necessary for individuals with disabilities to use ballot marking devices that meet the accessibility requirements of paragraph (3)), or upon which votes are cast, tabulated, or aggregated shall contain, use, or be accessible by any wireless, power-line, or concealed communication device.

“(B) Effective date—Each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with the requirements of this paragraph for the regularly scheduled election for Federal office in November 2020, and for each subsequent election for Federal office.

“(11) Prohibiting connection of system to the internet

“(A) In general—No system or device upon which ballot marking devices or ballot tabulation devices are configured, upon which ballots are marked by voters, or upon which votes are cast, tabulated, or aggregated shall be connected to the internet or any non-local computer system via telephone or other communication network at any time.

“(B) Effective date—Each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with the requirements of this paragraph for the regularly scheduled election for Federal office in November 2020, and for each subsequent election for Federal office.”

“(12) Ballot marking devices

“(A) In general—In the case of a voting system that uses a ballot marking device, the ballot marking device shall be a device that—

“(i) is not capable of tabulating votes; and

“(ii) is certified under section 2216 of the Homeland Security Act as meeting the requirements of clauses (iii) through (viii) of section 301(a)(9)(B).

“(B) Effective date—Each State and jurisdiction shall be required to comply with the requirements of this paragraph for the regularly scheduled election for Federal office in November 2022, and for each subsequent election for Federal office.”

“(3) Election cybersecurity guidelines—Not later than 6 months after the date of the enactment of the Securing America’s Federal Elections Act, the Development Committee shall issue election cybersecurity guidelines, including standards and best practices for procuring, maintaining, testing, operating, and updating election systems to prevent and deter cybersecurity incidents.”

“(13) Requiring use of software and hardware for which information is disclosed by manufacturer

“(A) Requiring use of software for which source code is disclosed by manufacturer

“(i) In general—In the operation of voting systems in an election for Federal office, a State may only use software for which the manufacturer makes the source code (in the form in which will be used at the time of the election) publicly available online under a license that grants a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, sub-licensable license to all intellectual property rights in such source code, except that the manufacturer may prohibit a person who obtains the software from using the software in a manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation that is unrelated to carrying out legitimate research or cybersecurity activity.

“(ii) Exceptions—Clause (i) does not apply with respect to—

“(I) widely used operating system software which is not specific to voting systems and for which the source code or baseline functionality is not altered; or

“(II) widely used cybersecurity software which is not specific to voting systems and for which the source code or baseline functionality is not altered.

“(B) Requiring use of hardware for which information is disclosed by manufacturer

“(i) Requiring disclosure of hardware—A State may not use a voting system in an election for Federal office unless the manufacturer of the system publicly discloses online the identification of the hardware used to operate the system.

“(ii) Additional disclosure requirements for custom or altered hardware—To the extent that the hardware used to operate a voting system or any component thereof is not widely used, or is widely used but is altered, the State may not use the system in an election for Federal office unless—

“(I) the manufacturer of the system publicly discloses online the components of the hardware, the design of such components, and how such components are connected in the operation of the system; and

“(II) the manufacturer makes the design (in the form which will be used at the time of the election) publicly available online under a license that grants a worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive, perpetual, sub-licensable license to all intellectual property rights in the design of the hardware or the component, except that the manufacturer may prohibit a person who obtains the design from using the design in a manner that is primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation that is unrelated to carrying out legitimate research or cybersecurity activity.”

“301B. Pre-election reports on voting system usage

“(a) Requiring States To submit reports—Not later than 120 days before the date of each regularly scheduled general election for Federal office, the chief State election official of a State shall submit a report to the Commission containing a detailed voting system usage plan for each jurisdiction in the State which will administer the election, including a detailed plan for the usage of electronic poll books and other equipment and components of such system.

“(b) Effective date—Subsection (a) shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held in November 2020 and each succeeding regularly scheduled general election for Federal office.”

“(b) Waiver of certain requirements—Subchapter I of chapter 35 of title 44, United States Code, shall not apply to the collection of information for purposes of maintaining the clearinghouse described in paragraph (1) of subsection (a).”