Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009
Latest action · Jun 19, 2009 Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJun 16, 2009
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009 - 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.
Cosponsors 97
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jun 16, 2009 to Nov 5, 2009; 75 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Adam B. Schiff | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-WA | Adam Smith | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-TX | Al Green | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NJ | Albio Sires | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-FL | Alcee L. Hastings | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Barbara Lee | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MA | Barney Frank | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Bob Filner | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Carolyn B. Maloney | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-PA | Chaka Fattah | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-ME | Chellie Pingree | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-PA | Christopher P. Carney | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-FL | Corrine Brown | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-IA | David Loebsack | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-WI | David R. Obey | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-OR | David Wu | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-FL | Debbie Wasserman Schultz | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NJ | Donald M. Payne | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MD | Donna F. Edwards | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Eric J. J. Massa | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Fortney Pete Stark | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| R-NJ | Frank A. LoBiondo | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NJ | Frank Pallone, Jr. | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-TX | Gene Green | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | George Miller | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Gregory W. Meeks | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Henry A. Waxman | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-GA | Henry C. "Hank" Johnson, Jr. | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CT | James A. Himes | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MN | James L. Oberstar | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MA | James P. McGovern | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-VA | James P. Moran | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-IL | Janice D. Schakowsky | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CO | Jared Polis | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-PA | Jason Altmire | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-WA | Jay Inslee | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Jerrold Nadler | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-IL | Jesse L. Jackson, Jr. | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-WA | Jim McDermott | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-PA | Joe Sestak | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CT | John B. Larson | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-GA | John Barrow | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MA | John F. Tierney | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-GA | John Lewis | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MA | John W. Olver | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Jose E. Serrano | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Joseph Crowley | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-FL | Kathy Castor | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| R-NJ | Leonard Lance | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Linda T. Sánchez | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Lois Capps | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-OH | Marcy Kaptur | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Maurice D. Hinchey | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MA | Michael E. Capuano | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-PA | Michael F. Doyle | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Michael M. Honda | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NC | Mike McIntyre | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-HI | Neil Abercrombie | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Nita M. Lowey | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-OR | Peter A. DeFazio | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-WA | Rick Larsen | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NJ | Robert E. Andrews | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-FL | Robert Wexler | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-FL | Ron Klein | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-CA | Sam Farr | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-TX | Solomon P. Ortiz | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-TN | Steve Cohen | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Steve Israel | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NJ | Steven R. Rothman | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-WI | Tammy Baldwin | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-VA | Thomas S.P. Perriello | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-NY | Timothy H. Bishop | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MN | Timothy J. Walz | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MO | Wm. Lacy Clay | Original | Jun 16, 2009 |
| D-MD | C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger | Jun 23, 2009 | |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Jun 23, 2009 | |
| D-PA | John P. Murtha | Jun 26, 2009 | |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Jun 26, 2009 | |
| R-PA | Tim Murphy | Jun 26, 2009 | |
| D-CT | Joe Courtney | Jul 8, 2009 | |
| D-KY | Ben Chandler | Jul 15, 2009 | |
| D-IL | Jerry F. Costello | Jul 23, 2009 | |
| D-PA | Tim Holden | Jul 29, 2009 | |
| D-PA | Allyson Y. Schwartz | Jul 31, 2009 | |
| D-IA | Bruce L. Braley | Jul 31, 2009 | |
| D-PA | Kathleen A. Dahlkemper | Jul 31, 2009 | |
| D-MN | Betty McCollum | Sep 9, 2009 | |
| D-MD | Elijah E. Cummings | Sep 9, 2009 | |
| D-IN | André Carson | Sep 17, 2009 | |
| D-NC | Melvin L. Watt | Oct 15, 2009 | |
| D-CO | Diana DeGette | Oct 20, 2009 | |
| D-CT | Rosa L. DeLauro | Oct 22, 2009 | |
| D-NY | Charles B. Rangel | Oct 26, 2009 | |
| D-FL | Suzanne M. Kosmas | Oct 27, 2009 | |
| D-NC | Heath Shuler | Nov 5, 2009 | |
| D-PA | Paul E. Kanjorski | Nov 5, 2009 |
Committees 2
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Committee on House Administration | Referred Jun 16, 2009 |
| House | Science, Space, and Technology Committee | Referred Jun 16, 2009 |
| Technology Subcommittee | Referred Jun 19, 2009 |
Actions 5
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jun 19, 2009Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation.
- Jun 16, 2009Introduced in House
- Jun 16, 2009Referred to House Administration
- Jun 16, 2009Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Science and Technology, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- Jun 16, 2009Referred to House Science and Technology
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| S 1431 | Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009 | Identical bill | Jul 9, 2009 |
Titles 2
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a voter-verified permanent paper ballot under title III of such Act, and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2009
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
- Administrative remedies
- Computers and information technology
- Congressional elections
- Department of Justice
- Disability and paralysis
- Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
- Foreign language and bilingual programs
- Government information and archives
- Government Operations and Politics
- Intergovernmental relations
- Language arts
- Performance measurement
- Public contracts and procurement
- Research administration and funding
- Research and development
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jun 16, 2009Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.