HR 5816 · 112th Congress 2011–2013, ended

Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2011

Introduced May 17, 2012 Originated House Sponsor Rush Holt D-NJ

Fact sheet Spreadsheet

Latest action · Jun 18, 2012 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.

  1. IntroducedMay 17, 2012
  2. Passed HouseNot reached
  3. Passed SenateNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

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.

Cosponsors 100

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 17, 2012 to Jul 11, 2012; 99 are original cosponsors, there from the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
D-CAAdam B. SchiffOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-WAAdam SmithOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-FLAlcee L. HastingsOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-PAAllyson Y. SchwartzOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-INAndré CarsonOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAAnna G. EshooOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CABarbara LeeOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MABarney FrankOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-KYBen ChandlerOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MSBennie G. ThompsonOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MNBetty McCollumOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-IABruce L. BraleyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYCarolyn B. MaloneyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYCarolyn McCarthyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-LACedric L. RichmondOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYCharles B. RangelOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MEChellie PingreeOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MDChris Van HollenOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-FLCorrine BrownOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-ILDanny K. DavisOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-IADavid LoebsackOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-FLDebbie Wasserman SchultzOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CADennis A. CardozaOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CODiana DeGetteOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MDDonna F. EdwardsOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CADoris O. MatsuiOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-OREarl BlumenauerOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-COEd PerlmutterOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYEdolphus TownsOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-DCEleanor Holmes NortonOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MDElijah E. CummingsOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAFortney Pete StarkOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NJFrank Pallone, Jr.OriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NCG. K. ButterfieldOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MIGary C. PetersOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYGary L. AckermanOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-TXGene GreenOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAGeorge MillerOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAGrace F. NapolitanoOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYGregory W. MeeksOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-WIGwen MooreOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NCHeath ShulerOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAHenry A. WaxmanOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CTJames A. HimesOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MAJames P. McGovernOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-VAJames P. MoranOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-ILJanice D. SchakowskyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAJanice HahnOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-COJared PolisOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-PAJason AltmireOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYJerrold NadlerOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-ILJerry F. CostelloOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-ILJesse L. Jackson, Jr.OriginalMay 17, 2012
D-WAJim McDermottOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CTJoe CourtneyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CTJohn B. LarsonOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MAJohn F. TierneyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAJohn GaramendiOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-GAJohn LewisOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MDJohn P. SarbanesOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MAJohn W. OlverOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYJose E. SerranoOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYJoseph CrowleyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-FLKathy CastorOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MNKeith EllisonOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NCLarry KissellOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-IALeonard L. BoswellOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CALinda T. SánchezOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-TXLloyd DoggettOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CALois CappsOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CALoretta SanchezOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYLouise McIntosh SlaughterOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-ILLuis V. GutierrezOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CALynn C. WoolseyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-OHMarcy KapturOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYMaurice D. HincheyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NCMelvin L. WattOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MAMichael E. CapuanoOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-PAMichael F. DoyleOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAMichael M. HondaOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NCMike McIntyreOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYNita M. LoweyOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-ORPeter A. DeFazioOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-AZRaúl M. GrijalvaOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-VARobert C. "Bobby" ScottOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NJRobert E. AndrewsOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CTRosa L. DeLauroOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CASam FarrOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MISander M. LevinOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-GASanford D. Bishop, Jr.OriginalMay 17, 2012
D-TNSteve CohenOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYSteve IsraelOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NJSteven R. RothmanOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-PATim HoldenOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-NYTimothy H. BishopOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MNTimothy J. WalzOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MAWilliam R. KeatingOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-MOWm. Lacy ClayOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-CAXavier BecerraOriginalMay 17, 2012
D-WARick LarsenJul 11, 2012

Committees 2

Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.

ChamberCommitteeWhat it did
HouseCommittee on House Administration
Referred May 17, 2012
Elections Subcommittee
Referred May 24, 2012
HouseScience, Space, and Technology Committee
Referred May 17, 2012
Technology Subcommittee
Referred Jun 18, 2012

Actions 4

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Jun 18, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation.
  2. May 24, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on Elections.
  3. May 17, 2012Introduced in House
  4. May 17, 2012Referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Science, Space, 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.

Research

What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.

Constitutional authority

Congress has the power to enact this legislation pursuant to the following: Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H3104.

Related bills 3

Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.

BillTitleRelationshipLatest action
S 3608Voter Empowerment Act of 2012Related billSep 21, 2012
HR 5799Voter Empowerment Act of 2012Related billSep 26, 2012
HR 6246Verifying Official Totals for Elections ActRelated billAug 2, 2012

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 2011

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.

Text 1

Each version as it was printed, newest first.

  1. May 17, 2012Introduced in House

Support LegiList

This page is free, carries no paywall, and is built and maintained by one person. If the record here is useful to you, a few dollars keeps it going.

$1 $5 $10

Processed by Stripe in a separate window. LegiList never sees card details.

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.