Election Infrastructure and Security Promotion Act of 2016

Election Infrastructure and Security Promotion Act of 2016

This bill directs the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to: (1) designate voting systems used in the United States as critical infrastructure; (2) include threats of compromise, disruption, or destruction of voting systems in national planning scenarios; and (3) conduct a campaign to proactively educate local election officials about the designation of voting systems as critical infrastructure and election officials at all levels of government of voting system threats.

In furtherance of local election official preparedness and response, DHS shall conduct research and development to mitigate the consequences of voting systems threats.

DHS shall prepare and submit to Congress a comprehensive plan to protect and prepare the critical infrastructure of the voting systems used in the United States against threats, including from acts of terrorism.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) shall develop standards for ensuring the operational security of the voting systems used in elections for federal office.

This bill amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require a state, in operating the voting system, to comply with applicable standards for ensuring the operational security of voting systems.

The testing and certification of voting systems hardware and software shall test whether voting systems are in compliance with applicable standards developed by NIST for ensuring the operational security of voting systems.

NIST shall develop standards for ensuring that the process by which ballots are counted in elections for federal office is transparent and permits voters to verify that votes in such elections are counted correctly.

States shall comply with applicable standards, in operating the voting system, for ensuring that the process by which ballots are counted in elections for federal office is transparent and permits voters to verify that votes in such elections are counted correctly.

The National Science Foundation shall establish an election technology innovation research and development program.