Securing America’s Elections Act of 2023

HR 466, the Securing America’s Elections Act of 2023, requires all U.S. states to implement voter-verified paper ballots (VVPBs) for federal elections starting in 2024. This means voters must see and confirm their paper ballot before casting it, and states must preserve these ballots for manual recounts or audits using specific methods (like hand counts or offline machines). The bill provides special 2023 funding to help states cover costs for upgrading voting systems to meet this requirement, with states needing to submit cost estimates and later report actual expenses. It also mandates a study on open-source voting software, but the core change is the mandatory paper ballot system for federal elections.