This bill makes a straightforward change to how federal elections work: it requires all voting machines to print out a paper ballot that you can see and check before your vote gets counted. Right now, some voting systems are entirely electronic with no physical record, which makes it harder to verify that your vote was recorded correctly. Under this bill, every voter would get a paper ballot to review—think of it like getting a receipt after a purchase to make sure everything rang up correctly.

The bill also sets rules for how election officials can manually recount and audit these paper ballots to catch any problems. It establishes specific approved methods for doing these audits so there's consistency across different states and counties. Additionally, the bill directs two federal agencies—the Department of Homeland Security and the Election Assistance Commission—to study whether voting systems should use open-source software (software whose code is publicly available for anyone to inspect) rather than proprietary systems that are kept secret. This is meant to increase transparency and security in voting technology.

Basically, this bill is about adding a paper trail to federal elections and making sure voters can verify their votes actually counted the way they intended.

Securing America’s Elections Act of 2023

Rep. Gosar, Paul A. [R-AZ-9]

Securing America's Elections Act of 2023 This bill requires voting systems for federal elections to produce paper ballots that the voter may inspect and verify before the vote is cast and counted. The bill also (1) requires the paper ballot to be suitable for manual audits, (2) prescribes approved methods for such audits, and (3) directs the Department of Homeland Security and the Election Assistance Commission to report on the desirability of using open-source software in voting systems.