Help America Vote Act of 2002 HAVA

The disputed 2000 presidential election in Florida exposed punch-card ballots with hanging chads, confusing ballot designs, inaccurate voter lists, and eligible voters turned away at the polls. Commissions and Congress studied reforms, and the Help America Vote Act passed with broad support, 357 to 48 in the House and 92 to 2 in the Senate. President George W. Bush signed it on October 29, 2002.

The law provided billions of dollars to states to replace punch-card and lever voting machines and improve election administration. It required states to offer provisional ballots to voters whose eligibility is in question, to build a single statewide computerized voter registration list, to provide at least one accessible voting system at each polling place, and to require identification from first-time voters who registered by mail. It created the Election Assistance Commission to distribute funds, issue voluntary voting system guidelines, and certify testing laboratories.

States have used later HAVA appropriations, including several hundred million dollars after 2018, to improve election security. Supporters credit the law with ending punch-card voting and setting national minimum standards while leaving states in charge. Critics on the left say its funding has been sporadic and its standards voluntary, while critics on the right have argued that the Election Assistance Commission should be shrunk or eliminated, and debates continue over voter identification and list maintenance rules beyond those the law requires.