I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1941

To enforce the guarantees of the first, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments 

to the Constitution of the United States by prohibiting certain devices 

used to deny the right to participate in certain elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 1, 2003

Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on House Administration 

A BILL

To enforce the guarantees of the first, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution of the United 

States by prohibiting certain devices used to deny the 

right to participate in certain elections.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Freedom Act 

5 of 2003’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 

8 findings: 
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1 (1) The rights of eligible citizens to seek elec2 tion to Congress, vote for candidates of their choice 

3 and associate for the purpose of taking part in elec4 tions, including the right to create and develop new 

5 political parties, are fundamental to a democracy. 

6 The rights of citizens to participate in the election 

7 process for members of Congress are set forth in ar8 ticle I. The United States Supreme Court has held 

9 that the states are powerless to discriminate against 

10 a class of candidates for Congress. Cook v. Gralike, 

11 ll US ll (decision of February 28, 2001). The 

12 United States Supreme Court has also held that all 

13 voters must be treated equally. Bush v. Gore, ll

14 US ll (decision of December 12, 2000). 

15 (2) The voters of the various states sometimes 

16 elect candidates to Congress who are neither nomi17 nees, nor members, of the two major political par18 ties. According to the Clerk of the U.S. House of 

19 Representatives, voters have on at least 125 occa20 sions elected someone to the U.S. House of Rep21 resentatives who was neither a Republican nor a 

22 Democrat. According to a recent compilation, 

23 throughout the twentieth century, the percentage of 

24 voters who have voted for minor party and inde25 pendent candidates for the U.S. House of Represent-
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1 atives has averaged 3.7 percent. On November 7, 

2 2000, it was 4.2 percent. Clearly, a substantial num3 ber of voters desire to vote for candidates for the 

4 U.S. House of Representatives who are minor party 

5 nominees and/or independent candidates. Such vot6 ers have existed in fairly substantial numbers in 

7 every decade of the twentieth century, and may be 

8 expected to exist in the twenty-first century. 

9 (3) Some states have enacted election laws 

10 which require minor party nominees, or independent 

11 candidates, for the U.S. House of Representatives, 

12 to submit petitions signed by more than 10,000 reg13 istered voters within a district. For example, Georgia 

14 requires such candidates to not only pay a filing fee, 

15 but to submit a petition signed by 5 percent of the 

16 number of registered voters in the district. The sig17 natures must be notarized. By contrast, members of 

18 political parties which have polled 20 percent for 

19 President of the United States throughout the entire 

20 nation, or which have polled 20 percent for Governor 

21 of Georgia, need not submit any petition signatures. 

22 No candidate for U.S. House of Representatives 

23 from Georgia has managed to comply with the 5 

24 percent petition requirement since 1964. North 

25 Carolina requires an independent candidate for the 
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1 U.S. House of Representatives to submit a petition 

2 signed by 4 percent of the number of registered vot3 ers in the district. By contrast, members of qualified 

4 political parties need not submit any petitions in 

5 North Carolina to run for Congress. No independent 

6 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives has 

7 ever qualified for the North Carolina ballot. South 

8 Carolina requires an independent candidate for the 

9 U.S. House of Representatives to submit a petition 

10 signed by 10,000 signatures. By contrast, members 

11 of qualified political parties need not submit any pe12 tition signatures in order to run for Congress. No 

13 independent candidate for the U.S. House of Rep14 resentatives has ever qualified for the South Caro15 lina ballot. California requires an independent can16 didate for the U.S. House of Representatives to sub17 mit a petition signed by 3 percent of the number of 

18 registered voters in the district. By contrast, mem19 bers of qualified political parties only need to submit 

20 40 signatures in order to run for U.S. House of 

21 Representatives. 

22 (4) Throughout all U.S. history, there are only 

23 four individuals who have ever successfully overcome 

24 a signature requirement greater than 10,000 signa25 tures in order to gain a place on a ballot for U.S. 
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1 House of Representatives. They are Frazier Reems, 

2 an independent member of the U.S. House of Rep3 resentatives from Ohio who had to collect 12,920 

4 valid signatures in the 9th district in 1954 in order 

5 to run for re-election; Jack Gargan, the Reform 

6 Party nominee for Florida’s 5th district in 1998, 

7 who had to collect 12,141 valid signatures; Steven 

8 Wheeler, an independent candidate in California’s 

9 22nd district in 1996, who had to collect 10,191 

10 valid signatures; and Steve Kelly, independent can11 didate for Montana’s At-Large seat in 1994, who 

12 had to collect 10,186 valid signatures. 

13 (5) Other states do not require independent 

14 candidates, or the candidates of unqualified parties, 

15 to submit large numbers of signatures in order to 

16 run for the U.S. House of Representatives, and yet 

17 they do not suffer from a crowded ballot. Florida no 

18 longer requires any signatures on a petition for any19 one to run for Congress, yet in 2000 there was no 

20 U.S. House race in Florida with more than 4 can21 didates on the ballot. Florida requires a filing fee in22 stead of a petition for ballot access for everyone. Ha23 waii and Tennessee only require 25 signatures for 

24 anyone to run for Congress. Washington does not re25 quire any signatures for members of qualified par-
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1 ties to run for public office, and only requires 25 

2 signatures from other individuals to run for the 

3 United States House of Representatives. New Jersey 

4 only requires 100 signatures for any individual to 

5 run for United States House of Representatives as 

6 an independent, or 200 signatures to run in a party 

7 primary. It is clear from the experience of such 

8 states that no state needs to require as many as 

9 10,000 or 15,000 signatures for candidates to run 

10 for the House in order to keep the ballot 

11 uncluttered. 

12 (6) Some states have enacted laws which re13 quire new political parties, or independent can14 didates, to file a substantial number of petitions as 

15 much as ten months or more before a general elec16 tion. Illinois requires independent candidates for 

17 Congress to file a petition in December of the year 

18 before the general election. Such petitions must be 

19 signed by 5 percent of the last vote cast for the seat 

20 they are seeking. Although members of qualified 

21 parties must also submit petitions by the same early 

22 date, members of qualified parties only need one23 tenth as many signatures. For mid-term election 

24 years, Ohio requires new political parties to submit 

25 a petition equal to 1 percent of the last vote cast, 
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1 by January. In presidential election years, Ohio re2 quires such a petition by November of the year be3 fore the election. California requires a new political 

4 party to have registered members equal to 1 percent 

5 of the last vote cast by October of the year before 

6 an election. Mississippi requires independent can7 didates for Congress to file a petition by January of 

8 an election year. 

9 (7) Some states print partisan ballot labels on 

10 the general election ballot for some candidates for 

11 Congress, yet refuse to print such labels for other 

12 candidates for Congress. Virginia prints party labels 

13 on the ballot if the candidate is the nominee of a 

14 party which polled 10 percent of the statewide vote 

15 at a previous election. Other candidates must be 

16 labelled ‘‘independent’’, whether they are the nomi17 nees of a minor or new party or whether they really 

18 are independents. Louisiana prints party labels for 

19 candidates who are members of a party that has reg20 istration membership of 5 percent, or which polled 

21 5 percent for president at the last election. Other 

22 candidates may not have any partisan label printed 

23 on the ballot next to their names, not even the term 

24 ‘‘independent’’. 
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1 (8) The establishment of fair and uniform na2 tional standards for access to the ballot in elections 

3 for the U.S. House of Representatives would remove 

4 barriers to the participation of citizens in the elec5 toral process and thereby facilitate such participa6 tion and maximize the rights identified in this sub7 section. 

8 (9) The Congress has authority, under the pro9 visions of the Constitution of the United States in 

10 sections 4 and 8 of article I, to protect and promote 

11 the exercise of the rights identified in this sub12 section. 

13 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—

14 (1) to establish fair and uniform standards reg15 ulating access to the ballot by eligible citizens who 

16 desire to seek election to the U.S. House of Rep17 resentatives and political parties, bodies and groups 

18 which desire to take part in elections to the U.S. 

19 House of Representatives; and 

20 (2) to maximize the participation of eligible citi21 zens in elections for Federal office. 

22 SEC. 3. BALLOT ACCESS RIGHTS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—An individual shall have the right 

24 to be placed as a candidate on, and to have such individ25 ual’s political party, body, or group affiliation in connec-
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1 tion with such candidacy placed on, a ballot or similar vot2 ing materials to be used in a Congressional election, if—

3 (1) such individual presents a petition stating 

4 in substance that its signers desire such individual’s 

5 name and political party, body or group affiliation, 

6 if any, to be placed on the ballot or other similar 

7 voting materials to be used in the election with re8 spect to which such rights are to be exercised; 

9 (2) such petition has at least 1,000 signatures 

10 of persons who are registered to vote in the district, 

11 or, if the State in which the district is located does 

12 not provide for voter registration, such petition must 

13 bear the signatures of at least 1,000 persons who 

14 are eligible to vote in that State and that district; 

15 (3) with respect to an election the date of which 

16 was fixed 345 or more days in advance, such peti17 tion was circulated during a period beginning on the 

18 345th day and ending on the 75th day before the 

19 date of the election; and 

20 (4) with respect to an election the date of which 

21 was fixed less than 345 days in advance, such peti22 tion was circulated during a period established by 

23 the State holding the election, or, if no such period 

24 was established, during a period beginning on the 

25 day after the date the election was scheduled and 
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1 ending on the thirtieth day before the date of the 

2 election. 

3 (b) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Subsection (a) shall not 

4 apply with respect to any State that provides by law for 

5 greater ballot access rights than the ballot access rights 

6 provided for under such subsection. 

7 SEC. 4. RULEMAKING. 

8 The Attorney General shall make rules to carry out 

9 this Act. 

10 SEC. 5. GENERAL DEFINITIONS. 

11 As used in this Act—

12 (1) the term ‘‘Congressional election’’ means a 

13 general or special election for the office of Rep14 resentative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis15 sioner to, the Congress; 

16 (2) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State of the 

17 United States, the District of Columbia, the Com18 monwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory 

19 or possession of the United States; 

20 (3) the term ‘‘individual’’ means an individual 

21 who has the qualifications required by law of a per22 son who holds the office for which such individual 

23 seeks to be a candidate; 

24 (4) the term ‘‘petition’’ includes a petition 

25 which conforms to section 3(a)(1) and upon which 
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1 signers’ addresses and/or printed names are required 

2 to be placed; 

3 (5) the term ‘‘signer’’ means a person whose 

4 signature appears on a petition and who can be 

5 identified as a person qualified to vote for an indi6 vidual for whom the petition is circulated, and in7 cludes a person who requests another to sign a peti8 tion on his or her behalf at the time when, and at 

9 the place where, the request is made; 

10 (6) the term ‘‘signature’’ includes the incom11 plete name of a signer, the name of a signer con12 taining abbreviations such as first or middle initial, 

13 and the name of a signer preceded or followed by ti14 tles such as ‘‘Mr.’’, ‘‘Ms.’’, ‘‘Dr.’’, ‘‘Jr.’’, or ‘‘III’’; 

15 and 

16 (7) the term ‘‘address’’ means the address 

17 which a signer uses for purposes of registration and 

18 voting.

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