I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2168 

To amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to 

promote the efficient delivery and receipt of absentee ballots and other 

voting materials to absent uniformed services voters, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 23, 2013 

Mr. HECK of Washington introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

Voting Act to promote the efficient delivery and receipt 

of absentee ballots and other voting materials to absent 

uniformed services voters, and for other purposes. 

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 ‘‘Helping Heroes Vote 

5 Act of 2013’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROVISION OF INFORMATION TO ELECTION OFFI2 CIALS ON DEPLOYMENTS OF ABSENT UNI3 FORMED SERVICES VOTERS. 

4 (a) REQUIRING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE TO PRO5 VIDE INFORMATION.—Section 101(b) of the Uniformed 

6 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 1973ff(b)) is amended— 

8 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

9 (10); 

10 (2) by striking the period at the end of para11 graph (11) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

12 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(12) to the greatest extent practicable, notify 

15 the appropriate election official of the State in which 

16 an absent uniformed services voter is registered to 

17 vote of any change in the current mailing address of 

18 the voter which results from the voter being de19 ployed on active duty for a period of more than 30 

20 days from the voter’s permanent duty station or re21 deployed from such a deployment without first re22 turning to the voter’s permanent duty station.’’. 

23 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

24 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to deployments or 

25 redeployments occurring on or after the date of the enact26 ment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 3. REVISIONS TO 45-DAY ABSENTEE BALLOT TRANS2 MISSION RULE. 

3 (a) REPEAL OF WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Uni5 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1) is amended by striking sub7 section (g). 

8 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

9 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff– 

10 1(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘except as pro11 vided in subsection (g),’’. 

12 (b) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN CASE

13 OF FAILURE TO MEET REQUIREMENT.—Section 102 of 

14 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1), as amended by subsection 

15 (a), is amended by inserting after subsection (f) the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(g) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN

18 CASE OF FAILURE TO TRANSMIT BALLOTS WITHIN

19 DEADLINES.— 

20 ‘‘(1) TRANSMISSION OF BALLOT BY EXPRESS

21 DELIVERY.—If a State fails to meet the requirement 

22 of subsection (a)(8)(A) to transmit a validly re23 quested absentee ballot to an absent uniformed serv24 ices voter or overseas voter not later than 45 days 

25 before the election (in the case in which the request 

26 is received at least 45 days before the election)— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the State shall transmit the ballot to 

2 the voter by express delivery; or 

3 ‘‘(B) in the case of a voter who has des4 ignated that absentee ballots be transmitted 

5 electronically in accordance with subsection 

6 (f)(1), the State shall transmit the ballot to the 

7 voter electronically. 

8 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR TRANSMISSION FEWER

9 THAN 40 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION.—If, in car10 rying out paragraph (1), a State transmits an ab11 sentee ballot to an absent uniformed services voter 

12 or overseas voter fewer than 40 days before the elec13 tion, the State shall enable the ballot to be returned 

14 by the voter by express delivery, except that in the 

15 case of an absentee ballot of an absent uniformed 

16 services voter for a regularly scheduled general elec17 tion for Federal office, the State may satisfy the re18 quirement of this paragraph by notifying the voter 

19 of the procedures for the collection and delivery of 

20 such ballots under section 103A.’’. 

21 (c) CLARIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF WEEK22 ENDS.—Section 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 1973ff–1(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘the election;’’ 

24 and inserting the following: ‘‘the election (or, if the 45th 

25 day preceding the election is a weekend or legal public holVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:32 May 31, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2168.IH H2168

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1 iday, not later than the most recent weekday which pre2 cedes such 45th day and which is not a legal public holi3 day, but only if the request is received by at least such 

4 most recent weekday);’’. 

5 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

6 this section shall apply with respect to elections occurring 

7 on or after January 1, 2014. 

8 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURES 

9 TO ACCEPT AND PROCESS ABSENTEE BAL10 LOTS OF MILITARY VOTERS AND OVERSEAS 

11 CITIZENS IN EVENT OF MAJOR DISASTERS. 

12 (a) RESPONSIBILITIES OF STATE ELECTION OFFI13 CIALS.—Section 102(a) of the Uniformed and Overseas 

14 Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(a)) is 

15 amended— 

16 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

17 (10); 

18 (2) by striking the period at the end of para19 graph (11) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

20 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

21 paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(12) establish procedures to ensure the effec23 tive and timely acceptance and processing of absen24 tee ballots transmitted by absent uniformed services 

25 voters and overseas voters in the event of a major 


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1 disaster (as defined in section 102 of the Robert T. 

2 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 

3 Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)) in the State.’’. 

4 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

5 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections for 

6 Federal office held on or after the date of the enactment 

7 of this Act. 

8 SEC. 5. PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL TO ACCEPT VOTER REG9 ISTRATION AND ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICA10 TIONS FROM OVERSEAS VOTERS ON 

11 GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION. 

12 Section 104 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 

13 Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–3) is amended— 

14 (1) by inserting ‘‘or overseas voter’’ after ‘‘ab15 sent uniformed services voter’’; and 

16 (2) by striking ‘‘uniformed services.’’ and in17 serting ‘‘uniformed services or who do not reside 

18 outside the United States.’’. 

19 SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO CARRY OUT UOCAVA. 

20 (a) FUNDING.—There are authorized to be appro21 priated to the Presidential designee under the Uniformed 

22 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act $25,000,000 

23 to carry out the requirements of such Act. 


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1 (b) TREATMENT OF FUNDS.—Any amounts appro2 priated pursuant to the authorization under subsection 

3 (a)— 

4 (1) shall be in addition to any other amounts 

5 appropriated to the Presidential designee under the 

6 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 

7 Act pursuant to any other authorization under law; 

8 and 

9 (2) shall remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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