I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1604 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters 

to vote by mail in Federal elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 19, 2009 

Mrs. DAVIS of California (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. 

HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. FARR, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 

LOEBSACK, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. FILNER, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 

Ms. SUTTON, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WALZ, Mr. HINCHEY, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. 

PINGREE of Maine, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. HOLT, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. AL

GREEN of Texas, Mr. MASSA, Mr. MURPHY of Connecticut, Mr. 

GRIJALVA, Mr. CARNAHAN, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 

MCGOVERN, Mr. STARK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. 

BOUCHER, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BERRY, and Mr. CARDOZA) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 

House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow 

all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal 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 ‘‘Universal Right to 

5 Vote by Mail Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) An inequity of voting rights exists in the 

4 United States because voters in some States have 

5 the universal right to vote by mail while voters in 

6 other States do not. 

7 (2) Many voters often have work, family, or 

8 other commitments that make getting to polls on the 

9 date of an election difficult or impossible. Under 

10 current State laws, many of these voters are not per11 mitted to vote by mail. 

12 (3) 28 States currently allow universal absentee 

13 voting (also known as ‘‘no-excuse’’ absentee voting), 

14 which permits any voter to request a mail-in ballot 

15 without providing a reason for the request, and no 

16 State which has implemented no-excuse absentee 

17 voting has switched back. 

18 (4) Voting by mail gives voters more time to 

19 consider their choices, which is especially important 

20 as many ballots contain greater numbers of ques21 tions about complex issues than in the past due to 

22 the expanded use of the initiative and referendum 

23 process in many States. 

24 (5) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 

25 mail can lead to increased voter participation. 


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•HR 1604 IH

1 (6) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 

2 mail can reduce waiting times for those voters who 

3 choose to vote at the polls. 

4 (7) Voting by mail is preferable to many voters 

5 as an alternative to going to the polls. Voting by 

6 mail has become increasingly popular with voters 

7 who want to be certain that they are able to vote no 

8 matter what comes up on Election Day. 

9 (8) No evidence exists suggesting the potential 

10 for fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the 

11 potential for fraud by any other method of voting. 

12 (9) Many of the reasons which voters in many 

13 States are required to provide in order to vote by 

14 mail require the revelation of personal information 

15 about health, travel plans, or religious activities, 

16 which violate voters’ privacy while doing nothing to 

17 prevent voter fraud. 

18 (10) State laws which require voters to obtain 

19 a notary signature to vote by mail only add cost and 

20 inconvenience to voters without increasing security. 

21 SEC. 3. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL 

22 IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the Help 

24 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 


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1 amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 

2 section: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 

4 MAIL. 

5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli6 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 

7 State may not impose any additional conditions or require8 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 

9 in such election by mail, except to the extent that the 

10 State imposes a deadline for requesting the ballot and re11 lated voting materials from the appropriate State or local 

12 election official and for returning the ballot to the appro13 priate State or local election official. 

14 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in sub15 section (a) shall be construed to affect the authority of 

16 States to conduct elections for Federal office through the 

17 use of polling places at which individuals cast ballots on 

18 the date of the election. 

19 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A State shall be required 

20 to comply with the requirements of subsection (a) with re21 spect to elections for Federal office held in years beginning 

22 with 2012.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN24 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) 


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1 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 

2 303A’’. 

3 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat5 ing to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. 

Æ 


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