IB 

Union Calendar No. 115 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1604 

[Report No. 111–211] 

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 

JULY 16, 2009 

Additional sponsors: Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. WU, Mr. ELLISON, 

Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. ROTHMAN of 

New Jersey, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. ARCURI, 

Mr. CLAY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. HARE, 

Mr. GRAYSON, and Mr. GUTIERREZ

JULY 16, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 

House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on March 19, 2009] 


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•HR 1604 RH

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow 

all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections. 


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•HR 1604 RH

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 Vote 

5 by Mail Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

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

9 United States because voters in some States have the 

10 universal right to vote by mail while voters in other 

11 States do not. 

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

13 other commitments that make getting to polls on the 

14 date of an election difficult or impossible. Under cur15 rent State laws, many of these voters are not per16 mitted to vote by mail. 

17 (3) 28 States currently allow universal absentee 

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

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

20 without providing a reason for the request, and no 

21 State which has implemented no-excuse absentee vot22 ing has switched back. 

23 (4) Voting by mail gives voters more time to con24 sider their choices, which is especially important as 

25 many ballots contain greater numbers of questions 


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•HR 1604 RH

1 about complex issues than in the past due to the ex2 panded use of the initiative and referendum process 

3 in many States. 

4 (5) Allowing all voters the option to vote by mail 

5 can lead to increased voter participation. 

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

7 can reduce waiting times for those voters who choose 

8 to vote at the polls. 

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

10 as an alternative to going to the polls. Voting by mail 

11 has become increasingly popular with voters who 

12 want to be certain that they are able to vote no mat13 ter what comes up on Election Day. 

14 (8) No evidence exists suggesting the potential for 

15 fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the poten16 tial for fraud by any other method of voting. 

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

18 States are required to provide in order to vote by 

19 mail require the revelation of personal information 

20 about health, travel plans, or religious activities, 

21 which violate voters’ privacy while doing nothing to 

22 prevent voter fraud. 

23 (10) State laws which require voters to obtain a 

24 notary signature to vote by mail only add cost and 

25 inconvenience to voters without increasing security. 


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•HR 1604 RH

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

2 IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 

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

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

5 amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 

6 section: 

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

8 MAIL. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli10 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 

11 State may not impose any additional conditions or require12 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 

13 in such election by mail, except as required under sub14 section (b) and except to the extent that the State imposes 

15 a deadline for requesting the ballot and related voting mate16 rials from the appropriate State or local election official 

17 and for returning the ballot to the appropriate State or 

18 local election official. 

19 ‘‘(b) REQUIRING SIGNATURE VERIFICATION.— 

20 ‘‘(1) RECORD OF SIGNATURE REQUIRED FOR

21 PROVISION OF BALLOT.—A State may not provide an 

22 absentee ballot to an individual for an election for 

23 Federal office unless the individual’s signature is in24 cluded on the official list of registered voters in the 

25 State or some other official record of the State con26 nected to such list. 


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•HR 1604 RH

1 ‘‘(2) VERIFICATION REQUIRED FOR ACCEPTANCE

2 AND PROCESSING OF SUBMITTED BALLOT.—A State 

3 may not accept and process an absentee ballot sub4 mitted by any individual for an election for Federal 

5 office unless the State verifies the identification of the 

6 individual by comparing the individual’s signature 

7 on the absentee ballot with the individual’s signature 

8 on the official list or other official record referred to 

9 in paragraph (1), in accordance with such procedures 

10 as the State may adopt. 

11 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec12 tion shall be construed to affect the authority of States to 

13 conduct elections for Federal office through the use of polling 

14 places at which individuals cast ballots on the date of the 

15 election. 

16 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A State shall be required to 

17 comply with the requirements of this section with respect 

18 to elections for Federal office held in years beginning with 

19 2012.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN21 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) 

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

23 303A’’. 


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•HR 1604 RH

1 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents for 

2 such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 

3 to section 303 the following new item: 

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


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Union Calendar No. 115 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1604 

[Report No. 111–211] 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to 

elections. allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal 

JULY 16, 2009 

Reported with an amendment, committed to the Comand ordered to be printed mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 


jlentini on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with BILLS