I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8081 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit States from 

imposing any additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility 

of individuals to cast votes in elections for Federal office by absentee 

ballot by mail, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 21, 2020 

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

on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight 

and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit 

States from imposing any additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of individuals to cast votes 

in elections for Federal office by absentee ballot by mail, 

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 ‘‘American Right to 

5 Vote Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. UNIFORM AVAILABILITY OF ABSENTEE VOTING TO 

2 ALL VOTERS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 

4 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended 

5 by inserting after section 303 the following new section: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 303A. UNIFORM AVAILABILITY OF ABSENTEE VOTING 

7 TO ALL VOTERS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli9 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 

10 State may not impose any additional conditions or require11 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 

12 in such election by absentee ballot by mail, except that 

13 the State may impose a deadline for requesting the absen14 tee ballot and related voting materials from the appro15 priate State or local election official and for returning the 

16 ballot to the appropriate State or local election official. 

17 ‘‘(b) PERMITTING VOTERS TO DESIGNATE OTHER

18 PERSON TO RETURN BALLOT.—The State— 

19 ‘‘(1) shall permit a voter to designate any per20 son to return a voted and sealed absentee ballot to 

21 the post office, a ballot drop-off location, tribally 

22 designated building, or election office so long as the 

23 person designated to return the ballot does not re24 ceive any form of compensation based on the number 

25 of ballots that the person has returned and no indiVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:10 Sep 04, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8081.IH H8081

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1 vidual, group, or organization provides compensation 

2 on this basis; and 

3 ‘‘(2) may not put any limit on how many voted 

4 and sealed absentee ballots any designated person 

5 can return to the post office, a ballot drop off loca6 tion, tribally designated building, or election office. 

7 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec8 tion shall be construed to affect the authority of States 

9 to conduct elections for Federal office through the use of 

10 polling places at which individuals cast ballots. 

11 ‘‘(d) NO EFFECT ON BALLOTS SUBMITTED BY AB12 SENT MILITARY AND OVERSEAS VOTERS.—Nothing in 

13 this section may be construed to affect the treatment of 

14 any ballot submitted by an individual who is entitled to 

15 vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas 

16 Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq.). 

17 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

18 with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for 

19 Federal office held in November 2020 and each succeeding 

20 election for Federal office.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN22 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 

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

24 303A’’. 


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

2 of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 

3 to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Uniform availability of absentee voting to all voters.’’. 

4 SEC. 3. ELECTION MAIL. 

5 (a) TREATMENT OF BALLOTS AS FIRST-CLASS

6 MAIL.—Any ballot in an election for public office sent in 

7 the United States mails shall be categorized, handled, and 

8 delivered as first-class mail by the United States Postal 

9 Service. 

10 (b) POLICY ON POSTMARKS.—It shall be the policy 

11 of the United States Postal Service to postmark, which 

12 shall include any imprinted indicia from the Postal Service 

13 that indicates the date of receipt, all election mail proc14 essed by the Postal Service. 

15 (c) SAME-DAY PROCESSING.—The United States 

16 Postal Service shall ensure, to the maximum extent prac17 tical, that election mail is processed and cleared from any 

18 postal facility or post office on the same day it is received 

19 at such a facility or post office. 

20 SEC. 4. APPLICATION OF HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002 

21 TO COMMONWEALTH OF THE NORTHERN 

22 MARIANA ISLANDS. 

23 (a) APPLICATION TO COMMONWEALTH OF THE

24 NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.—Section 901 of the Help 

25 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141) is amended 


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1 by striking ‘‘and the United States Virgin Islands’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘the United States Virgin Islands, and the Com3 monwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Such Act is fur5 ther amended as follows: 

6 (1) The second sentence of section 213(a)(2) 

7 (52 U.S.C. 20943(a)(2)) is amended by striking 

8 ‘‘and American Samoa’’ and inserting ‘‘American 

9 Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern 

10 Mariana Islands’’. 

11 (2) Section 252(c)(2) (52 U.S.C. 21002(c)(2)) 

12 is amended by striking ‘‘or the United States Virgin 

13 Islands’’ and inserting ‘‘the United States Virgin Is14 lands, or the Commonwealth of the Northern Mar15 iana Islands’’. 

Æ 


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