II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1728 

To amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to 

improve ballot accessibility to uniformed services voters and overseas 

voters, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 19, 2013 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. BLUNT, Mr. WARNER, Mr. 

WICKER, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read 

twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

Voting Act to improve ballot accessibility to uniformed 

services voters and overseas 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 ‘‘Safeguarding Elections 

5 for our Nation’s Troops through Reforms and Improve6 ments (SENTRI) Act’’. 


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1 TITLE I—AMENDMENTS RE2 LATED TO THE UNIFORMED 

3 AND OVERSEAS CITIZENS AB4 SENTEE VOTING ACT 

5 SEC. 101. PRE-ELECTION REPORTING REQUIREMENT ON 

6 TRANSMISSION OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (c) of section 102 of 

8 the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

9 (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘Not later 

10 than 90 days’’ and inserting the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) PRE-ELECTION REPORT ON ABSENTEE

12 BALLOTS TRANSMITTED.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 43 

14 days before any election for Federal office held 

15 in a State, the chief State election official of 

16 such State shall submit a report to the Attor17 ney General and the Presidential designee, and 

18 make that report publicly available that same 

19 day, confirming— 

20 ‘‘(i) the number of absentee ballots 

21 validly requested by absent uniformed serv22 ices voters and overseas voters whose re23 quests were received by the 46th day be24 fore the election, and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) whether those ballots were timely 

2 transmitted. 

3 ‘‘(B) MATTERS TO BE INCLUDED.—The 

4 report under subparagraph (A) shall include the 

5 following information: 

6 ‘‘(i) Specific information about ballot 

7 transmission, including the total numbers 

8 of ballot requests received from such voters 

9 and ballots transmitted to such voters by 

10 the 46th day before the election from each 

11 unit of local government that will admin12 ister the election. 

13 ‘‘(ii) If the chief State election official 

14 has incomplete information on any items 

15 required to be included in the report, an 

16 explanation of what information is incom17 plete information and efforts made to ac18 quire such information. 

19 ‘‘(C) REQUIREMENT TO SUPPLEMENT IN20 COMPLETE INFORMATION.—If the report under 

21 subparagraph (A) has incomplete information 

22 on any items required to be included in the re23 port, the chief State election official shall make 

24 all reasonable efforts to expeditiously supple25 ment the report with complete information. 


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1 ‘‘(D) FORMAT.—The report under sub2 paragraph (A) shall be in a format prescribed 

3 by the Attorney General in consultation with 

4 the chief State election officials of each State. 

5 ‘‘(2) POST ELECTION REPORT ON NUMBER OF

6 ABSENTEE BALLOTS TRANSMITTED AND RE7 CEIVED.—Not later than 90 days’’. 

8 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for 

9 subsection (c) of section 102 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

10 1973ff–1(c)) is amended by striking ‘‘REPORT ON NUM11 BER OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS TRANSMITTED AND RE12 CEIVED’’ and inserting ‘‘REPORTS ON ABSENTEE BAL13 LOTS’’. 

14 SEC. 102. TRANSMISSION REQUIREMENTS; REPEAL OF 

15 WAIVER PROVISION. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (8) of section 102(a) 

17 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting 

18 Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(a)) is amended to read as fol19 lows: 

20 ‘‘(8) transmit a validly requested absentee bal21 lot to an absent uniformed services voter or overseas 

22 voter by the date and in the manner determined 

23 under subsection (g);’’. 

24 (b) BALLOT TRANSMISSION REQUIREMENTS AND

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1 tion 102 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(g)) is amended 

2 to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(g) BALLOT TRANSMISSION REQUIREMENTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

5 (a)(8), in the case in which a valid request for an 

6 absentee ballot is received at least 46 days before an 

7 election for Federal office, the following rules shall 

8 apply: 

9 ‘‘(A) TRANSMISSION DEADLINE.—The 

10 State shall transmit the absentee ballot not 

11 later than 46 days before the election. 

12 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULES IN CASE OF FAILURE

13 TO TRANSMIT ON TIME.— 

14 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If the State fails 

15 to transmit any absentee ballot by the 46th 

16 day before the election as required by sub17 paragraph (A) and the absent uniformed 

18 services voter or overseas voter did not re19 quest electronic ballot transmission pursu20 ant to subsection (f), the State shall trans21 mit such ballot by express delivery. 

22 ‘‘(ii) EXTENDED FAILURE.—If the 

23 State fails to transmit any absentee ballot 

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1 dition to transmitting the ballot as pro2 vided in clause (i), the State shall— 

3 ‘‘(I) in the case of absentee bal4 lots requested by absent uniformed 

5 services voters with respect to regu6 larly scheduled general elections, no7 tify such voters of the procedures es8 tablished under section 103A for the 

9 collection and delivery of marked ab10 sentee ballots; and 

11 ‘‘(II) in any other case, provide 

12 for the return of such ballot by ex13 press delivery. 

14 ‘‘(iii) COST OF EXPRESS DELIVERY.— 

15 In any case in which express delivery is re16 quired under this subparagraph, the cost 

17 of such express delivery— 

18 ‘‘(I) shall not be paid by the 

19 voter, and 

20 ‘‘(II) may be required by the 

21 State to be paid by a local jurisdiction 

22 if the State determines that election 

23 officials in such jurisdiction are re24 sponsible for the failure to transmit 


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1 the ballot by any date required under 

2 this paragraph. 

3 ‘‘(iv) ENFORCEMENT.—A State’s com4 pliance with this subparagraph does not 

5 bar the Attorney General from seeking ad6 ditional remedies necessary to effectuate 

7 the purposes of this Act. 

8 ‘‘(2) REQUESTS RECEIVED AFTER 46TH DAY

9 BEFORE ELECTION.—For purposes of subsection 

10 (a)(8), in the case in which a valid request for an 

11 absentee ballot is received less than 46 days but not 

12 less than 30 days before an election for Federal of13 fice, the State shall transmit the absentee ballot not 

14 later than 3 business days after such request is re15 ceived.’’. 

16 SEC. 103. TECHNICAL CLARIFICATIONS TO CONFORM TO 

17 2009 MOVE ACT AMENDMENTS RELATED TO 

18 THE FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BALLOT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102(a)(3) of the Uni20 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 

21 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(a)(3)) is amended by striking ‘‘general 

22 elections’’ and inserting ‘‘general, special, primary, and 

23 runoff elections’’. 

24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 103 of 

25 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–2) is amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b)(2)(B), by striking ‘‘gen2 eral’’, and 

3 (2) in the heading thereof, by striking ‘‘GEN4 ERAL’’. 

5 SEC. 104. TREATMENT OF BALLOT REQUESTS. 

6 (a) APPLICATION OF PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL OF

7 APPLICATIONS ON GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION TO

8 OVERSEAS VOTERS.—Section 104 of the Uniformed and 

9 Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff– 

10 3) is amended— 

11 (1) by inserting ‘‘or overseas voter’’ after ‘‘sub12 mitted by an absent uniformed services voter’’; and 

13 (2) by striking ‘‘members of the uniformed 

14 services’’ and inserting ‘‘absent uniformed services 

15 voters or overseas voters’’. 

16 (b) USE OF SINGLE APPLICATION FOR SUBSEQUENT

17 ELECTIONS.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 104 of the Uni19 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

20 (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–3) is amended— 

21 (A) by striking ‘‘A State’’ and inserting 

22 the following: 

23 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL OF APPLICATIONS

24 ON GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION.—A State’’, and 


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1 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

2 subsections: 

3 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION TREATED AS VALID FOR SUBSE4 QUENT ELECTIONS.— 

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State accepts and 

6 processes a request for an absentee ballot by an ab7 sent uniformed services voter or overseas voter and 

8 the voter requests that the application be considered 

9 an application for an absentee ballot for each subse10 quent election for Federal office held in the State 

11 through the next regularly scheduled general election 

12 for Federal office (including any runoff elections 

13 which may occur as a result of the outcome of such 

14 general election) and any special elections for Fed15 eral office held in the State through the calendar 

16 year following such general election, the State shall 

17 provide an absentee ballot to the voter for each such 

18 subsequent election. 

19 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.—Paragraph (1) shall not 

20 apply with respect to either of the following: 

21 ‘‘(A) VOTERS CHANGING REGISTRATION.— 

22 A voter removed from the list of official eligible 

23 voters in accordance with subparagraph (A), 

24 (B), or (C) of section 8(a)(3) of the National 


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1 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 

2 1973gg–6(a)). 

3 ‘‘(B) UNDELIVERABLE BALLOTS.—A voter 

4 whose ballot is returned by mail to the State or 

5 local election officials as undeliverable or, in the 

6 case of a ballot delivered electronically, if the 

7 email sent to the voter was undeliverable or re8 jected due to an invalid email address.’’. 

9 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading 

10 of section 104 of such Act is amended by striking 

11 ‘‘PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL OF APPLICATIONS

12 ON GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION’’ and in13 serting ‘‘TREATMENT OF BALLOT REQUESTS’’. 

14 (3) REVISION TO POSTCARD FORM.— 

15 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Presidential des16 ignee shall ensure that the official postcard 

17 form prescribed under section 101(b)(2) of the 

18 Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Vot19 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff(b)(2)) enables a 

20 voter using the form to— 

21 (i) request an absentee ballot for each 

22 election for Federal office held in a State 

23 through the next regularly scheduled gen24 eral election for Federal office (including 

25 any runoff elections which may occur as a 


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1 result of the outcome of such general elec2 tion) and any special elections for Federal 

3 office held in the State through the cal4 endar year following such general election; 

5 or 

6 (ii) request an absentee ballot for a 

7 specific election or elections for Federal of8 fice held in a State during the period de9 scribed in paragraph (1). 

10 (B) PRESIDENTIAL DESIGNEE.—For pur11 poses of this paragraph, the term ‘‘Presidential 

12 designee’’ means the individual designated 

13 under section 101(a) of the Uniformed and 

14 Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 1973ff(a)). 

16 SEC. 105. APPLICABILITY TO COMMONWEALTH OF THE 

17 NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 

18 Paragraphs (6) and (8) of section 107 of the Uni19 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 

20 U.S.C. 1973ff–6(6)) are each amended by striking ‘‘and 

21 American Samoa’’ and inserting ‘‘American Samoa, and 

22 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’’. 


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1 SEC. 106. BIENNIAL REPORT ON THE EFFECTIVENESS OF 

2 ACTIVITIES OF THE FEDERAL VOTING AS3 SISTANCE PROGRAM AND COMPTROLLER 

4 GENERAL REVIEW. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 105A(b) of the Uniformed 

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

7 1973ff–4a(b)) is amended— 

8 (1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1)— 

9 (A) by striking ‘‘March 31 of each year’’ 

10 and inserting ‘‘June 30 of each odd-numbered 

11 year’’; and 

12 (B) by striking ‘‘the following information’’ 

13 and inserting ‘‘the following information with 

14 respect to the Federal elections held during the 

15 2 preceding calendar years’’; 

16 (2) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘separate as17 sessment’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sepa18 rate assessment and statistical analysis’’; and 

19 (3) in paragraph (2)— 

20 (A) by striking ‘‘section 1566a’’ in the 

21 matter preceding subparagraph (A) and insert22 ing ‘‘sections 1566a and 1566b’’; 

23 (B) by striking ‘‘such section’’ each place 

24 it appears in subparagraphs (A) and (B) and 

25 inserting ‘‘such sections’’; and 


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1 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

2 subparagraphs: 

3 ‘‘(C) The number of completed official 

4 postcard forms prescribed under section 

5 101(b)(2) that were completed by absent uni6 formed services members and accepted and 

7 transmitted. 

8 ‘‘(D) The number of absent uniformed 

9 services members who declined to register to 

10 vote under such sections.’’. 

11 (b) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEWS.—Section 

12 105A of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

13 Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–4a) is amended by redesig14 nating subsection (c) as subsection (d) and by inserting 

15 after subsection (b) the following new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(c) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REVIEWS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.— 

18 ‘‘(A) REVIEW.—The Comptroller General 

19 shall conduct a review of any reports submitted 

20 by the Presidential designee under subsection 

21 (b) with respect to elections occurring in cal22 endar years 2014 through 2020. 

23 ‘‘(B) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

24 after a report is submitted by the Presidential 

25 designee under subsection (b), the Comptroller 


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1 General shall submit to the relevant committees 

2 of Congress a report containing the results of 

3 the review conducted under subparagraph (A). 

4 ‘‘(2) MATTERS REVIEWED.—A review conducted 

5 under paragraph (1) shall assess— 

6 ‘‘(A) the methodology used by the Presi7 dential designee to prepare the report and to 

8 develop the data presented in the report, includ9 ing the approach for designing, implementing, 

10 and analyzing the results of any surveys, 

11 ‘‘(B) the effectiveness of any voting assist12 ance covered in the report provided under sub13 section (b) and provided by the Presidential 

14 designee to absent overseas uniformed services 

15 voters and overseas voters who are not members 

16 of the uniformed services, including an assess17 ment of— 

18 ‘‘(i) any steps taken toward improving 

19 the implementation of such voting assist20 ance; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the extent of collaboration be22 tween the Presidential designee and the 

23 States in providing such voting assistance; 

24 and 


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1 ‘‘(C) any other information the Comp2 troller General considers relevant to the re3 view.’’. 

4 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

5 (1) Section 101(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 1973ff(b)) is amended— 

7 (A) by striking paragraph (6); and 

8 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (7) 

9 through (11) as paragraphs (6) through (10), 

10 respectively. 

11 (2) Section 102(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

12 1973ff–1(a)) is amended— 

13 (A) in paragraph (5), by striking 

14 ‘‘101(b)(7)’’ and inserting ‘‘101(b)(6)’’; and 

15 (B) in paragraph (11), by striking 

16 ‘‘101(b)(11)’’ and inserting ‘‘101(b)(10)’’. 

17 (3) Section 105A(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

18 1973ff–4a(b)) is amended— 

19 (A) by striking ‘‘ANNUAL REPORT’’ in the 

20 subsection heading and inserting ‘‘BIENNIAL

21 REPORT’’; and 

22 (B) by striking ‘‘In the case of’’ in para23 graph (3) and all that follows through ‘‘a de24 scription’’ and inserting ‘‘A description’’. 


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1 SEC. 107. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

2 The amendments made by this title shall apply with 

3 respect to the regularly scheduled general election for Fed4 eral office held in November 2014 and each succeeding 

5 election for Federal office. 

6 TITLE II—PROVISION OF VOTER 

7 ASSISTANCE TO MEMBERS OF 

8 THE ARMED FORCES 

9 SEC. 201. PROVISION OF ANNUAL VOTER ASSISTANCE. 

10 (a) ANNUAL VOTER ASSISTANCE.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 80 of title 10, 

12 United States Code, is amended by inserting after 

13 section 1566a the following new section: 

14 ‘‘§ 1566b. Annual voter assistance 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall 

16 carry out the following activities: 

17 ‘‘(1) In coordination with the Secretary of each 

18 military department— 

19 ‘‘(A) affirmatively offer, on an annual 

20 basis, each member of the armed forces on ac21 tive duty (other than active duty for training) 

22 the opportunity, through the online system de23 veloped under paragraph (2), to— 

24 ‘‘(i) register to vote in an election for 

25 Federal office; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) update the member’s voter reg2 istration information; or 

3 ‘‘(iii) request an absentee ballot; 

4 ‘‘(B) provide services to such members for 

5 the purpose of carrying out the activities in 

6 clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph (A); 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(C) require any such member who de9 clines the offer for voter assistance under sub10 paragraph (A) to indicate and record that deci11 sion. 

12 ‘‘(2) Implement an online system that, to the 

13 extent practicable, is integrated with the existing 

14 systems of each of the military departments and 

15 that— 

16 ‘‘(A) provides an electronic means for car17 rying out the requirements of paragraph (1); 

18 ‘‘(B) in the case of an individual reg19 istering to vote in a State that accepts elec20 tronic voter registration and operates its own 

21 electronic voter registration system using a 

22 form that meets the requirements for mail voter 

23 registration forms under section 9(b) of the Na24 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 


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1 U.S.C. 1973gg–7(b)), directs such individual to 

2 that system; and 

3 ‘‘(C) in the case of an individual using the 

4 official postcard form prescribed under section 

5 101(b)(2) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citi6 zens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 1973ff(b)(2)) to register to vote and request an 

8 absentee ballot— 

9 ‘‘(i) pre-populates such official post10 card form with the personal information of 

11 such individual, and 

12 ‘‘(ii)(I) produces the pre-populated 

13 form and a pre-addressed envelope for use 

14 in transmitting such official postcard form; 

15 or 

16 ‘‘(II) transmits the completed official 

17 postcard form electronically to the appro18 priate State or local election officials. 

19 ‘‘(3) Implement a system (either independently 

20 or in conjunction with the online system under para21 graph (2)) by which any change of address by a 

22 member of the armed forces on active duty who is 

23 undergoing a permanent change of station, deploying 

24 overseas for at least six months, or returning from 

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1 matically triggers, through the Defense Enrollment 

2 and Eligibility Registration System or related sys3 tems, a notification via electronic means to such 

4 member that— 

5 ‘‘(A) indicates that such member’s voter 

6 registration or absentee mailing address should 

7 be updated with the appropriate State or local 

8 election officials; and 

9 ‘‘(B) includes instructions on how to up10 date such voter registration using the online 

11 system developed under paragraph (2). 

12 ‘‘(b) DATA COLLECTION.—The online system devel13 oped under subsection (a)(2) shall collect and store all 

14 data required to meet the reporting requirements of sec15 tion 201(b) of the Safeguarding Elections for our Nation’s 

16 Troops through Reforms and Improvements (SENTRI) 

17 Act and section 105A(b)(2) of the Uniformed and Over18 seas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff– 

19 4a(b)(2)) in a manner that complies with section 552a of 

20 title 5, United States Code, (commonly known as the Pri21 vacy Act of 1974) and imposes no new record management 

22 burden on any military unit or military installation. 

23 ‘‘(c) TIMING OF VOTER ASSISTANCE.—To the extent 

24 practicable, the voter assistance under subsection (a)(1) 


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1 shall be offered as a part of each servicemember’s annual 

2 training. 

3 ‘‘(d) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 1 year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of De5 fense shall prescribe regulations implementing the require6 ments of subsection (a). Such regulations shall include 

7 procedures to inform those members of the armed forces 

8 on active duty (other than active duty for training) experi9 encing a change of address about the benefits of this sec10 tion and the timeframe for requesting an absentee ballot 

11 to ensure sufficient time for State delivery of the ballot.’’. 

12 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec13 tions at the beginning of chapter 80 of such title is 

14 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec15 tion 1566a the following new item: 

‘‘1566b. Annual voter assistance.’’. 

16 (b) REPORT ON STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days 

18 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Sec19 retary of Defense shall submit to the relevant com20 mittees of Congress a report on the status of the im21 plementation of the requirements of section 1566b of 

22 title 10, United States Code, as added by subsection 

23 (a)(1). 

24 (2) ELEMENTS.—The report under paragraph 

25 (1) shall include— 


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1 (A) a detailed description of any specific 

2 steps already taken towards the implementation 

3 of the requirements of such section 1566b; 

4 (B) a detailed plan for the implementation 

5 of such requirements, including milestones and 

6 deadlines for the completion of such implemen7 tation; 

8 (C) the costs expected to be incurred in the 

9 implementation of such requirements; 

10 (D) a description of how the annual voting 

11 assistance and system under subsection (a)(3) 

12 of such section will be integrated with the De13 fense Enrollment and Eligibility Registration 

14 System or other Department of Defense per15 sonnel databases that track military 

16 servicemembers’ address changes; 

17 (E) an estimate of how long it will take an 

18 average member to complete the voter assist19 ance process required under subsection (a)(1) 

20 of such section; 

21 (F) an explanation of how the Secretary of 

22 Defense will collect reliable data on the utiliza23 tion of the online system under subsection 

24 (a)(2) of such section; and 


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1 (G) a summary of any objections, con2 cerns, or comments made by State or local elec3 tion officials regarding the implementation of 

4 such section. 

5 (3) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE6 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘relevant com7 mittees of Congress’’ means— 

8 (A) the Committees on Appropriations, 

9 Armed Services, and Rules and Administration 

10 of the Senate; and 

11 (B) the Committees on Appropriations, 

12 Armed Services, and House Administration of 

13 the House of Representatives. 

14 TITLE III—ELECTRONIC VOTING 

15 SYSTEMS 

16 SEC. 301. REPEAL OF ELECTRONIC VOTING DEMONSTRA17 TION PROJECT. 

18 Section 1604 of the National Defense Authorization 

19 Act for Fiscal Year 2002 (42 U.S.C. 1973ff note) is re20 pealed. 


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1 TITLE IV—RESIDENCY OF 

2 MILITARY FAMILY MEMBERS 

3 SEC. 401. EXTENDING GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR 

4 VOTING PURPOSES TO FAMILY MEMBERS OF 

5 ABSENT MILITARY PERSONNEL. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (b) of section 705 of 

7 the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 595) 

8 is amended— 

9 (1) by striking ‘‘a person who is absent from a 

10 State because the person is accompanying the 

11 persons’s spouse who is absent from that same State 

12 in compliance with military or naval orders shall not, 

13 solely by reason of that absence’’ and inserting ‘‘a 

14 dependent of a person who is absent from a State 

15 in compliance with military orders shall not, solely 

16 by reason of absence, whether or not accompanying 

17 that person’’; and 

18 (2) in the heading by striking ‘‘SPOUSES’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘DEPENDENTS’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading of sec21 tion 705 of such Act (50 U.S.C. App. 595) is amended 

22 by striking ‘‘SPOUSES’’ and inserting ‘‘DEPENDENTS’’. 

23 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

24 this section shall apply with respect to absences from 

25 States described in section 705(b) of the Servicemembers 


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1 Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 595(b)), as amended by 

2 subsection (a), after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

3 regardless of the date of the military orders concerned. 

Æ 


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