II 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1265 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to provide members 

of the Armed Forces and their family members equal access to voter 

registration assistance, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2009 

Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. BEGICH, and Mr. VITTER) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules 

and Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 

provide members of the Armed Forces and their family 

members equal access to voter registration assistance, 

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 ‘‘Military Voters’ Equal 

5 Access to Voter Registration Act of 2009’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 


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1 (1) Members of the Armed Forces and their 

2 family members (in this section referred to as ‘‘mili3 tary voters’’) who have sought to vote in recent elec4 tions for Federal office have had substantial dif5 ficulty doing so, frequently resulting in the dis6 enfranchisement of such military voters. 

7 (2) Due to the highly transient nature of mili8 tary service and frequent overseas deployments, mili9 tary voters are constantly on the move between mili10 tary installations in the United States and to and 

11 from overseas locations. As a result, military voters 

12 are typically absent from their home voting jurisdic13 tions on election day and, if military voters wish to 

14 exercise their right to vote, they must do so by ab15 sentee ballot. 

16 (3) In 1986, Congress enacted the Uniformed 

17 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 

18 U.S.C. 1973ff et seq.) in an attempt to permit mili19 tary voters to register to vote and vote by absentee 

20 ballot in all elections for Federal office. Neverthe21 less, the absentee voting system, as created under 

22 such Act, has consistently failed to ensure that mili23 tary voters actually receive their unmarked absentee 

24 ballots prior to election day. Military voters continue 

25 to experience substantial difficulty in registering to 


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1 vote, updating their voting addresses, and obtaining 

2 absentee ballots prior to election day. 

3 (4) In 1993, Congress enacted the National 

4 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg 

5 et seq.) to create a national voter registration sys6 tem, as well as to provide citizens with increased op7 portunities to register to vote and receive voting as8 sistance. Such Act, however, failed to ensure that 

9 military voters have the same access to voter reg10 istration assistance as the civilian population, be11 cause their military service typically takes them out 

12 of their home voting jurisdictions, where they would 

13 otherwise be able to receive such assistance, as re14 quired under such Act. 

15 (5) The Inspector General of the Department of 

16 Defense has found that military voters do not re17 ceive adequate information and assistance to register 

18 to vote and request an absentee ballot. In a survey 

19 following the 2004 election, the Inspector General 

20 found that only 40 to 50 percent of members of the 

21 Armed Forces, and a lesser percentage of their de22 pendents, received voting information or assistance 

23 prior to the election. The Inspector General reached 

24 a similar conclusion after the 2006 election, finding 


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1 that less than 40 percent of military voters received 

2 voting information and assistance. 

3 (6) Millions of military voters have been 

4 disenfranchised as a result of the current system’s 

5 inability to provide them with voting information 

6 and assistance. A Department of Defense study con7 ducted by the Defense Manpower Data Center found 

8 that, in the 2006 election for Federal office, only 22 

9 percent of military voters were able to successfully 

10 vote, by either casting an absentee ballot or voting 

11 in person—which represents approximately one-half 

12 of the percentage of the overall national population 

13 that voted in such election. A separate study by the 

14 U.S. Election Assistance Commission found that, in 

15 such election, only a small fraction of military voters 

16 were able to request an absentee ballot. The Election 

17 Assistance Commission study further showed that, 

18 even when military voters were able to request a bal19 lot, a significant percentage of the ballots requested 

20 never reached the military voters who requested 

21 them, having been sent to outdated addresses from 

22 which the military voters had since moved. 

23 (7) Preliminary data from the 2008 Presi24 dential election shows little or no improvement. Ac25 cording to statistics collected from 5 of the 6 States 


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1 with the largest number of military voters, only 21.9 

2 percent of all eligible military voters in those States 

3 were able to request absentee ballots. Once again, 

4 many ballots were sent to outdated addresses and 

5 did not reach the intended military voters. 

6 (8) The ability of military voters to participate 

7 in the democratic process would be significantly im8 proved through more robust efforts by the Armed 

9 Forces to provide such voters with pertinent voting 

10 information and effective assistance when they need 

11 it most—when their address changes as a result of 

12 reassignment to a new duty station or overseas de13 ployment. The Armed Forces, in so doing, would 

14 dramatically increase the ability of military voters to 

15 request and obtain absentee ballots, and they would 

16 also help ensure that local election officials have the 

17 most current address of military voters in order to 

18 send absentee ballots to such voters. 

19 SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY INSTALLA20 TIONS. 

21 Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 

22 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5) is amended— 

23 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub24 section (e); and 


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1 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol2 lowing new subsection: 

3 ‘‘(d) ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY INSTALLATIONS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) Not later than 180 days after the date of 

5 enactment of this subsection, each Secretary of a 

6 military department shall take appropriate actions to 

7 designate an office on each installation of the Armed 

8 Forces under the jurisdiction of such Secretary to 

9 ensure that each individual described in paragraph 

10 (2) is provided the opportunity to register to vote in 

11 an election for Federal office, update the individual’s 

12 voter registration information, and request an absen13 tee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citi14 zens Absentee Voting Act. 

15 ‘‘(2) The following individuals are described in 

16 this paragraph: 

17 ‘‘(A) A member of the Armed Forces— 

18 ‘‘(i) who is undergoing a permanent 

19 change of duty station; 

20 ‘‘(ii) who is deploying overseas for at 

21 least 6 months; 

22 ‘‘(iii) who is or returning from an 

23 overseas deployment of at least 6 months; 

24 or 


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1 ‘‘(iv) who requests assistance related 

2 to voter registration. 

3 ‘‘(B) A dependent of a member of the 

4 Armed Forces, if the dependent— 

5 ‘‘(i) requests assistance related to 

6 voter registration; and 

7 ‘‘(ii) is at least 18 years of age. 

8 ‘‘(3) The assistance described in paragraph (1) 

9 shall be provided to a member of the Armed 

10 Forces— 

11 ‘‘(A) described in clause (i) of paragraph 

12 (2)(A), as part of the administrative processing 

13 of the member upon arrival at the new duty 

14 station of the member; 

15 ‘‘(B) described in clause (ii) of such para16 graph, as part of the administrative processing 

17 of the member upon deployment from the home 

18 duty station of the member; 

19 ‘‘(C) described in clause (iii) of such para20 graph, as part of the administrative processing 

21 of the member upon return to the home duty 

22 station of the member; and 

23 ‘‘(D) described in clause (iv) of such para24 graph, at any time the member requests such 

25 assistance. 


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1 ‘‘(4) An office designated by the Secretary of a 

2 military department under paragraph (1) shall be 

3 considered to be a voter registration agency des4 ignated under subsection (a)(2) of this section for all 

5 purposes of this subchapter.’’. 

6 SEC. 4. OUTREACH FOR MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES 

7 AND THEIR FAMILY MEMBERS. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of each military de9 partment, or the Presidential designee under section 

10 101(a) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee 

11 Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff et seq.), shall take appro12 priate actions to inform members of the Armed Forces 

13 and the dependents of such members of the assistance 

14 available under section 7(d) of the National Voter Reg15 istration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5), as added by 

16 section 3, including— 

17 (1) the availability of voter registration assist18 ance at offices designated under paragraph (1) of 

19 such section 7(d); and 

20 (2) the time, location, and manner in which a 

21 member of the Armed Forces and a dependent of 

22 such a member may utilize such assistance. 

23 (b) REPORTS.— 

24 (1) REPORT ON STATUS OF IMPLEMENTA25 TION.— 


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1 (A) REPORT REQUIRED.—Not later than 

2 180 days after the date of the enactment of this 

3 Act, the Secretary of each military department, 

4 or the Presidential designee under section 

5 101(a) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 

6 Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff), shall 

7 submit to the relevant committees of Congress 

8 a report on the status of the implementation of 

9 section 7(d) of the National Voter Registration 

10 Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5), as added by 

11 section 3. 

12 (B) ELEMENTS.—The report under sub13 paragraph (A) shall include a detailed descrip14 tion of the specific steps taken towards the im15 plementation of such section, including the des16 ignation of offices under paragraph (1) of such 

17 section 7(d). 

18 (2) REPORT ON UTILIZATION OF VOTER REG19 ISTRATION ASSISTANCE.— 

20 (A) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than 

21 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

22 Act, the Secretary of each military department, 

23 or the Presidential designee, shall submit to the 

24 relevant committees of Congress a report on the 


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1 utilization of voter registration assistance pro2 vided under such section 7(d). 

3 (B) ELEMENTS.—The report under sub4 paragraph (A) shall include— 

5 (i) a description of the specific pro6 grams implemented by each military de7 partment of the Armed Forces pursuant to 

8 such section 7(d); and 

9 (ii) the number of military service 

10 members and dependents who utilized 

11 voter registration assistance provided 

12 under such section 7(d). 

13 (3) RELEVANT COMMITTEES OF CONGRESS DE14 FINED.—In this subsection, the term ‘‘relevant com15 mittees of Congress’’ means— 

16 (A) the Committees on Appropriations, 

17 Armed Services, and Rules and Administration 

18 of the Senate; and 

19 (B) the Committees on Appropriations, 

20 Armed Services, and House Administration of 

21 the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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