I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1513 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to enhance enforcement 

of the Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 5, 2019 

Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas 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 enhance 

enforcement of the Act, 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 ‘‘Count the Vote Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT OF HELP AMER6 ICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 

7 (a) COMPLAINTS; AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT

8 OF ACTION.—Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act 

9 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘The Attorney General’’ and in2 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General’’; 

3 and 

4 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub5 sections: 

6 ‘‘(b) FILING OF COMPLAINTS BY AGGRIEVED PER7 SONS.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person who is aggrieved 

9 by a violation of title III which has occurred, is oc10 curring, or is about to occur may file a written, 

11 signed, notarized complaint with the Attorney Gen12 eral describing the violation and requesting the At13 torney General to take appropriate action under this 

14 section. The Attorney General shall immediately pro15 vide a copy of a complaint filed under the previous 

16 sentence to the entity responsible for administering 

17 the State-based administrative complaint procedures 

18 described in section 402(a) for the State involved. 

19 ‘‘(2) RESPONSE BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The 

20 Attorney General shall respond to each complaint 

21 filed under paragraph (1), in accordance with proce22 dures established by the Attorney General that re23 quire responses and determinations to be made with24 in the same (or shorter) deadlines which apply to a 

25 State under the State-based administrative comVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1513.IH H1513

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1 plaint procedures described in section 402(a)(2). 

2 The Attorney General shall immediately provide a 

3 copy of the response made under the previous sen4 tence to the entity responsible for administering the 

5 State-based administrative complaint procedures de6 scribed in section 402(a) for the State involved. 

7 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC8 TION.—Any person who is authorized to file a complaint 

9 under subsection (b)(1) (including any individual who 

10 seeks to enforce the individual’s right to a voter-verified 

11 paper ballot, the right to have the voter-verified paper bal12 lot counted in accordance with this Act, or any other right 

13 under title III) may file an action under section 1979 of 

14 the Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 

15 1983) to enforce the uniform and nondiscriminatory elec16 tion technology and administration requirements under 

17 subtitle A of title III. 

18 ‘‘(d) NO EFFECT ON STATE PROCEDURES.—Nothing 

19 in this section may be construed to affect the availability 

20 of the State-based administrative complaint procedures re21 quired under section 402 to any person filing a complaint 

22 under this subsection.’’. 

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

24 this Act shall apply with respect to violations occurring 


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1 with respect to elections for Federal office held in 2020 

2 or any succeeding year. 

Æ 


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