I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 281 

To prohibit election officials from requiring individuals to provide photo identification as a condition of obtaining or casting a ballot in an election 

for Federal office or registering to vote in elections for Federal office, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 15, 2013 

Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To prohibit election officials from requiring individuals to 

provide photo identification as a condition of obtaining 

or casting a ballot in an election for Federal office or 

registering to vote in elections for Federal office, 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 ‘‘Voter Access Protec5 tion Act of 2013’’. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with 

2 

•HR 281 IH

1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING STATES FROM IMPOSING PHOTO 

2 IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENT FOR VOTING 

3 OR REGISTERING TO VOTE IN FEDERAL 

4 ELECTIONS. 

5 (a) PROHIBITION.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer7 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 

8 amended by inserting after section 303 the following 

9 new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PROHIBITING ELECTION OFFICIALS FROM RE11 QUIRING INDIVIDUALS TO PRESENT PHOTO 

12 IDENTIFICATION. 

13 ‘‘(a) PHOTO IDENTIFICATION AS A CONDITION OF

14 VOTING.—Except to the extent permitted under section 

15 303(b), a State or local election official may not— 

16 ‘‘(1) require an individual to present a photo 

17 identification (or, in the case of an individual who 

18 desires to vote by mail, a copy of a photo identifica19 tion) as a condition of obtaining or casting a ballot 

20 in an election for Federal office; or 

21 ‘‘(2) require an individual to cast a provisional 

22 ballot under section 302 solely on the grounds that 

23 the individual does not present a photo identification 

24 at the polling place. 

25 ‘‘(b) PHOTO IDENTIFICATION AS A CONDITION OF

26 REGISTERING TO VOTE.—A State or local election official 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with 

3 

•HR 281 IH

1 may not require an individual to provide a photo identi2 fication (or, in the case of an individual who desires to 

3 register to vote by mail or online, a copy or electronic copy 

4 of a photo identification) as a condition of registering to 

5 vote in an election for Federal office.’’. 

6 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con7 tents of such Act is amended by inserting after the 

8 item relating to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Prohibiting election officials from requiring individuals to present 

photo identification.’’. 

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN10 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) 

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

12 303A’’. 

13 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 

15 respect to elections occurring after the date of the enact16 ment of this Act. 

Æ 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with