I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2090 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require voters in elections 

for Federal office to provide photo identification as a condition of casting 

a ballot in such elections, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 12, 2017 

Mr. MESSER 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 require 

voters in elections for Federal office to provide photo 

identification as a condition of casting a ballot in such 

elections, 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 ‘‘Election Integrity Act 

5 of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING VOTERS TO PROVIDE PHOTO IDENTI2 FICATION. 

3 (a) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE PHOTO IDENTIFICA4 TION AS CONDITION OF CASTING BALLOT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer6 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 

7 amended by inserting after section 303 the following 

8 new section: 

9 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PHOTO IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS. 

10 ‘‘(a) PROVISION OF IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED AS

11 CONDITION OF CASTING BALLOT.— 

12 ‘‘(1) INDIVIDUALS VOTING IN PERSON.— 

13 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE IDENTI14 FICATION.—Notwithstanding any other provi15 sion of law and except as provided in subpara16 graph (B), the appropriate State or local elec17 tion official may not provide a ballot for an 

18 election for Federal office to an individual who 

19 desires to vote in person unless the individual 

20 presents to the official a valid photo identifica21 tion. 

22 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF PROVISIONAL BAL23 LOT.— 

24 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—If an individual 

25 does not present the identification required 

26 under subparagraph (A), the individual 


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1 shall be permitted to cast a provisional bal2 lot with respect to the election under sec3 tion 302(a), except that the appropriate 

4 State or local election official may not 

5 make a determination under section 

6 302(a)(4) that the individual is eligible 

7 under State law to vote in the election un8 less, not later than 10 days after casting 

9 the provisional ballot, the individual pre10 sents to the official— 

11 ‘‘(I) the identification required 

12 under subparagraph (A); or 

13 ‘‘(II) an affidavit attesting that 

14 the individual does not possess the 

15 identification required under subpara16 graph (A) because the individual has 

17 a religious objection to being photo18 graphed. 

19 ‘‘(ii) NO EFFECT ON OTHER PROVI20 SIONAL BALLOTING RULES.—Nothing in 

21 clause (i) may be construed to apply to the 

22 casting of a provisional ballot pursuant to 

23 section 302(a) or any State law for reasons 

24 other than the failure to present the identi25 fication required under subparagraph (A). 


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1 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUALS VOTING OTHER THAN IN

2 PERSON.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any 

4 other provision of law and except as provided in 

5 subparagraph (B), the appropriate State or 

6 local election official may not accept any ballot 

7 for an election for Federal office provided by an 

8 individual who votes other than in person unless 

9 the individual submits with the ballot a copy of 

10 a valid photo identification. 

11 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION FOR OVERSEAS MILITARY

12 VOTERS.—Subparagraph (A) does not apply 

13 with respect to a ballot provided by an absent 

14 uniformed services voter who, by reason of ac15 tive duty or service, is absent from the United 

16 States on the date of the election involved. In 

17 this subparagraph, the term ‘absent uniformed 

18 services voter’ has the meaning given such term 

19 in section 107(1) of the Uniformed and Over20 seas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 

21 20310(1)), other than an individual described 

22 in section 107(1)(C) of such Act. 

23 ‘‘(b) PROVISION OF IDENTIFICATIONS WITHOUT

24 CHARGE TO INDIVIDUALS UNABLE TO PAY COSTS OF OB25 TAINING IDENTIFICATION.—If an individual presents a 


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1 State or local election official with an affidavit attesting 

2 that the individual is unable to pay the costs associated 

3 with obtaining a valid photo identification under this sec4 tion, the official shall provide the individual with a valid 

5 photo identification under this subsection without charge 

6 to the individual. 

7 ‘‘(c) VALID PHOTO IDENTIFICATIONS DESCRIBED.— 

8 For purposes of this section, a ‘valid photo identification’ 

9 means, with respect to an individual who seeks to vote in 

10 a State, any of the following: 

11 ‘‘(1) A valid State-issued motor vehicle driver’s 

12 license that includes a photo of the individual and an 

13 expiration date. 

14 ‘‘(2) A valid State-issued identification card 

15 that includes a photo of the individual and an expi16 ration date. 

17 ‘‘(3) A valid United States passport for the in18 dividual. 

19 ‘‘(4) A valid military identification for the indi20 vidual. 

21 ‘‘(5) Any other form of government-issued iden22 tification that the State may specify as a valid photo 

23 identification for purposes of this subsection. 

24 ‘‘(d) NOTIFICATION OF IDENTIFICATION REQUIRE25 MENT TO APPLICANTS FOR VOTER REGISTRATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall ensure 

2 that, at the time an individual applies to register to 

3 vote in elections for Federal office in the State, the 

4 appropriate State or local election official notifies 

5 the individual of the photo identification require6 ments of this section. 

7 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR INDIVIDUALS APPLY8 ING TO REGISTER TO VOTE ONLINE.—Each State 

9 shall ensure that, in the case of an individual who 

10 applies to register to vote in elections for Federal of11 fice in the State online, the online voter registration 

12 system notifies the individual of the photo identifica13 tion requirements of this section before the indi14 vidual completes the online registration process. 

15 ‘‘(e) TREATMENT OF STATES WITH PHOTO IDENTI16 FICATION REQUIREMENTS IN EFFECT AS OF DATE OF

17 ENACTMENT.—If, as of the date of the enactment of this 

18 section, a State has in effect a law requiring an individual 

19 to provide a photo identification as a condition of casting 

20 a ballot in elections for Federal office held in the State 

21 and the law remains in effect on and after the effective 

22 date of this section, the State shall be considered to meet 

23 the requirements of this section if— 

24 ‘‘(1) the State submits a request to the Attor25 ney General and provides such information as the 


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1 Attorney General may consider necessary to deter2 mine that the State has in effect such a law and 

3 that the law remains in effect; and 

4 ‘‘(2) the Attorney General approves the request. 

5 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

6 with respect to elections for Federal office held in 2020 

7 or any succeeding year.’’. 

8 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con9 tents of such Act is amended by inserting after the 

10 item relating to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Photo identification requirements.’’. 

11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO VOL12 UNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS13 SION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21101(b)) 

14 is amended— 

15 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 

16 (2); 

17 (2) by striking the period at the end of para18 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

19 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

20 paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(4) in the case of the recommendations with 

22 respect to section 303A, October 1, 2018.’’. 

23 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN24 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 


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

2 303A’’. 

3 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS RELATING TO RE4 PEAL OF EXISTING PHOTO IDENTIFICATION REQUIRE5 MENTS FOR CERTAIN VOTERS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 303 of such Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 15483) is amended— 

8 (A) in the heading, by striking ‘‘AND RE9 QUIREMENTS FOR VOTERS WHO REGISTER

10 BY MAIL’’; 

11 (B) in the heading of subsection (b), by 

12 striking ‘‘FOR VOTERS WHO REGISTER BY

13 MAIL’’ and inserting ‘‘FOR MAIL-IN REGISTRA14 TION FORMS’’; 

15 (C) in subsection (b), by striking para16 graphs (1) through (3) and redesignating para17 graphs (4) and (5) as paragraphs (1) and (2), 

18 respectively; and 

19 (D) in subsection (c), by striking ‘‘sub20 sections (a)(5)(A)(i)(II) and (b)(3)(B)(i)(II)’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘subsection (a)(5)(A)(i)(II)’’. 

22 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con23 tents of such Act is amended by amending the item 

24 relating to section 303 to read as follows: 

‘‘Sec. 303. Computerized statewide voter registration list requirements.’’. 


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1 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section and the amend2 ments made by this section shall apply with respect to 

3 elections for Federal office held in 2020 or any succeeding 

4 year. 

Æ 


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