I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4033 

To require the Election Assistance Commission to establish an American 

Democracy Index to measure and improve the quality of voter access 

to polls and voter services in Federal elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 5, 2009 

Mr. ISRAEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on House Administration 

A BILL 

To require the Election Assistance Commission to establish 

an American Democracy Index to measure and improve 

the quality of voter access to polls and voter services 

in Federal elections. 

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 ‘‘American Democracy 

5 Index Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INDEX 

2 AND RELATED ELECTION DATA COLLECTION. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title II of the Help 

4 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.) is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 248. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

7 INDEX AND RELATED ELECTION DATA COL8 LECTION. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, in consultation 

10 with the Board and in accordance with this section, 

11 shall— 

12 ‘‘(1) develop an American Democracy Index for 

13 the evaluation of elections for Federal office occur14 ring in 2010 and thereafter; 

15 ‘‘(2) establish and operate a data collection sys16 tem in order to collect and measure election data de17 scribed in subsection (c) to be used in preparing the 

18 American Democracy Index; and 

19 ‘‘(3) make the American Democracy Index with 

20 respect to each election for Federal office generally 

21 available to the public, including through the Inter22 net. 

23 ‘‘(b) AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INDEX.—The American 

24 Democracy Index is an index that is designed to assist 

25 States in the administration of elections for Federal office 

26 by presenting the information collected under the system 


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1 established under subsection (a)(2) on a State-by-State 

2 basis in a manner designed to demonstrate administration 

3 practices that— 

4 ‘‘(1) ensure the right of individuals to vote; 

5 ‘‘(2) improve the quality of voter access to polls 

6 and the quality of voter services; and 

7 ‘‘(3) secure the accuracy and integrity of elec8 tions. 

9 ‘‘(c) COLLECTION OF DATA.— 

10 ‘‘(1) DATA TO BE COLLECTED.—The Commis11 sion shall, in consultation with the Board, determine 

12 the data that is required to be collected under this 

13 section in order to analyze the effectiveness of the 

14 State administration of elections for Federal office, 

15 including data required for developing or refining 

16 the American Democracy Index. 

17 ‘‘(2) DATA SUBMISSION.— 

18 ‘‘(A) STATES REQUIRED TO PROVIDE

19 DATA.—Each State shall submit to any grantee 

20 under subsection (e) the information described 

21 in paragraph (1) in support of the American 

22 Democracy Index. 

23 ‘‘(B) DATA SUBMISSION REGULATIONS.— 

24 Within 60 days after the first meeting of the 


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1 Board under subsection (d)(2)(B)(i), the Com2 mission shall promulgate regulations for— 

3 ‘‘(i) the enforcement of the data sub4 mission mandate under subparagraph (A); 

5 and 

6 ‘‘(ii) the standardization of election 

7 data described in paragraph (1). 

8 ‘‘(C) STATISTICAL ANALYSIS.—The Com9 mission may, in coordination with a State, se10 lect precincts within the State on a sample 

11 basis from which to draw the information de12 scribed in paragraph (1) in order to form sta13 tistical conclusions with respect to election ad14 ministration in that State. In forming such sta15 tistical conclusions, the Office may append the 

16 information collected from the samples to other 

17 information provided by the State that was col18 lected with respect to elections for Federal of19 fice in that State. 

20 ‘‘(D) PAYMENTS TO STATES.—In accord21 ance with such regulations as the Commission 

22 may promulgate, the Commission shall make 

23 payments to States to assist the States in meet24 ing the data submission requirements of this 

25 paragraph. 


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1 ‘‘(E) RULEMAKING AUTHORITY OF COM2 MISSION.—Section 209 shall not apply with re3 spect to any regulations promulgated by the 

4 Commission pursuant to the authority of this 

5 paragraph. 

6 ‘‘(d) INDEPENDENT BOARD OF ADVISORS.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby established 

8 an independent Board of Advisors (in this section 

9 referred to as the ‘Board’) that the Commission 

10 shall consult in developing and refining the Amer11 ican Democracy Index and the data to be collected 

12 under subsection (c). 

13 ‘‘(2) INDEPENDENT BOARD OF ADVISORS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Board— 

15 ‘‘(i) shall be composed of 8 members 

16 from individuals from the academic, non17 profit, and election administration commu18 nities, of whom— 

19 ‘‘(I) 4 shall be selected by the 

20 Committee on Rules and Administra21 tion of the Senate, in consultation 

22 with the majority and minority leader 

23 of the Senate; and 

24 ‘‘(II) 4 shall be selected by the 

25 Committee on House Administration 


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1 of the House of Representatives, in 

2 consultation with the Speaker and mi3 nority leader of the House of Rep4 resentatives; and 

5 ‘‘(ii) shall be headed by a President 

6 elected by the members of the Board. 

7 ‘‘(B) DUTIES.—The Board shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) meet at least twice a year, and at 

9 such other times as are specified by the 

10 President of the Board; and 

11 ‘‘(ii) consult with the Commission as 

12 provided by this section, including making 

13 periodic recommendations to the Commis14 sion on the type of election data to be col15 lected from States, the method of data col16 lection, the enforcement mechanism for the 

17 collection of election data, the administra18 tion of elections in general, and other rel19 evant issues as the Board sees appropriate. 

20 ‘‘(e) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF INDEX

21 AND DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM.— 

22 ‘‘(1) PILOT PROGRAM.—The Commission shall 

23 conduct a pilot program for elections for Federal of24 fice occurring in 2010 under which the Commission 

25 shall make a grant to 1 or more eligible entities to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to collect election data described in 

2 subsection (c) in not more than 5 States se3 lected by the Board; and 

4 ‘‘(B) to develop, refine, and publish data 

5 collection results for each of the States selected 

6 under subparagraph (A), including a compari7 son of localities in each State based on the data 

8 collected. 

9 ‘‘(2) INITIAL INDEX FOR 2012 ELECTIONS.— 

10 Based on the pilot project conducted under para11 graph (1), the Commission shall make a grant to 1 

12 or more eligible entities to— 

13 ‘‘(A) collect election data described in sub14 section (c) in all States with respect to elections 

15 for Federal office occurring in 2012; and 

16 ‘‘(B) prepare and publish the first Amer17 ican Democracy Index. 

18 ‘‘(3) FUTURE ELECTIONS.—The Commission 

19 shall collect data, and prepare and publish an Amer20 ican Democracy Index, for each Presidential election 

21 cycle beginning on or after January 1, 2012, with 

22 respect to elections for Federal office occurring dur23 ing the Presidential election cycle. In carrying out 

24 such duties, the Commission shall— 


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1 ‘‘(A) modify the data to be collected and 

2 the index in accordance with the provisions of 

3 this section; and 

4 ‘‘(B) contract with 1 or more eligible enti5 ties to carry out all or a portion of such duties. 

6 ‘‘(f) REPORTS.—Not later than 9 months after the 

7 end of the election cycle for the election for Federal office 

8 occurring in 2012 and the end of each Presidential elec9 tion cycle beginning on or after January 1, 2012, the 

10 Commission shall submit a report to Congress and to the 

11 chief State elections officials of each State that includes 

12 the election data collected under this section, together with 

13 any recommendations for— 

14 ‘‘(1) improving the types of election data that 

15 are collected and included in the American Democ16 racy Index published under this section; and 

17 ‘‘(2) legislation or administrative action to im18 prove State performance in the administration of 

19 elections for Federal office (as determined based on 

20 a State-by-State comparison of such election data). 

21 ‘‘(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

22 ‘‘(1) ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE.—The 

23 term ‘elections for Federal office’ means general 

24 elections only for Federal office. 


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1 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligible en2 tity’ means any nonprofit organization or other or3 ganization deemed appropriate by the Commission. 

4 ‘‘(3) PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CYCLE.—The 

5 term ‘Presidential election cycle’ means the 4-year 

6 period beginning with January of the year following 

7 an election for the office of President of the United 

8 States. 

9 ‘‘(4) STATE.—The term ‘State’ means each of 

10 the 50 States and the District of Columbia. 

11 ‘‘(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

13 appropriated to the Commission such sums as may 

14 be necessary to carry out the provisions of this sec15 tion. 

16 ‘‘(2) DATA SUBMISSION.—There is authorized 

17 to be appropriated $18,000,000 for each of fiscal 

18 years 2011 through 2016 to assist the States in 

19 complying with the data submission requirements of 

20 subsection (c)(2)(A).’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con22 tents of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended 

23 by inserting after the item relating to section 247 the fol24 lowing: 


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‘‘Sec 248. Establishment of American Democracy Index and related election 

data collection.’’. 

Æ 


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