II 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3608 

To modernize voter registration, promote access to voting for individuals 

with disabilities, protect the ability of individuals to exercise the right 

to vote in elections for Federal office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2012 

Mrs. GILLIBRAND (for herself, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. LANDRIEU, and Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to 

the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To modernize voter registration, promote access to voting 

for individuals with disabilities, protect the ability of 

individuals to exercise the right 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Voter Empowerment Act of 2012’’. 

6 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

7 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 


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TITLE I—VOTER REGISTRATION MODERNIZATION 

Sec. 100. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Promoting Internet Registration 

Sec. 101. Requiring availability of Internet for voter registration. 

Sec. 102. Use of Internet to update registration information. 

Sec. 103. Provision of election information by electronic mail to individuals registered to vote. 

Sec. 104. Clarification of requirement regarding necessary information to show 

eligibility to vote. 

Sec. 105. Effective date. 

Subtitle B—Automated Registration of Certain Individuals 

Sec. 111. Automated voter registration. 

Sec. 112. List maintenance, privacy, and security. 

Sec. 113. Promoting accuracy of Statewide voter registration lists. 

Sec. 114. Definitions. 

Sec. 115. Effective date. 

Subtitle C—Other Initiatives To Promote Voter Registration 

Sec. 121. Same day registration. 

Sec. 122. Acceptance of voter registration applications from individuals under 

18 years of age. 

Sec. 123. Annual reports on voter registration statistics. 

Subtitle D—Availability of HAVA Requirements Payments 

Sec. 131. Availability of requirements payments under HAVA to cover costs of 

compliance with new requirements. 

Subtitle E—Prohibiting Interference With Voter Registration 

Sec. 141. Prohibiting hindering, interfering with, or preventing voter registration. 

Sec. 142. Establishment of best practices. 

TITLE II—ACCESS TO VOTING FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH 

DISABILITIES 

Sec. 201. Requirements for States to promote access to voter registration and 

voting for individuals with disabilities. 

Sec. 202. Pilot programs for enabling individuals with disabilities to register to 

vote and vote privately and independently at residences. 

Sec. 203. Expansion and reauthorization of grant program to assure voting access for individuals with disabilities. 

TITLE III—PROHIBITING VOTER CAGING 

Sec. 301. Voter caging and other questionable challenges prohibited. 

Sec. 302. Development and adoption of best practices for preventing voter caging. 

Sec. 303. Severability. 

TITLE IV—PROHIBITING DECEPTIVE PRACTICES 


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Sec. 401. Prohibition on deceptive practices in Federal elections. 

Sec. 402. Modification of penalty for voter intimidation. 

Sec. 403. Sentencing guidelines. 

Sec. 404. Reporting violations; corrective action. 

TITLE V—DEMOCRACY RESTORATION 

Sec. 501. Rights of citizens. 

Sec. 502. Enforcement. 

Sec. 503. Notification of restoration of voting rights. 

Sec. 504. Definitions. 

Sec. 505. Relation to other laws. 

Sec. 506. Federal prison funds. 

Sec. 507. Effective date. 

TITLE VI—ACCURACY, INTEGRITY, AND SECURITY OF ELECTIONS 

Sec. 600. Short title. 

Subtitle A—Promoting Accuracy, Integrity, and Security Through VoterVerified Permanent Paper Ballot 

Sec. 601. Paper ballot and manual counting requirements. 

Sec. 602. Accessibility and ballot verification for individuals with disabilities. 

Sec. 603. Additional voting system requirements. 

Sec. 604. Availability of additional funding to enable States to meet costs of 

revised requirements. 

Sec. 605. Effective date for new requirements. 

Subtitle B—Requirement for Mandatory Manual Audits by Hand Count 

Sec. 611. Mandatory manual audits. 

Sec. 612. Availability of enforcement under Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

Sec. 613. Guidance on best practices for alternative audit mechanisms. 

Sec. 614. Clerical amendment. 

TITLE VII—PROVISIONAL BALLOTS 

Sec. 701. Requirements for counting provisional ballots; establishment of uniform and nondiscriminatory standards. 

TITLE VIII—EARLY VOTING AND VOTING BY MAIL 

Sec. 801. Early voting and voting by mail. 

TITLE IX—ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES VOTERS AND 

OVERSEAS VOTERS 

Sec. 901. Extending guarantee of residency for voting purposes to family members of absent military personnel. 

Sec. 902. Pre-election reports on availability and transmission of absentee ballots. 

Sec. 903. Enforcement. 

Sec. 904. Revisions to 45-day absentee ballot transmission rule. 

Sec. 905. Use of single absentee ballot application for subsequent elections. 

Sec. 906. Application of UOCAVA to Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands. 

Sec. 907. Effective date. 


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TITLE X—POLL WORKER RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING 

Sec. 1001. Leave to serve as a poll worker for Federal employees. 

Sec. 1002. Grants to States for poll worker recruitment and training. 

Sec. 1003. Model poll worker training program. 

Sec. 1004. State defined. 

TITLE XI—ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT 

Sec. 1101. Enhancement of enforcement of Help America Vote Act of 2002. 

TITLE XII—FEDERAL ELECTION INTEGRITY 

Sec. 1201. Prohibition on campaign activities by chief State election administration officials. 

TITLE XIII—OTHER ELECTION ADMINISTRATION IMPROVEMENTS 

Sec. 1301. Treatment of universities as voter registration agencies. 

Sec. 1302. Minimum notification requirements for voters affected by polling 

place changes. 

Sec. 1303. Voter information response systems and hotline. 

Sec. 1304. Reauthorization of election assistance commission. 

Sec. 1305. Repeal of exemption of Election Assistance Commission from certain 

government contracting requirements. 

Sec. 1306. No effect on other laws. 

1 TITLE I—VOTER REGISTRATION 

2 MODERNIZATION 

3 SEC. 100. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Registration 

5 Modernization Act of 2012’’. 

6 Subtitle A—Promoting Internet 

7 Registration 

8 SEC. 101. REQUIRING AVAILABILITY OF INTERNET FOR 

9 VOTER REGISTRATION. 

10 (a) REQUIRING AVAILABILITY OF INTERNET FOR

11 REGISTRATION.—The National Voter Registration Act of 

12 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg et seq.) is amended by inserting 

13 after section 6 the following new section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 6A. INTERNET REGISTRATION. 

2 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING AVAILABILITY OF INTERNET FOR

3 ONLINE REGISTRATION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) AVAILABILITY OF ONLINE REGISTRA5 TION.—Each State, acting through the chief State 

6 election official, shall ensure that the following serv7 ices are available to the public at any time on the 

8 official public websites of the appropriate State and 

9 local election officials in the State, in the same man10 ner and subject to the same terms and conditions as 

11 the services provided by voter registration agencies 

12 under section 7(a): 

13 ‘‘(A) Online application for voter registra14 tion. 

15 ‘‘(B) Online assistance to applicants in ap16 plying to register to vote. 

17 ‘‘(C) Online completion and submission by 

18 applicants of the mail voter registration applica19 tion form prescribed by the Election Assistance 

20 Commission pursuant to section 9(a)(2), includ21 ing assistance with providing a signature in 

22 electronic form as required under subsection 

23 (c). 

24 ‘‘(D) Online receipt of completed voter reg25 istration applications. 


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1 ‘‘(b) ACCEPTANCE OF COMPLETED APPLICATIONS.— 

2 A State shall accept an online voter registration applica3 tion provided by an individual under this section, and en4 sure that the individual is registered to vote in the State, 

5 if— 

6 ‘‘(1) the individual meets the same voter reg7 istration requirements applicable to individuals who 

8 register to vote by mail in accordance with section 

9 6(a)(1) using the mail voter registration application 

10 form prescribed by the Election Assistance Commis11 sion pursuant to section 9(a)(2); and 

12 ‘‘(2) the individual provides a signature in elec13 tronic form in accordance with subsection (c) (but 

14 only in the case of applications submitted during or 

15 after the second year in which this section is in ef16 fect in the State). 

17 ‘‘(c) SIGNATURES IN ELECTRONIC FORM.—For pur18 poses of this section, an individual provides a signature 

19 in electronic form by— 

20 ‘‘(1) executing a computerized mark in the sig21 nature field on an online voter registration applica22 tion; or 

23 ‘‘(2) submitting with the application an elec24 tronic copy of the individual’s handwritten signature 

25 through electronic means. 


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1 ‘‘(d) CONFIRMATION AND DISPOSITION.— 

2 ‘‘(1) CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT.—Upon the 

3 online submission of a completed voter registration 

4 application by an individual under this section, the 

5 appropriate State or local election official shall send 

6 the individual a notice confirming the State’s receipt 

7 of the application and providing instructions on how 

8 the individual may check the status of the applica9 tion. 

10 ‘‘(2) NOTICE OF DISPOSITION.—As soon as the 

11 appropriate State or local election official has ap12 proved or rejected an application submitted by an in13 dividual under this section, the official shall send the 

14 individual a notice of the disposition of the applica15 tion. 

16 ‘‘(3) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.—The appro17 priate State or local election official shall send the 

18 notices required under this subsection by regular 

19 mail, and, in the case of an individual who has re20 quested that the State provide voter registration and 

21 voting information through electronic mail, by both 

22 electronic mail and regular mail. 

23 ‘‘(e) PROVISION OF SERVICES IN NONPARTISAN

24 MANNER.—The services made available under subsection 


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1 (a) shall be provided in a manner that ensures that, con2 sistent with section 7(a)(5)— 

3 ‘‘(1) the online application does not seek to in4 fluence an applicant’s political preference or party 

5 registration; and 

6 ‘‘(2) there is no display on the website pro7 moting any political preference or party allegiance, 

8 except that nothing in this paragraph may be con9 strued to prohibit an applicant from registering to 

10 vote as a member of a political party. 

11 ‘‘(f) PROTECTION OF SECURITY OF INFORMATION.— 

12 In meeting the requirements of this section, the State shall 

13 establish appropriate technological security measures to 

14 prevent to the greatest extent practicable any unauthor15 ized access to information provided by individuals using 

16 the services made available under subsection (a). 

17 ‘‘(g) USE OF ADDITIONAL TELEPHONE-BASED SYS18 TEM.—A State shall make the services made available on19 line under subsection (a) available through the use of an 

20 automated telephone-based system, subject to the same 

21 terms and conditions applicable under this section to the 

22 services made available online, in addition to making the 

23 services available online in accordance with the require24 ments of this section. 


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1 ‘‘(h) NONDISCRIMINATION AMONG REGISTERED

2 VOTERS USING MAIL AND ONLINE REGISTRATION.—In 

3 carrying out this Act, the Help America Vote Act of 2002, 

4 or any other Federal, State, or local law governing the 

5 treatment of registered voters in the State or the adminis6 tration of elections for public office in the State, a State 

7 shall treat a registered voter who registered to vote online 

8 in accordance with this section in the same manner as the 

9 State treats a registered voter who registered to vote by 

10 mail.’’. 

11 (b) SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS FOR INDIVIDUALS

12 USING ONLINE REGISTRATION.— 

13 (1) TREATMENT AS INDIVIDUALS REGISTERING

14 TO VOTE BY MAIL FOR PURPOSES OF FIRST-TIME

15 VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

16 303(b)(1)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

17 (42 U.S.C. 15483(b)(1)(A)) is amended by striking 

18 ‘‘by mail’’ and inserting ‘‘by mail or online under 

19 section 6A of the National Voter Registration Act of 

20 1993’’. 

21 (2) REQUIRING SIGNATURE FOR FIRST-TIME

22 VOTERS IN JURISDICTION.—Section 303(b) of such 

23 Act (42 U.S.C. 15483(b)) is amended— 

24 (A) by redesignating paragraph (5) as 

25 paragraph (6); and 


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1 (B) by inserting after paragraph (4) the 

2 following new paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(5) SIGNATURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST4 TIME VOTERS USING ONLINE REGISTRATION.— 

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State shall, in a 

6 uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, require 

7 an individual to meet the requirements of sub8 paragraph (B) if— 

9 ‘‘(i) the individual registered to vote 

10 in the State online under section 6A of the 

11 National Voter Registration Act of 1993; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(ii) the individual has not previously 

14 voted in an election for Federal office in 

15 the State. 

16 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—An individual 

17 meets the requirements of this subparagraph 

18 if— 

19 ‘‘(i) in the case of an individual who 

20 votes in person, the individual provides the 

21 appropriate State or local election official 

22 with a handwritten signature; or 

23 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who 

24 votes by mail, the individual submits with 

25 the ballot a handwritten signature. 


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1 ‘‘(C) INAPPLICABILITY.—Subparagraph 

2 (A) does not apply in the case of an individual 

3 who is— 

4 ‘‘(i) entitled to vote by absentee ballot 

5 under the Uniformed and Overseas Citi6 zens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 

7 1973ff–1 et seq.); 

8 ‘‘(ii) provided the right to vote other9 wise than in person under section 

10 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Voting Accessibility 

11 for the Elderly and Handicapped Act (42 

12 U.S.C. 1973ee–1(b)(2)(B)(ii)); or 

13 ‘‘(iii) entitled to vote otherwise than 

14 in person under any other Federal law.’’. 

15 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

16 EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 303(d)(2)(A) of such 

17 Act (42 U.S.C. 15483(d)(2)(A)) is amended by 

18 striking ‘‘Each State’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as pro19 vided in subsection (b)(5), each State’’. 

20 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

21 (1) TIMING OF REGISTRATION.—Section 8(a)(1) 

22 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 

23 U.S.C. 1973gg–6(a)(1)) is amended— 

24 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub25 paragraph (C); 


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1 (B) by redesignating subparagraph (D) as 

2 subparagraph (E); and 

3 (C) by inserting after subparagraph (C) 

4 the following new subparagraph: 

5 ‘‘(D) in the case of online registration 

6 through the official public website of an election 

7 official under section 6A, if the valid voter reg8 istration application is submitted online not 

9 later than the lesser of 30 days, or the period 

10 provided by State law, before the date of the 

11 election (as determined by treating the date on 

12 which the application is sent electronically as 

13 the date on which it is submitted); and’’. 

14 (2) INFORMING APPLICANTS OF ELIGIBILITY

15 REQUIREMENTS AND PENALTIES.—Section 8(a)(5) 

16 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6(a)(5)) is amended 

17 by striking ‘‘and 7’’ and inserting ‘‘6A, and 7’’. 

18 SEC. 102. USE OF INTERNET TO UPDATE REGISTRATION IN19 FORMATION. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.— 

21 (1) UPDATES TO INFORMATION CONTAINED ON

22 COMPUTERIZED STATEWIDE VOTER REGISTRATION

23 LIST.—Section 303(a) of the Help America Vote Act 

24 of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)) is amended by adding 

25 at the end the following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(6) USE OF INTERNET BY REGISTERED VOT2 ERS TO UPDATE INFORMATION.— 

3 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The appropriate State 

4 or local election official shall ensure that any 

5 registered voter on the computerized list may at 

6 any time update the voter’s registration infor7 mation, including the voter’s address and elec8 tronic mail address, online through the official 

9 public website of the election official responsible 

10 for the maintenance of the list, so long as the 

11 voter attests to the contents of the update by 

12 providing a signature in electronic form in the 

13 same manner required under section 6A(c) of 

14 the National Voter Registration Act of 1993. 

15 ‘‘(B) PROCESSING OF UPDATED INFORMA16 TION BY ELECTION OFFICIALS.—If a registered 

17 voter updates registration information under 

18 subparagraph (A), the appropriate State or 

19 local election official shall— 

20 ‘‘(i) revise any information on the 

21 computerized list to reflect the update 

22 made by the voter; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) if the updated registration infor24 mation affects the voter’s eligibility to vote 

25 in an election for Federal office, ensure 


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1 that the information is processed with re2 spect to the election if the voter updates 

3 the information not later than the lesser of 

4 7 days, or the period provided by State 

5 law, before the date of the election. 

6 ‘‘(C) CONFIRMATION AND DISPOSITION.— 

7 ‘‘(i) CONFIRMATION OF RECEIPT.— 

8 Upon the online submission of updated 

9 registration information by an individual 

10 under this paragraph, the appropriate 

11 State or local election official shall send 

12 the individual a notice confirming the 

13 State’s receipt of the updated information 

14 and providing instructions on how the indi15 vidual may check the status of the update. 

16 ‘‘(ii) NOTICE OF DISPOSITION.—As 

17 soon as the appropriate State or local elec18 tion official has accepted or rejected up19 dated information submitted by an indi20 vidual under this paragraph, the official 

21 shall send the individual a notice of the 

22 disposition of the update. 

23 ‘‘(iii) METHOD OF NOTIFICATION.— 

24 The appropriate State or local election offi25 cial shall send the notices required under 


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1 this subparagraph by regular mail, and, in 

2 the case of an individual who has re3 quested that the State provide voter reg4 istration and voting information through 

5 electronic mail, by both electronic mail and 

6 regular mail.’’. 

7 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

8 EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 303(d)(1)(A) of such 

9 Act (42 U.S.C. 15483(d)(1)(A)) is amended by 

10 striking ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’ and inserting ‘‘sub11 paragraph (B) and subsection (a)(6)’’. 

12 (b) ABILITY OF REGISTRANT TO USE ONLINE UP13 DATE TO PROVIDE INFORMATION ON RESIDENCE.—Sec14 tion 8(d)(2)(A) of the National Voter Registration Act of 

15 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6(d)(2)(A)) is amended— 

16 (1) in the first sentence, by inserting after ‘‘re17 turn the card’’ the following: ‘‘or update the reg18 istrant’s information on the computerized Statewide 

19 voter registration list using the online method pro20 vided under section 303(a)(6) of the Help America 

21 Vote Act of 2002’’; and 

22 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘re23 turned,’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘returned or if 

24 the registrant does not update the registrant’s inforVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 mation on the computerized Statewide voter reg2 istration list using such online method,’’. 

3 SEC. 103. PROVISION OF ELECTION INFORMATION BY 

4 ELECTRONIC MAIL TO INDIVIDUALS REG5 ISTERED TO VOTE. 

6 (a) INCLUDING OPTION ON VOTER REGISTRATION

7 APPLICATION TO PROVIDE E-MAIL ADDRESS AND RE8 CEIVE INFORMATION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 9(b) of the National 

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

11 7(b)) is amended— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para13 graph (3); 

14 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

15 paragraph (4) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

16 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

17 paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(5) shall include a space for the applicant to 

19 provide (at the applicant’s option) an electronic mail 

20 address, together with a statement that, if the appli21 cant so requests, instead of using regular mail the 

22 appropriate State and local election officials shall 

23 provide to the applicant, through electronic mail sent 

24 to that address, the same voting information (as de25 fined in section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote 


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1 Act of 2002) which the officials would provide to the 

2 applicant through regular mail.’’. 

3 (2) PROHIBITING USE FOR PURPOSES UNRE4 LATED TO OFFICIAL DUTIES OF ELECTION OFFI5 CIALS.—Section 9 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973gg– 

6 7) is amended by adding at the end the following 

7 new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITING USE OF ELECTRONIC MAIL AD9 DRESSES FOR OTHER THAN OFFICIAL PURPOSES.—The 

10 chief State election official shall ensure that any electronic 

11 mail address provided by an applicant under subsection 

12 (b)(5) is used only for purposes of carrying out official 

13 duties of election officials and is not transmitted by any 

14 State or local election official (or any agent of such an 

15 official, including a contractor) to any person who does 

16 not require the address to carry out such official duties 

17 and who is not under the direct supervision and control 

18 of a State or local election official.’’. 

19 (b) REQUIRING PROVISION OF INFORMATION BY

20 ELECTION OFFICIALS.—Section 302(b) of the Help Amer21 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482(b)) is amended 

22 by adding at the end the following new paragraph: 

23 ‘‘(3) PROVISION OF OTHER INFORMATION BY

24 ELECTRONIC MAIL.—If an individual who is a reg25 istered voter has provided the State or local election 


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1 official with an electronic mail address for the pur2 pose of receiving voting information (as described in 

3 section 9(b)(5) of the National Voter Registration 

4 Act of 1993), the appropriate State or local election 

5 official, through electronic mail transmitted not later 

6 than 7 days before the date of the election involved, 

7 shall provide the individual with information on how 

8 to obtain the following information by electronic 

9 means: 

10 ‘‘(A) The name and address of the polling 

11 place at which the individual is assigned to vote 

12 in the election. 

13 ‘‘(B) The hours of operation for the polling 

14 place. 

15 ‘‘(C) A description of any identification or 

16 other information the individual may be re17 quired to present at the polling place.’’. 

18 SEC. 104. CLARIFICATION OF REQUIREMENT REGARDING 

19 NECESSARY INFORMATION TO SHOW ELIGI20 BILITY TO VOTE. 

21 Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 

22 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6) is amended— 

23 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub24 section (k); and 


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

3 ‘‘(j) REQUIREMENT FOR STATE TO REGISTER APPLI4 CANTS PROVIDING NECESSARY INFORMATION TO SHOW

5 ELIGIBILITY TO VOTE.—For purposes meeting the re6 quirement of subsection (a)(1) that an eligible applicant 

7 is registered to vote in an election for Federal office within 

8 the deadlines required under such subsection, the State 

9 shall consider an applicant to have provided a ‘valid voter 

10 registration form’ if— 

11 ‘‘(1) the applicant has accurately completed the 

12 application form and attested to the statement re13 quired by section 9(b)(2); and 

14 ‘‘(2) in the case of an applicant who registers 

15 to vote online in accordance with section 6A, the ap16 plicant provides a signature in accordance with sub17 section (c) of such section.’’. 

18 SEC. 105. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

20 (b), the amendments made by this subtitle (other than the 

21 amendments made by section 104) shall take effect Janu22 ary 1, 2014. 

23 (b) WAIVER.—Subject to the approval of the Election 

24 Assistance Commission, if a State certifies to the Election 

25 Assistance Commission that the State will not meet the 


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1 deadline referred to in subsection (a) because of extraor2 dinary circumstances and includes in the certification the 

3 reasons for the failure to meet the deadline, subsection 

4 (a) shall apply to the State as if the reference in such 

5 subsection to ‘‘January 1, 2014’’ were a reference to 

6 ‘‘January 1, 2016’’. 

7 Subtitle B—Automated 

8 Registration of Certain Individuals 

9 SEC. 111. AUTOMATED VOTER REGISTRATION. 

10 (a) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION BY SOURCE

11 AGENCIES.— 

12 (1) DUTIES OF SOURCE AGENCIES.—Each 

13 source agency in a State (as defined in subsection 

14 (e)) shall, with each application for services or as15 sistance by an individual, and with each recertifi16 cation, renewal, or change of address relating to 

17 such services or assistance— 

18 (A) notify each such individual of the sub19 stantive qualifications of an elector in the State, 

20 using language approved by the State’s chief 

21 election official; 

22 (B) notify each such individual that there 

23 is an opportunity to be registered to vote or up24 date voter registration, but that voter registra25 tion is voluntary, and that neither registering 


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1 nor declining to register to vote will in any way 

2 affect the availability of services or benefits, nor 

3 be used for other purposes; 

4 (C) require that each such individual indi5 cate, after considering the substantive qualifica6 tion of an elector in the State, whether or not 

7 the person wishes to be registered; 

8 (D) ensure that each such individual’s 

9 transaction with the agency cannot be com10 pleted until the individual has indicated whether 

11 he or she wishes to register to vote; and 

12 (E) for each such individual who consents 

13 to using the individual’s records with the source 

14 agency to enable the individual to register to 

15 vote under this section, collect a signed affirma16 tion of eligibility to register to vote in the State. 

17 (2) NO EFFECT ON RIGHT TO DECLINE VOTER

18 REGISTRATION.—Nothing in this subtitle shall be 

19 construed to interfere with the right of any person 

20 to decline to be registered to vote for any reason. 

21 (b) TRANSFER OF INFORMATION ON INDIVIDUALS

22 CONSENTING TO VOTER REGISTRATION.— 

23 (1) TRANSFER.—For each individual who noti24 fies the source agency that the individual consents to 

25 voter registration under this section, the source 


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1 agency shall transfer to the chief State election offi2 cial of the State the following data, to the extent the 

3 data is available to the source agency: 

4 (A) The given name or names and sur5 name or surnames. 

6 (B) Date of birth. 

7 (C) Residential address. 

8 (D) Mailing address. 

9 (E) Signature, in electronic form. 

10 (F) Date of the last change to the infor11 mation. 

12 (G) The motor vehicle driver’s license 

13 number. 

14 (H) The last four digits of the Social Secu15 rity number. 

16 (2) TIMING OF TRANSFER.—The source agency 

17 shall transfer the data described in paragraph (1) to 

18 the chief State election official on a daily basis. 

19 (3) FORMAT.—The data transferred under 

20 paragraph (1) shall be transferred in a format com21 patible with the Statewide computerized voter reg22 istration list under section 303 of the Help America 

23 Vote Act of 2002. 

24 (4) PROHIBITING STORAGE OF INFORMATION.— 

25 Any information collected by the source agency 


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1 under this section with respect to an individual who 

2 consents to register to vote under this section may 

3 not be stored by the source agency in any form after 

4 the information is transferred to the chief State elec5 tion official under paragraph (1). 

6 (c) REGISTRATION OF INDIVIDUALS BY CHIEF STATE

7 ELECTION OFFICIAL.— 

8 (1) COMPARISON WITH STATEWIDE VOTER REG9 ISTRATION LIST.—Upon receiving information from 

10 a source agency with respect to an individual under 

11 subsection (b), the chief State election official shall 

12 determine whether the individual is included in the 

13 computerized Statewide voter registration list estab14 lished and maintained under section 303 of the Help 

15 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483). 

16 (2) REGISTRATION OF INDIVIDUALS NOT ON

17 STATEWIDE LIST.—If an individual for whom infor18 mation is received from a source agency under sub19 section (b) is eligible to vote in elections for Federal 

20 office in the State and is not on the computerized 

21 Statewide voter registration list, the chief State elec22 tion official shall— 

23 (A) ensure that the individual is registered 

24 to vote in such elections not later than 5 days 

25 after receiving the information, without regard 


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1 to whether or not the information provided by 

2 the source agency includes the individual’s sig3 nature; 

4 (B) update the Statewide computerized 

5 voter registration list to include the individual; 

6 and 

7 (C) notify the individual that the individual 

8 is registered to vote in elections for Federal of9 fice in the State. 

10 (3) TREATMENT OF INFORMATION INCOR11 RECTLY PROVIDED.—If a source agency provides the 

12 chief State election official with information with re13 spect to an individual who did not consent to be reg14 istered to vote under this section, the chief State 

15 election official shall not take any action to register 

16 the individual to vote, except that no such individual 

17 who is already included on the computerized State18 wide voter registration list shall be removed from the 

19 list solely because the information was incorrectly 

20 provided under subsection (b). 

21 (4) NO EFFECT ON OTHER MEANS OF REG22 ISTRATION.—Nothing in this section affects a 

23 State’s obligation to register voters upon receipt of 

24 a valid voter registration application through means 

25 provided by National Voter Registration Act of 1993 


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1 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg et seq.), the Internet registration 

2 procedure described in subtitle A, or other valid 

3 means. 

4 (5) INDIVIDUALS IN EXISTING RECORDS.—No 

5 later than January 2015, each individual who is list6 ed in a source agency’s records and for whom there 

7 exists reason to believe the individual is a citizen 

8 and not otherwise ineligible to vote shall be mailed 

9 a postage pre-paid return postcard including a box 

10 for the individual to check, together with the state11 ment (in close proximity to the box and in promi12 nent type), ‘‘By checking this box, I affirm that I 

13 am a citizen of the United States, am eligible to vote 

14 in this State, and will be at least eighteen years old 

15 by the next general election. I understand that by 

16 checking this box, I will be registered to vote if I am 

17 eligible to vote in the State.’’, along with a clear de18 scription of the voting eligibility requirements in the 

19 State. The postcard shall also include, where re20 quired for voter registration, a place for the individ21 ual’s signature and designation of party affiliation. 

22 An individual who checks the box and returns the 

23 completed postcard postmarked not later than the 

24 lesser of the fifteenth day before an election for FedVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00025 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 eral office, or the period provided by State law, shall 

2 be registered to vote in that election. 

3 (d) OPTIONS FOR STATE TO REQUIRE SPECIAL

4 TREATMENT OF INDIVIDUALS REGISTERED AUTOMATI5 CALLY.— 

6 (1) TREATMENT AS INDIVIDUALS REGISTERING

7 TO VOTE BY MAIL FOR PURPOSES OF FIRST-TIME

8 VOTER IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS.—Section 

9 303(b)(1)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

10 (42 U.S.C. 15483(b)(1)(A)), as amended by section 

11 101(b)(1), is amended by striking ‘‘of 1993’’ and in12 serting ‘‘of 1993 or (at the option of the State) was 

13 registered automatically under section 111 of the 

14 Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2012’’. 

15 (2) REQUIRING SIGNATURE.—Section 303(b) of 

16 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15483(b)), as amended by sec17 tion 101(b)(2), is amended— 

18 (A) by redesignating paragraph (6) as 

19 paragraph (7); and 

20 (B) by inserting after paragraph (5) the 

21 following new paragraph: 

22 ‘‘(5) OPTION FOR STATE TO REQUIRE SIGNA23 TURE REQUIREMENTS FOR FIRST-TIME VOTERS REG24 ISTERED AUTOMATICALLY.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State may, in a uni2 form and nondiscriminatory manner, require an 

3 individual to meet the requirements of subpara4 graph (B) if— 

5 ‘‘(i) the individual was registered to 

6 vote in the State automatically under sec7 tion 111 of the Voter Registration Mod8 ernization Act of 2012; and 

9 ‘‘(ii) the individual has not previously 

10 voted in an election for Federal office in 

11 the State. 

12 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS.—An individual 

13 meets the requirements of this subparagraph 

14 if— 

15 ‘‘(i) in the case of an individual who 

16 votes in person, the individual provides the 

17 appropriate State or local election official 

18 with a handwritten signature; or 

19 ‘‘(ii) in the case of an individual who 

20 votes by mail, the individual submits with 

21 the ballot a handwritten signature. 

22 ‘‘(C) INAPPLICABILITY.—Subparagraph 

23 (A) does not apply in the case of an individual 

24 who is— 


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1 ‘‘(i) entitled to vote by absentee ballot 

2 under the Uniformed and Overseas Citi3 zens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 

4 1973ff–1 et seq.); 

5 ‘‘(ii) provided the right to vote other6 wise than in person under section 

7 3(b)(2)(B)(ii) of the Voting Accessibility 

8 for the Elderly and Handicapped Act (42 

9 U.S.C. 1973ee–1(b)(2)(B)(ii)); or 

10 ‘‘(iii) entitled to vote otherwise than 

11 in person under any other Federal law.’’. 

12 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

13 EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 303(d)(2)(A) of such 

14 Act (42 U.S.C. 15483(d)(2)(A)), as amended by sec15 tion 101(b)(3), is amended by striking ‘‘subsection 

16 (b)(5)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsections (b)(5) and 

17 (b)(6)’’. 

18 (e) SOURCE AGENCIES DESCRIBED.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to any State, a 

20 ‘‘source agency’’ is— 

21 (A) each State office which is described in 

22 paragraph (2); and 

23 (B) each Federal office which is described 

24 in paragraph (3) which is located in the State, 

25 except that such office shall be a source agency 


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1 only with respect to individuals who are resi2 dents of the State in which the office is located. 

3 (2) STATE OFFICES DESCRIBED.— 

4 (A) IN GENERAL.—The State offices de5 scribed in this paragraph are as follows: 

6 (i) The State motor vehicle authority. 

7 (ii) Each office in the State which is 

8 designated as a voter registration agency 

9 in a State pursuant to section 7(a) of the 

10 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 

11 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5(a)). 

12 (iii) Each State agency that admin13 isters a program providing assistance pur14 suant to pursuant to title III of the Social 

15 Security Act (42 U.S.C. 501 et seq.). 

16 (iv) Each State agency primarily re17 sponsible for maintaining identifying infor18 mation for students enrolled at public sec19 ondary schools in the State, including, 

20 where applicable, the State agency respon21 sible for maintaining the education data 

22 system described in section 6401(e)(2) of 

23 the America COMPETES Act (20 U.S.C. 

24 9871(e)(2)). 


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1 (v) In the case of a State in which an 

2 individual disenfranchised by a criminal 

3 conviction may become eligible to vote 

4 upon completion of criminal sentence or 

5 any part thereof, or upon formal restora6 tion of rights, the State agency responsible 

7 for administering that sentence, or part 

8 thereof, or that restoration of rights. 

9 (vi) In the case of a State in which an 

10 individual disenfranchised by adjudication 

11 of mental incompetence or similar condi12 tion becomes eligible to register to vote 

13 upon the restoration of competence or 

14 similar condition, each State agency re15 sponsible for determining when competence 

16 or a similar condition is met. 

17 (vii) Such other office which may be 

18 designated as a source agency by the chief 

19 State election official of the State. 

20 (B) CRITERIA FOR DESIGNATION OF ADDI21 TIONAL SOURCE AGENCIES.—In designating of22 fices of the State as source agencies for pur23 poses of subparagraph (A)(vii), the chief State 

24 election official shall give priority on the basis 

25 of the following criteria: 


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1 (i) The extent to which individuals re2 ceiving services or assistance from the of3 fice are likely to be individuals who are eli4 gible to register to vote in elections for 

5 Federal office in the State but who are not 

6 registered to vote in such elections. 

7 (ii) The accuracy of the office’s 

8 records with respect to identifying informa9 tion (including age, citizenship status, and 

10 residency) for individuals receiving services 

11 or assistance from the office. 

12 (iii) The cost-effectiveness of obtain13 ing such identifying information and trans14 mitting the information to the chief State 

15 election official. 

16 (iv) The extent to which the designa17 tion of the office as a voter registration 

18 agency will promote the registration of eli19 gible individuals to vote in elections for 

20 Federal office in the State and the accu21 racy of the State’s Statewide computerized 

22 voter registration list under the Help 

23 America Vote Act of 2002. 


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1 (3) FEDERAL OFFICES DESCRIBED.—The Fed2 eral offices described in this paragraph are as fol3 lows: 

4 (A) Armed Forces recruitment offices. 

5 (B) The United States Immigration and 

6 Customs Enforcement Bureau, but only with 

7 respect to individuals who complete the natu8 ralization process. 

9 (C) The Social Security Administration. 

10 (D) The Administrative Office of the 

11 United States Courts, the Federal Bureau of 

12 Prisons, and the United States Probation Serv13 ice, but only with respect to individuals com14 pleting terms of prison, sentences, probation, or 

15 parole. 

16 (E) The Department of Veterans Affairs, 

17 but only with respect to individuals applying for 

18 or using health care services or services for 

19 homeless individuals. 

20 (F) The Defense Manpower Data Center 

21 of the Department of Defense. 

22 (G) The Indian Health Services of the De23 partment of Health and Human Services. 


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1 (H) The Center for Medicare and Medicaid 

2 Services of the Department of Health and 

3 Human Services. 

4 (I) Any other Federal office which des5 ignated by a State (with the consent of the 

6 President) as a source agency with respect to 

7 the State. 

8 SEC. 112. LIST MAINTENANCE, PRIVACY, AND SECURITY. 

9 (a) DATABASE MANAGEMENT STANDARDS.— 

10 (1) DATABASE MATCHING STANDARDS.—The 

11 chief State election official of each State shall estab12 lish standards governing the comparison of data on 

13 the Statewide computerized voter registration list 

14 under section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 

15 2002, the data provided by various source agencies 

16 under section 111, and relevant data from other 

17 sources, including the specific data elements and 

18 data matching rules to be used for purposes of de19 termining— 

20 (A) whether a data record from any source 

21 agency represents the same individual as a 

22 record in another source agency or on the 

23 Statewide list; 


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1 (B) whether a data record from any source 

2 agency represents an individual already reg3 istered to vote in the State; 

4 (C) whether two data records in the State5 wide computerized voter registration list rep6 resent duplicate records for the same individual; 

7 (D) whether a data record supplied by any 

8 list maintenance source represents an individual 

9 already registered to vote in the State; and 

10 (E) which information will be treated as 

11 more current and reliable when data records 

12 from multiple sources present information for 

13 the same individual. 

14 (2) STANDARDS FOR DETERMINING INELIGI15 BILITY.—The chief State election official of a State 

16 shall establish uniform and non-discriminatory 

17 standards describing the specific conditions under 

18 which an individual will be determined for list main19 tenance purposes to be ineligible to vote in an elec20 tion for Federal office in the State. 

21 (b) PRIVACY AND SECURITY STANDARDS.— 

22 (1) PRIVACY AND SECURITY POLICY.—The chief 

23 State election official of a State shall publish and 

24 enforce a privacy and security policy specifying each 

25 class of users who shall have authorized access to 


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1 the computerized Statewide voter registration list, 

2 specifying for each such class the permission and 

3 levels of access to be granted, and setting forth 

4 other safeguards to protect the privacy and security 

5 of the information on the list. Such policy shall in6 clude security safeguards to protect personal infor7 mation in the data transfer process under section 

8 111, the online or telephone interface, the mainte9 nance of the voter registration database, and audit 

10 procedure to track individual access to the system. 

11 (2) NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.—The chief 

12 election official of a State shall establish policies and 

13 enforcement procedures to prevent unauthorized ac14 cess to or use of the computerized Statewide voter 

15 registration list, any list or other information pro16 vided by a source agency under section 111, or any 

17 maintenance source for the list. Nothing in this 

18 paragraph shall be construed to prohibit access to 

19 information required for official purposes for pur20 poses of voter registration, election administration, 

21 and the enforcement of election laws. 

22 (3) INTER-AGENCY TRANSFERS.— 

23 (A) IN GENERAL.—The chief election offi24 cial of a State shall establish policies and en25 forcement procedures to maintain security durVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00035 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 ing inter-agency transfers of information re2 quired or permitted under this subtitle. Each 

3 State agency and third party participating in 

4 such inter-agency transfers of information shall 

5 facilitate and comply with such policies. Noth6 ing in this subparagraph shall prevent a source 

7 agency under section 111 from establishing and 

8 enforcing additional security measures to pro9 tect the confidentiality and integrity of inter10 agency data transfers. No State or local election 

11 official shall transfer or facilitate the transfer 

12 of information from the computerized Statewide 

13 voter registration list to any source agency 

14 under section 111. 

15 (B) TRANSMISSION THROUGH SECURE

16 THIRD PARTIES PERMITTED.—Nothing in this 

17 section shall be construed to prevent a source 

18 agency under section 111 from contracting with 

19 a third party to assist in the transmission of 

20 data to a chief State election official, so long as 

21 the data transmission complies with the appli22 cable requirements of this subtitle, including 

23 the privacy and security provisions of this sec24 tion. 


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1 (4) RECORDS RETENTION.—The chief State 

2 election official of a State shall establish standards 

3 and procedures to maintain all election records re4 quired for purposes of this subtitle, including for the 

5 purpose of determining the eligibility of persons 

6 casting provisional ballots under section 302 of the 

7 Help America Vote Act of 2002. Records for individ8 uals who have been retained on the computerized 

9 Statewide voter registration list under section 301 of 

10 such Act but identified as ineligible to vote in an 

11 election for Federal office within the State, or re12 moved from the list due to ineligibility, shall be 

13 maintained and kept available until at least the date 

14 of the second general election for Federal office that 

15 occurs after the date that the individual was identi16 fied as ineligible. 

17 (c) PUBLICATION OF STANDARDS.—The chief State 

18 election official of a State shall publish on the official’s 

19 website the standards established under this section, and 

20 shall make those standards available in written form upon 

21 public request. 

22 (d) PROTECTION OF SOURCE INFORMATION.—The 

23 identity of the specific source agency through which an 

24 individual consented to register to vote under section 111 

25 shall not be disclosed to the public and shall not be reVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00037 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 tained after the individual is added to the computerized 

2 Statewide voter registration list. 

3 (e) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.—The chief 

4 State election official of a State shall establish policies and 

5 enforcement procedures to ensure that personal informa6 tion provided by source agencies or otherwise transmitted 

7 under this section is kept confidential and is available only 

8 to authorized users. For purposes of these policies and 

9 procedures, the term ‘‘personal information’’ means any 

10 of the following: 

11 (1) Any portion of an individual’s Social Secu12 rity number. 

13 (2) Any portion of an individual’s motor vehicle 

14 driver’s license number or State identification card 

15 number. 

16 (3) An individual’s signature. 

17 (4) An individual’s personal residence and con18 tact information (in the case of individuals with re19 spect to whom such information is required to be 

20 maintained as confidential under State law). 

21 (5) Sensitive information relating to persons in 

22 categories designated confidential by Federal or 

23 State law, including victims of domestic violence or 

24 stalking, prosecutors and law enforcement personnel, 

25 and participants in a witness protection program. 


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1 (6) An individual’s phone number. 

2 (7) An individual’s email address. 

3 (8) Any indication of an individual’s status as 

4 a citizen or noncitizen of the United States. 

5 (9) Such other information as the chief State 

6 election official may designate as confidential to the 

7 extent reasonably necessary to prevent identity theft 

8 or impersonation, except that the chief State election 

9 official may not designate as confidential under this 

10 subparagraph the name, address, or date of registra11 tion of an individual, or, where applicable, the self12 identified racial or ethnic category of the individual 

13 as applicable under Revisions to OMB Directive 

14 Number 15 or successor directives. 

15 (f) PROTECTIONS AGAINST LIABILITY OF INDIVID16 UALS ON BASIS OF INFORMATION TRANSFERRED.— 

17 (1) NO INDIVIDUAL LIABILITY FOR REGISTRA18 TION OF INELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—If an individual 

19 who is not eligible to register to vote in elections for 

20 Federal office is registered to vote in such elections 

21 by a chief State election official under section 111, 

22 the individual shall not be subject to any penalty, in23 cluding the imposition of a fine or term of imprison24 ment, adverse treatment in any immigration or nat25 uralization proceeding, or the denial of any status 


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1 under immigration laws, under any law prohibiting 

2 an individual who is not eligible to register to vote 

3 in elections for Federal office from registering to 

4 vote in such elections. Nothing in this paragraph 

5 shall be construed to waive the liability of any indi6 vidual who knowingly provides false information to 

7 any person regarding the individual’s eligibility to 

8 register to vote or vote in elections for Federal of9 fice. 

10 (2) PROHIBITING USE OF INFORMATION BY OF11 FICIALS.—No person acting under color of law may 

12 use the information received by the chief State elec13 tion official under section 111 to attempt to deter14 mine the citizenship status of any individual for im15 migration enforcement, criminal law enforcement 

16 (other than enforcement of election laws), or any 

17 purpose other than voter registration, election ad18 ministration, or the enforcement of election laws. 

19 (g) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER OF INFORMATION

20 IRRELEVANT TO ADMINISTRATION OF ELECTIONS.—No 

21 source agency shall transmit any information under sec22 tion 111 which is irrelevant to the administration of elec23 tions. To the extent that an election official receives any 

24 information which is accidentally or inadvertently trans25 ferred by a source agency under such section, the official 


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1 shall immediately delete the information from the official’s 

2 records. 

3 (h) RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION.—No in4 formation relating to an individual’s absence from the 

5 Statewide voter registration list under section 303 of the 

6 Help America Vote Act of 2002 or an individual’s declina7 tion to supply information for voter registration purposes 

8 to a source agency under section 111 may be disclosed 

9 to the public for immigration enforcement, criminal law 

10 enforcement other than enforcement of laws against elec11 tion crimes, or used for any purpose other than voter reg12 istration, election administration, or the enforcement of 

13 election laws. 

14 (i) NONDISCRIMINATION.—No person acting under 

15 color of law may discriminate against any individual on 

16 the basis of the individual’s absence from the statewide 

17 voter registration list, the information supplied by the in18 dividual for voter registration purpose to a source agency 

19 under section 111, or the individual’s declination to supply 

20 such information, except as required for purposes of voter 

21 registration, election administration, and the enforcement 

22 of election laws. 

23 (j) PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF VOTER REGISTRA24 TION INFORMATION FOR COMMERCIAL OR NON-GOVERN25 MENTAL PURPOSES.—Voter registration information colVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00041 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 lected under this subtitle shall not be used for commercial 

2 purposes including for comparison with any existing com3 mercial list or database. 

4 (k) PENALTY.—Whoever knowingly uses information 

5 or permits information to be used in violation of this sec6 tion shall be imprisoned for not more than 1 year, fined 

7 under title 18, United States Code, or both. 

8 (l) EXCLUSION FROM LISTS OF INDIVIDUALS DE9 CLINING REGISTRATION.—The chief State election official 

10 of a State shall ensure that, with respect to any individual 

11 who declines the opportunity to register to vote under sec12 tion 111, the individual’s information is not included on 

13 the computerized Statewide voter registration list under 

14 section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and 

15 is not provided to any third party (except to the extent 

16 required under other law). Nothing in this subsection shall 

17 be construed to preclude an individual who has previously 

18 declined the opportunity to register to vote from subse19 quently registering to vote. 

20 SEC. 113. PROMOTING ACCURACY OF STATEWIDE VOTER 

21 REGISTRATION LISTS. 

22 (a) DEADLINES FOR TRANSMITTAL OF CHANGE OF

23 ADDRESS OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.— 

24 (1) INFORMATION RECEIVED BY STATE MOTOR

25 VEHICLE AUTHORITY.—Section 5(d) of the National 


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

2 3(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

3 ‘‘(d) AUTOMATIC TRANSMITTAL OF CHANGE OF AD4 DRESS OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.—Not 

5 later than 24 hours after receiving a change of address 

6 form or any other information indicating that identifying 

7 information with respect to an individual which is included 

8 in the records of the State motor vehicle authority has 

9 been changed, the State motor vehicle authority shall 

10 transmit such form or other information to the chief State 

11 election official, unless— 

12 ‘‘(1) the records of the authority include infor13 mation indicating that the individual is not eligible 

14 to register to vote in the State; or 

15 ‘‘(2) the individual states on the form or other16 wise indicates that the change of address or other 

17 information is not for voter registration purposes.’’. 

18 (2) INFORMATION RECEIVED BY OTHER VOTER

19 REGISTRATION AGENCIES.—Section 7 of such Act 

20 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5) is amended by adding at the 

21 end the following new subsection: 

22 ‘‘(e) AUTOMATIC TRANSMITTAL OF CHANGE OF AD23 DRESS OR OTHER IDENTIFYING INFORMATION.—Not 

24 later than 24 hours after receiving a change of address 

25 form or any other information indicating that identifying 


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1 information with respect to an individual which is included 

2 in the records of a voter registration agency designated 

3 under this section has been changed, the appropriate offi4 cial of such agency shall transmit such form or other in5 formation to the chief State election official, unless— 

6 ‘‘(1) the records of the agency include informa7 tion indicating that the individual is not eligible to 

8 register to vote in the State; or 

9 ‘‘(2) the individual states on the form or other10 wise indicates that the change of address or other 

11 information is not for voter registration purposes.’’. 

12 (3) INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM SOURCE

13 AGENCIES.—Not later than 24 hours after receiving 

14 a change of address form or any other information 

15 indicating that identifying information with respect 

16 to an individual which is included in the records of 

17 a source agency designated under section 111 has 

18 been changed, the appropriate official of such agency 

19 shall transmit such form or other information to the 

20 chief State election official, unless— 

21 (A) the records of the agency include infor22 mation indicating that the individual is not eli23 gible to register to vote in the State; or 

24 (B) the individual states on the form or 

25 otherwise indicates that the change of address 


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1 or other information is not for voter registra2 tion purposes. 

3 (b) REVISION OF STATEWIDE COMPUTERIZED LIST

4 TO REFLECT REVISED INFORMATION.—Section 303(a) of 

5 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)), 

6 as amended by section 102(a), is amended by adding at 

7 the end the following new paragraph: 

8 ‘‘(7) REVISION OF LIST TO REFLECT INFORMA9 TION RECEIVED FROM OTHER STATE OFFICES.— 

10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—If a State motor vehi11 cle authority (pursuant to section 5(d) of the 

12 National Voter Registration Act of 1993) a 

13 voter registration agency (designated under sec14 tion 7 of such Act), or a source agency (des15 ignated under section 111 of the Voter Reg16 istration Modernization Act of 2012) transmits 

17 to the chief State election official a change of 

18 address form or any other information indi19 cating that identifying information with respect 

20 to an individual has been changed, the appro21 priate State or local election official shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) determine whether the individual 

23 appears on the computerized list estab24 lished under this section; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) if the individual appears on the 

2 list, revise the information relating to the 

3 individual on the list to reflect the individ4 ual’s new address or other changed identi5 fying information. 

6 ‘‘(B) NOTIFICATION TO VOTERS.—If an 

7 election official revises any voter registration in8 formation on the computerized list with respect 

9 to any voter (including removing the voter from 

10 the list), immediately after revising the infor11 mation, the official shall send the individual a 

12 written notice of the revision which includes the 

13 following information: 

14 ‘‘(i) The voter’s name, date of birth, 

15 and address, as reflected in the revised in16 formation on the computerized list. 

17 ‘‘(ii) A statement that the voter’s 

18 voter registration information has been up19 dated. 

20 ‘‘(iii) Information on how to correct 

21 information on the computerized list. 

22 ‘‘(iv) A statement of the eligibility re23 quirements for registered voters in the 

24 State. 


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1 ‘‘(v) A statement (in larger font size 

2 than the other statements on the notice) 

3 that it is illegal for an individual who does 

4 not meet the eligibility requirements for 

5 registered voters in the State to vote in an 

6 election in the State. 

7 ‘‘(vi) A statement that the voter may 

8 terminate the voter’s status as a registered 

9 voter in the State, or request a change in 

10 the voter’s voter registration information, 

11 at any time by contacting the appropriate 

12 State or local election official, together 

13 with contact information for such official 

14 (including any website through which the 

15 voter may contact the official or obtain in16 formation on voter registration in the 

17 State). 

18 ‘‘(C) USE OF ELECTRONIC MAIL.—If an 

19 election official has an electronic mail address 

20 for any voter to whom the official is required to 

21 send a written notice under this paragraph, the 

22 official may meet the requirements of this para23 graph by sending the notice to the voter in elec24 tronic form at that address, but only if prior to 

25 sending the notice, the official sends a test elecVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00047 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 tronic mail to the voter at that address and re2 ceives confirmation that the address is current 

3 and valid.’’. 

4 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

5 this section shall apply with respect to elections occurring 

6 during 2014 or any succeeding year. 

7 SEC. 114. DEFINITIONS. 

8 (a) CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL.—In this sub9 title, the ‘‘chief State election official’’ means, with respect 

10 to a State, the individual designated by the State under 

11 section 10 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 

12 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–8) to be responsible for coordination 

13 of the State’s responsibilities under such Act. 

14 (b) STATE.—In this subtitle, a ‘‘State’’ includes the 

15 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

16 the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and American 

17 Samoa, but does not include any State in which, under 

18 a State law in effect continuously on and after the date 

19 of the enactment of this Act, there is no voter registration 

20 requirement for individuals in the State with respect to 

21 elections for Federal office. 

22 SEC. 115. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 This subtitle and the amendments made by this sub24 title shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled 


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1 general election for Federal office held in November 2014 

2 and each succeeding election for Federal office. 

3 Subtitle C—Other Initiatives To 

4 Promote Voter Registration 

5 SEC. 121. SAME DAY REGISTRATION. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 

7 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 

9 sections 305 and 306; and 

10 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 

11 new section: 

12 ‘‘SEC. 304. SAME DAY REGISTRATION. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

14 ‘‘(1) REGISTRATION.—Notwithstanding section 

15 8(a)(1)(D) of the National Voter Registration Act of 

16 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6), each State shall permit 

17 any eligible individual on the day of a Federal elec18 tion and on any day when voting, including early 

19 voting, is permitted for a Federal election— 

20 ‘‘(A) to register to vote in such election at 

21 the polling place using a form that meets the 

22 requirements under section 9(b) of the National 

23 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (or, if the indi24 vidual is already registered to vote, to revise 


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1 any of the individual’s voter registration infor2 mation); and 

3 ‘‘(B) to cast a vote in such election. 

4 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION.—The requirements under 

5 paragraph (1) shall not apply to a State in which, 

6 under a State law in effect continuously on and after 

7 the date of the enactment of this section, there is no 

8 voter registration requirement for individuals in the 

9 State with respect to elections for Federal office. 

10 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this 

11 section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means, with respect 

12 to any election for Federal office, an individual who is oth13 erwise qualified to vote in that election. 

14 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re15 quired to comply with the requirements of subsection (a) 

16 for the regularly scheduled general election for Federal of17 fice occurring in November 2012 and for any subsequent 

18 election for Federal office.’’. 

19 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN20 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) 

21 is amended by striking ‘‘sections 301, 302, and 303’’ and 

22 inserting ‘‘subtitle A of title III’’. 

23 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

24 of such Act is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec2 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 

3 306; and 

4 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec5 tion 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Same day registration.’’. 

6 SEC. 122. ACCEPTANCE OF VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICA7 TIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS UNDER 18 YEARS 

8 OF AGE. 

9 (a) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS.—Section 8 of 

10 the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 

11 1973gg–6), as amended by section 104, is amended— 

12 (1) by redesignating subsection (k) as sub13 section (l); and 

14 (2) by inserting after subsection (j) the fol15 lowing new subsection: 

16 ‘‘(k) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FROM INDIVID17 UALS UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE.— 

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may not refuse to 

19 accept or process an individual’s application to reg20 ister to vote in elections for Federal office on the 

21 grounds that the individual is under 18 years of age 

22 at the time the individual submits the application, so 

23 long as the individual is at least 16 years of age at 

24 such time. 


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1 ‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON STATE VOTING AGE RE2 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in paragraph (1) may be 

3 construed to require a State to permit an individual 

4 who is under 18 years of age at the time of an elec5 tion for Federal office to vote in the election.’’. 

6 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

7 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections occur8 ring on or after January 1, 2014. 

9 SEC. 123. ANNUAL REPORTS ON VOTER REGISTRATION STA10 TISTICS. 

11 (a) ANNUAL REPORT.—Not later than 90 days after 

12 the end of each year, each State shall submit to the Elec13 tion Assistance Commission and Congress a report con14 taining the following information for the year: 

15 (1) The number of individuals who were reg16 istered under section 111. 

17 (2) The number of voter registration applica18 tion forms completed by individuals that were trans19 mitted by motor vehicle authorities in the State 

20 (pursuant to section 5(d) of the National Voter Reg21 istration Act of 1993) and voter registration agen22 cies in the State (as designated under section 7 of 

23 such Act) to the chief State election official of the 

24 State, broken down by each such authority and 

25 agency. 


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1 (3) The number of such individuals whose voter 

2 registration application forms were accepted and 

3 who were registered to vote in the State and the 

4 number of such individuals whose forms were re5 jected and who were not registered to vote in the 

6 State, broken down by each such authority and 

7 agency. 

8 (4) The number of change of address forms and 

9 other forms of information indicating that an indi10 vidual’s identifying information has been changed 

11 that were transmitted by such motor vehicle authori12 ties and voter registration agencies to the chief State 

13 election official of the State, broken down by each 

14 such authority and agency and the type of form 

15 transmitted. 

16 (5) The number of individuals on the Statewide 

17 computerized voter registration list (as established 

18 and maintained under section 303 of the Help 

19 America Vote Act of 2002) whose voter registration 

20 information was revised by the chief State election 

21 official as a result of the forms transmitted to the 

22 official by such motor vehicle authorities and voter 

23 registration agencies (as described in paragraph 

24 (3)), broken down by each such authority and agen25 cy and the type of form transmitted. 


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1 (6) The number of individuals who requested 

2 the chief State election official to revise voter reg3 istration information on such list, and the number of 

4 individuals whose information was revised as a result 

5 of such a request. 

6 (b) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.—In pre7 paring and submitting a report under this section, the 

8 chief State election official shall ensure that no informa9 tion regarding the identification of any individual is re10 vealed. 

11 (c) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, a ‘‘State’’ in12 cludes the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of 

13 Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, and 

14 American Samoa, but does not include any State in which, 

15 under a State law in effect continuously on and after the 

16 date of the enactment of this Act, there is no voter reg17 istration requirement for individuals in the State with re18 spect to elections for Federal office. 

19 Subtitle D—Availability of HAVA 

20 Requirements Payments 

21 SEC. 131. AVAILABILITY OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS 

22 UNDER HAVA TO COVER COSTS OF COMPLI23 ANCE WITH NEW REQUIREMENTS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 251(b) of the Help Amer25 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401(b)) is amended— 


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1 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘(2) and (3)’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘(2), (3), and (4)’’; and 

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

4 paragraph: 

5 ‘‘(4) CERTAIN VOTER REGISTRATION ACTIVI6 TIES.—A State may use a requirements payment to 

7 carry out any of the requirements of the Voter Reg8 istration Modernization Act of 2012, including the 

9 requirements of the National Voter Registration Act 

10 of 1993 which are imposed pursuant to the amend11 ments made to such Act by the Voter Registration 

12 Modernization Act of 2012.’’. 

13 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 254(a)(1) 

14 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15404(a)(1)) is amended by strik15 ing ‘‘section 251(a)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 

16 251(b)(2)’’. 

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply with respect to fiscal year 2013 

19 and each succeeding fiscal year. 


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1 Subtitle E—Prohibiting Inter2 ference With Voter Registration 

3 SEC. 141. PROHIBITING HINDERING, INTERFERING WITH, 

4 OR PREVENTING VOTER REGISTRATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

6 States Code is amended by adding at the end the following 

7 new section: 

8 ‘‘§ 612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing 

9 registering to vote 

10 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per11 son, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to 

12 corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person 

13 from registering to vote or aiding another person in reg14 istering to vote in any election for Federal office. 

15 ‘‘(b) ATTEMPT.—Any person who attempts to commit 

16 any offense described in subsection (a) shall be subject to 

17 the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense that 

18 the person attempted to commit. 

19 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

20 (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 

21 than 5 years, or both. 

22 ‘‘(d) ELECTION FOR FEDERAL OFFICE DEFINED.— 

23 For purposes of this section, the term ‘election for Federal 

24 office’ means a general, special, primary, or runoff election 

25 held to nominate or elect a candidate for the office of 


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1 President or Vice President, presidential elector, or of 

2 Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resident 

3 Commissioner to, the Congress.’’. 

4 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

5 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code is amended 

6 by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing registering to vote.’’. 

7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 

9 or after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 

10 no person may be found to have violated section 612 of 

11 title 18, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)) 

12 on the basis of any act occurring prior to the date of the 

13 enactment of this Act. 

14 SEC. 142. ESTABLISHMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 

15 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist17 ance Commission shall develop and publish recommenda18 tions for best practices for States to use to deter and pre19 vent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 

20 Code (as added by section 141) and section 12 of the Na21 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg– 

22 10) (relating to the unlawful interference with registering 

23 to vote, or voting, or attempting to register to vote or 

24 vote), including practices to provide for the posting of rel25 evant information at polling places and voter registration 


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1 agencies under such Act, the training of poll workers and 

2 election officials, and relevant educational materials. For 

3 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘‘State’’ includes the 

4 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

5 Guam, American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Is6 lands. 

7 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTER INFORMATION REQUIRE8 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 

9 of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482(b)(2)) is amended— 

10 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara11 graph (E); 

12 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub13 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

14 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub15 paragraph: 

16 ‘‘(G) information relating to the prohibi17 tions of section 612 of title 18, United States 

18 Code, and section 12 of the National Voter 

19 Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg– 

20 10) (relating to the unlawful interference with 

21 registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to 

22 register to vote or vote), including information 

23 on how individuals may report allegations of 

24 violations of such prohibitions.’’. 


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1 TITLE II—ACCESS TO VOTING 

2 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS3 ABILITIES 

4 SEC. 201. REQUIREMENTS FOR STATES TO PROMOTE AC5 CESS TO VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTING 

6 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

7 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 

8 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.), 

9 as amended by section 114, is amended— 

10 (1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as 

11 sections 306 and 307; and 

12 (2) by inserting after section 304 the following 

13 new section: 

14 ‘‘SEC. 305. ACCESS TO VOTER REGISTRATION AND VOTING 

15 FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

16 ‘‘(a) TREATMENT OF APPLICATIONS AND BAL17 LOTS.—Each State shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) permit individuals with disabilities to use 

19 absentee registration procedures and to vote by ab20 sentee ballot in elections for Federal office; 

21 ‘‘(2) accept and process, with respect to any 

22 election for Federal office, any otherwise valid voter 

23 registration application and absentee ballot applica24 tion from an individual with a disability if the appliVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00059 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 cation is received by the appropriate State election 

2 official not less than 30 days before the election; 

3 ‘‘(3) in addition to any other method of reg4 istering to vote or applying for an absentee ballot in 

5 the State, establish procedures— 

6 ‘‘(A) for individuals with disabilities to re7 quest by mail and electronically voter registra8 tion applications and absentee ballot applica9 tions with respect to elections for Federal office 

10 in accordance with subsection (c); 

11 ‘‘(B) for States to send by mail and elec12 tronically (in accordance with the preferred 

13 method of transmission designated by the indi14 vidual under subparagraph (C)) voter registra15 tion applications and absentee ballot applica16 tions requested under subparagraph (A) in ac17 cordance with subsection (c); and 

18 ‘‘(C) by which such an individual can des19 ignate whether the individual prefers that such 

20 voter registration application or absentee ballot 

21 application be transmitted by mail or electroni22 cally; 

23 ‘‘(4) in addition to any other method of trans24 mitting blank absentee ballots in the State, establish 

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1 cally blank absentee ballots to individuals with dis2 abilities with respect to elections for Federal office 

3 in accordance with subsection (d); 

4 ‘‘(5) transmit a validly requested absentee bal5 lot to an individual with a disability— 

6 ‘‘(A) except as provided in subsection (e), 

7 in the case in which the request is received at 

8 least 45 days before an election for Federal of9 fice, not later than 45 days before the election; 

10 and 

11 ‘‘(B) in the case in which the request is re12 ceived less than 45 days before an election for 

13 Federal office— 

14 ‘‘(i) in accordance with State law; and 

15 ‘‘(ii) if practicable and as determined 

16 appropriate by the State, in a manner that 

17 expedites the transmission of such absen18 tee ballot; and 

19 ‘‘(6) if the State declares or otherwise holds a 

20 runoff election for Federal office, establish a written 

21 plan that provides absentee ballots are made avail22 able to individuals with disabilities in a manner that 

23 gives them sufficient time to vote in the runoff elec24 tion. 


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1 ‘‘(b) DESIGNATION OF SINGLE STATE OFFICE TO

2 PROVIDE INFORMATION ON REGISTRATION AND ABSEN3 TEE BALLOT PROCEDURES FOR ALL DISABLED VOTERS

4 IN STATE.—Each State shall designate a single office 

5 which shall be responsible for providing information re6 garding voter registration procedures and absentee ballot 

7 procedures to be used by individuals with disabilities with 

8 respect to elections for Federal office to all individuals 

9 with disabilities who wish to register to vote or vote in 

10 any jurisdiction in the State. 

11 ‘‘(c) DESIGNATION OF MEANS OF ELECTRONIC COM12 MUNICATION FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES TO

13 REQUEST AND FOR STATES TO SEND VOTER REGISTRA14 TION APPLICATIONS AND ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICA15 TIONS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES RELATED TO VOTING

16 INFORMATION.— 

17 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall, in addi18 tion to the designation of a single State office under 

19 subsection (b), designate not less than 1 means of 

20 electronic communication— 

21 ‘‘(A) for use by individuals with disabilities 

22 who wish to register to vote or vote in any ju23 risdiction in the State to request voter registra24 tion applications and absentee ballot applica25 tions under subsection (a)(3); 


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1 ‘‘(B) for use by States to send voter reg2 istration applications and absentee ballot appli3 cations requested under such subsection; and 

4 ‘‘(C) for the purpose of providing related 

5 voting, balloting, and election information to in6 dividuals with disabilities. 

7 ‘‘(2) CLARIFICATION REGARDING PROVISION OF

8 MULTIPLE MEANS OF ELECTRONIC COMMUNICA9 TION.—A State may, in addition to the means of 

10 electronic communication so designated, provide 

11 multiple means of electronic communication to indi12 viduals with disabilities, including a means of elec13 tronic communication for the appropriate jurisdic14 tion of the State. 

15 ‘‘(3) INCLUSION OF DESIGNATED MEANS OF

16 ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATION WITH INFORMA17 TIONAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS THAT AC18 COMPANY BALLOTING MATERIALS.—Each State shall 

19 include a means of electronic communication so des20 ignated with all informational and instructional ma21 terials that accompany balloting materials sent by 

22 the State to individuals with disabilities. 

23 ‘‘(4) TRANSMISSION IF NO PREFERENCE INDI24 CATED.—In the case where an individual with a dis25 ability does not designate a preference under subVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00063 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 section (a)(3)(C), the State shall transmit the voter 

2 registration application or absentee ballot application 

3 by any delivery method allowable in accordance with 

4 applicable State law, or if there is no applicable 

5 State law, by mail. 

6 ‘‘(d) TRANSMISSION OF BLANK ABSENTEE BALLOTS

7 BY MAIL AND ELECTRONICALLY.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall establish 

9 procedures— 

10 ‘‘(A) to transmit blank absentee ballots by 

11 mail and electronically (in accordance with the 

12 preferred method of transmission designated by 

13 the individual with a disability under subpara14 graph (B)) to individuals with disabilities for an 

15 election for Federal office; and 

16 ‘‘(B) by which the individual with a dis17 ability can designate whether the individual pre18 fers that such blank absentee ballot be trans19 mitted by mail or electronically. 

20 ‘‘(2) TRANSMISSION IF NO PREFERENCE INDI21 CATED.—In the case where an individual with a dis22 ability does not designate a preference under para23 graph (1)(B), the State shall transmit the ballot by 

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1 plicable State law, or if there is no applicable State 

2 law, by mail. 

3 ‘‘(e) HARDSHIP EXEMPTION.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the chief State election 

5 official determines that the State is unable to meet 

6 the requirement under subsection (a)(5)(A) with re7 spect to an election for Federal office due to an 

8 undue hardship described in paragraph (2)(B), the 

9 chief State election official shall request that the At10 torney General grant a waiver to the State of the 

11 application of such subsection. Such request shall in12 clude— 

13 ‘‘(A) a recognition that the purpose of 

14 such subsection is to individuals with disabil15 ities enough time to vote in an election for Fed16 eral office; 

17 ‘‘(B) an explanation of the hardship that 

18 indicates why the State is unable to transmit 

19 such individuals an absentee ballot in accord20 ance with such subsection; 

21 ‘‘(C) the number of days prior to the elec22 tion for Federal office that the State requires 

23 absentee ballots be transmitted to such individ24 uals; and 


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1 ‘‘(D) a comprehensive plan to ensure that 

2 such individuals are able to receive absentee 

3 ballots which they have requested and submit 

4 marked absentee ballots to the appropriate 

5 State election official in time to have that ballot 

6 counted in the election for Federal office, which 

7 includes— 

8 ‘‘(i) the steps the State will undertake 

9 to ensure that such individuals have time 

10 to receive, mark, and submit their ballots 

11 in time to have those ballots counted in the 

12 election; 

13 ‘‘(ii) why the plan provides such indi14 viduals sufficient time to vote as a sub15 stitute for the requirements under such 

16 subsection; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) the underlying factual informa18 tion which explains how the plan provides 

19 such sufficient time to vote as a substitute 

20 for such requirements. 

21 ‘‘(2) APPROVAL OF WAIVER REQUEST.—The 

22 Attorney General shall approve a waiver request 

23 under paragraph (1) if the Attorney General deter24 mines each of the following requirements are met: 


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1 ‘‘(A) The comprehensive plan under sub2 paragraph (D) of such paragraph provides indi3 viduals with disabilities sufficient time to re4 ceive absentee ballots they have requested and 

5 submit marked absentee ballots to the appro6 priate State election official in time to have that 

7 ballot counted in the election for Federal office. 

8 ‘‘(B) One or more of the following issues 

9 creates an undue hardship for the State: 

10 ‘‘(i) The State’s primary election date 

11 prohibits the State from complying with 

12 subsection (a)(5)(A). 

13 ‘‘(ii) The State has suffered a delay in 

14 generating ballots due to a legal contest. 

15 ‘‘(iii) The State Constitution prohibits 

16 the State from complying with such sub17 section. 

18 ‘‘(3) TIMING OF WAIVER.— 

19 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided 

20 under subparagraph (B), a State that requests 

21 a waiver under paragraph (1) shall submit to 

22 the Attorney General the written waiver request 

23 not later than 90 days before the election for 

24 Federal office with respect to which the request 

25 is submitted. The Attorney General shall apVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00067 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 prove or deny the waiver request not later than 

2 65 days before such election. 

3 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—If a State requests a 

4 waiver under paragraph (1) as the result of an 

5 undue hardship described in paragraph 

6 (2)(B)(ii), the State shall submit to the Attor7 ney General the written waiver request as soon 

8 as practicable. The Attorney General shall ap9 prove or deny the waiver request not later than 

10 5 business days after the date on which the re11 quest is received. 

12 ‘‘(4) APPLICATION OF WAIVER.—A waiver ap13 proved under paragraph (2) shall only apply with re14 spect to the election for Federal office for which the 

15 request was submitted. For each subsequent election 

16 for Federal office, the Attorney General shall only 

17 approve a waiver if the State has submitted a re18 quest under paragraph (1) with respect to such elec19 tion. 

20 ‘‘(f) INDIVIDUAL WITH A DISABILITY DEFINED.—In 

21 this section, an ‘individual with a disability’ means an in22 dividual with an impairment that substantially limits any 

23 major life activities and who is otherwise qualified to vote 

24 in elections for Federal office. 


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1 ‘‘(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

2 with respect to elections for Federal office held on or after 

3 January 1, 2014.’’. 

4 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

5 ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS6 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (42 

7 U.S.C. 15501(b)) is amended— 

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

9 (2); 

10 (2) by striking the period at the end of para11 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

13 paragraph: 

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

15 respect to section 305, January 1, 2014.’’. 

16 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

17 of such Act, as amended by section 114(c), is amended— 

18 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec19 tions 305 and 306 as relating to sections 306 and 

20 307; and 

21 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec22 tion 304 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 305. Access to voter registration and voting for individuals with disabilities.’’. 


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1 SEC. 202. PILOT PROGRAMS FOR ENABLING INDIVIDUALS 

2 WITH DISABILITIES TO REGISTER TO VOTE 

3 AND VOTE PRIVATELY AND INDEPENDENTLY 

4 AT RESIDENCES. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAMS.—The 

6 Election Assistance Commission (hereafter referred to as 

7 the ‘‘Commission’’) shall make grants to eligible States to 

8 conduct pilot programs under which— 

9 (1) individuals with disabilities may use elec10 tronic means (including the Internet and telephones 

11 utilizing assistive devices) to register to vote and to 

12 request and receive absentee ballots, in a manner 

13 which permits such individuals to do so privately 

14 and independently at their own residences; and 

15 (2) individuals with disabilities may use the 

16 telephone to cast ballots electronically from their 

17 own residences, but only if the telephone used is not 

18 connected to the Internet. 

19 (b) REPORTS.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State receiving a grant for 

21 a year under this section shall submit a report to the 

22 Commission on the pilot programs the State carried 

23 out with the grant with respect to elections for pub24 lic office held in the State during the year. 

25 (2) DEADLINE.—A State shall submit a report 

26 under paragraph (1) not later than 90 days after 


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1 the last election for public office held in the State 

2 during the year. 

3 (c) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 

4 grant under this section if the State submits to the Com5 mission, at such time and in such form as the Commission 

6 may require, an application containing such information 

7 and assurances as the Commission may require. 

8 (d) TIMING.—The Commission shall make the first 

9 grants under this section for pilot programs which will be 

10 in effect with respect to elections for Federal office held 

11 in 2014, or, at the option of a State, with respect to other 

12 elections for public office held in the State 2013. 

13 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

14 are authorized to be appropriated for grants for pilot pro15 grams under this section $30,000,000 for fiscal year 2013 

16 and each succeeding fiscal year. 

17 (f) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

18 ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia, the Common19 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

20 United States Virgin Islands. 

21 SEC. 203. EXPANSION AND REAUTHORIZATION OF GRANT 

22 PROGRAM TO ASSURE VOTING ACCESS FOR 

23 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

24 (a) PURPOSES OF PAYMENTS.—Section 261(b) of the 

25 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15421(b)) is 


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1 amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting 

2 the following: 

3 ‘‘(1) making absentee voting and voting at 

4 home accessible to individuals with the full range of 

5 disabilities (including impairments involving vision, 

6 hearing, mobility, or dexterity) through the imple7 mentation of accessible absentee voting systems that 

8 work in conjunction with assistive technologies for 

9 which individuals have access at their homes, inde10 pendent living centers, or other facilities; 

11 ‘‘(2) making polling places, including the path 

12 of travel, entrances, exits, and voting areas of each 

13 polling facility, accessible to individuals with disabil14 ities, including the blind and visually impaired, in a 

15 manner that provides the same opportunity for ac16 cess and participation (including privacy and inde17 pendence) as for other voters; and 

18 ‘‘(3) providing solutions to problems of access 

19 to voting and elections for individuals with disabil20 ities that are universally designed and provide the 

21 same opportunities for individuals with and without 

22 disabilities.’’. 

23 (b) REAUTHORIZATION.—Section 264(a) of such Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 15424(a)) is amended by adding at the end 

25 the following new paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(4) For fiscal year 2013 and each succeeding 

2 fiscal year, such sums as may be necessary to carry 

3 out this part.’’. 

4 (c) PERIOD OF AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Section 

5 264 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15424) is amended— 

6 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘Any 

7 amounts’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in sub8 section (b), any amounts’’; and 

9 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub10 section: 

11 ‘‘(c) RETURN AND TRANSFER OF CERTAIN FUNDS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) DEADLINE FOR OBLIGATION AND EXPEND13 ITURE.—In the case of any amounts appropriated 

14 pursuant to the authority of subsection (a) for a 

15 payment to a State or unit of local government for 

16 fiscal year 2013 or any succeeding fiscal year, any 

17 portion of such amounts which have not been obli18 gated or expended by the State or unit of local gov19 ernment prior to the expiration of the 4-year period 

20 which begins on the date the State or unit of local 

21 government first received the amounts shall be 

22 transferred to the Commission. 

23 ‘‘(2) REALLOCATION OF TRANSFERRED

24 AMOUNTS.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 

2 use the amounts transferred under paragraph 

3 (1) to make payments on a pro rata basis to 

4 each covered payment recipient described in 

5 subparagraph (B), which may obligate and ex6 pend such payment for the purposes described 

7 in section 261(b) during the 1-year period 

8 which begins on the date of receipt. 

9 ‘‘(B) COVERED PAYMENT RECIPIENTS DE10 SCRIBED.—In subparagraph (A), a ‘covered 

11 payment recipient’ is a State or unit of local 

12 government with respect to which— 

13 ‘‘(i) amounts were appropriated pur14 suant to the authority of subsection (a); 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(ii) no amounts were transferred to 

17 the Commission under paragraph (1).’’. 

18 TITLE III—PROHIBITING VOTER 

19 CAGING 

20 SEC. 301. VOTER CAGING AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE 

21 CHALLENGES PROHIBITED. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

23 States Code, as amended by section 141(a), is amended 

24 by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘§ 613. Voter caging and other questionable chal2 lenges 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘voter caging document’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) a nonforwardable document that is 

6 returned to the sender or a third party as unde7 livered or undeliverable despite an attempt to 

8 deliver such document to the address of a reg9 istered voter or applicant; or 

10 ‘‘(B) any document with instructions to an 

11 addressee that the document be returned to the 

12 sender or a third party but is not so returned, 

13 despite an attempt to deliver such document to 

14 the address of a registered voter or applicant, 

15 unless at least two Federal election cycles have 

16 passed since the date of the attempted delivery; 

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘voter caging list’ means a list of 

18 individuals compiled from voter caging documents; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘unverified match list’ means a 

21 list produced by matching the information of reg22 istered voters or applicants for voter registration to 

23 a list of individuals who are ineligible to vote in the 

24 registrar’s jurisdiction, by virtue of death, convic25 tion, change of address, or otherwise; unless one of 

26 the pieces of information matched includes a signaVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00075 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 ture, photograph, or unique identifying number en2 suring that the information from each source refers 

3 to the same individual. 

4 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION AGAINST VOTER CAGING.—No 

5 State or local election official shall prevent an individual 

6 from registering or voting in any election for Federal of7 fice, or permit in connection with any election for Federal 

8 office a formal challenge under State law to an individual’s 

9 registration status or eligibility to vote, if the basis for 

10 such decision is evidence consisting of— 

11 ‘‘(1) a voter caging document or voter caging 

12 list; 

13 ‘‘(2) an unverified match list; 

14 ‘‘(3) an error or omission on any record or 

15 paper relating to any application, registration, or 

16 other act requisite to voting, if such error or omis17 sion is not material to an individual’s eligibility to 

18 vote under section 2004 of the Revised Statutes, as 

19 amended (42 U.S.C. 1971(a)(2)(B)); or 

20 ‘‘(4) any other evidence so designated for pur21 poses of this section by the Election Assistance Com22 mission, 

23 except that the election official may use such evidence if 

24 it is corroborated by independent evidence of the individ25 ual’s ineligibility to register or vote. 


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1 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES BY PERSONS

2 OTHER THAN ELECTION OFFICIALS.—No person, other 

3 than a State or local election official, shall submit a formal 

4 challenge to an individual’s eligibility to register to vote 

5 in an election for Federal office or to vote in an election 

6 for Federal office unless that challenge is supported by 

7 personal knowledge regarding the grounds for ineligibility 

8 which is— 

9 ‘‘(1) documented in writing; and 

10 ‘‘(2) subject to an oath or attestation under 

11 penalty of perjury that the challenger has a good 

12 faith factual basis to believe that the individual who 

13 is the subject of the challenge is ineligible to register 

14 to vote or vote in that election. 

15 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES FOR KNOWING MISCONDUCT.— 

16 Whoever knowingly challenges the eligibility of one or 

17 more individuals to register or vote or knowingly causes 

18 the eligibility of such individuals to be challenged in viola19 tion of this section with the intent that one or more eligi20 ble voters be disqualified, shall be fined under this title 

21 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, for each such 

22 violation. Each violation shall be a separate offense. 

23 ‘‘(e) NO EFFECT ON RELATED LAWS.—Nothing in 

24 this section is intended to override the protections of the 

25 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 


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1 1973gg et seq.) or to affect the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

2 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.).’’. 

3 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

4 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, as amended 

5 by section 141(b), is amended by adding at the end the 

6 following: 

‘‘613. Voter caging and other questionable challenges.’’. 

7 SEC. 302. DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OF BEST PRAC8 TICES FOR PREVENTING VOTER CAGING. 

9 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 

10 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist11 ance Commission shall develop and publish for the use of 

12 States recommendations for best practices to deter and 

13 prevent violations of section 613 of title 18, United States 

14 Code, as added by section 301(a), including practices to 

15 provide for the posting of relevant information at polling 

16 places and voter registration agencies, the training of poll 

17 workers and election officials, and relevant educational 

18 measures. For purposes of this subsection, the term 

19 ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia, the Common20 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

21 United States Virgin Islands. 

22 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTING INFORMATION REQUIRE23 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 

24 of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482(b)(2)), as amended by section 

25 141(b), is amended— 


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1 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara2 graph (F); 

3 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub4 paragraph (G) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

5 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(H) information relating to the prohibi8 tion against voter caging and other questionable 

9 challenges (as set forth in section 613 of title 

10 18, United States Code), including information 

11 on how individuals may report allegations of 

12 violations of such prohibition.’’. 

13 SEC. 303. SEVERABILITY. 

14 If any provision of this title or any amendment made 

15 by this title, or the application of a provision to any person 

16 or circumstance, is held to be unconstitutional, the re17 mainder of this title and the amendments made by this 

18 title, and the application of the provisions to any person 

19 or circumstance, shall not be affected by the holding. 


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1 TITLE IV—PROHIBITING 

2 DECEPTIVE PRACTICES 

3 SEC. 401. PROHIBITION ON DECEPTIVE PRACTICES IN FED4 ERAL ELECTIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, as amended by section 141(a) and section 

7 301(a), is amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘§ 614. False election-related information in Federal 

9 elections 

10 ‘‘(a) A person, including an election official, who in 

11 any election for Federal office knowingly and willfully de12 prives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the 

13 residents of a State of their free and fair exercise of the 

14 right to vote by the communication of election-related in15 formation that is known by the person to be materially 

16 false, fictitious, or fraudulent shall be fined under this title 

17 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both. 

18 ‘‘(b) As used in this section— 

19 ‘‘(1) the term ‘election for Federal office’ means 

20 any general, primary, runoff, or special election for 

21 the office of President, Vice President, presidential 

22 elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House 

23 of Representatives, or Delegate or Resident Commis24 sioner to the Congress; and 


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1 ‘‘(2) the term ‘election-related information’ 

2 means any oral or written communication regard3 ing— 

4 ‘‘(A) the time or place of an election for 

5 Federal office; 

6 ‘‘(B) criminal penalties associated with 

7 voting in such an election; 

8 ‘‘(C) an individual’s voter registration sta9 tus or eligibility to vote in such an election; or 

10 ‘‘(D) the explicit endorsement by any per11 son or organization of a candidate in such an 

12 election.’’. 

13 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

14 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, as amended 

15 by section 141(b) and section 301(b), is amended by add16 ing at the end the following new item: 

‘‘614. False election-related information in Federal elections.’’. 

17 SEC. 402. MODIFICATION OF PENALTY FOR VOTER INTIMI18 DATION. 

19 Section 594 of title 18, United States Code, is 

20 amended by striking ‘‘one year’’ and inserting ‘‘5 years’’. 

21 SEC. 403. SENTENCING GUIDELINES. 

22 (a) REVIEW AND AMENDMENT.—Not later than 90 

23 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the United 

24 States Sentencing Commission, pursuant to its authority 

25 under section 994 of title 28, United States Code, and 


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1 in accordance with this section, shall review and, if appro2 priate, amend the Federal sentencing guidelines and policy 

3 statements applicable to persons convicted of any offense 

4 under any sections of title 18, United States Code, that 

5 are added or modified by this Act. 

6 (b) AUTHORIZATION.—The United States Sentencing 

7 Commission may, for the purposes of the amendments 

8 made pursuant to this title, amend the Federal sentencing 

9 guidelines in accordance with the procedures set forth in 

10 section 21(a) of the Sentencing Act of 1987 (28 U.S.C. 

11 994 note) as though the authority under that section had 

12 not expired. 

13 SEC. 404. REPORTING VIOLATIONS; CORRECTIVE ACTION. 

14 (a) REPORTING.—Any person may submit a report 

15 to the Attorney General regarding any violation or possible 

16 violation of section 594 or section 614 of title 18, United 

17 States Code (as added by section 401(a)). 

18 (b) CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—Immediately after receiving 

20 a report under subsection (a), the Attorney General 

21 shall consider and review the report, and if the At22 torney General determines that there is a reasonable 

23 basis to find that a violation included in the report 

24 has occurred, the Attorney General shall— 


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1 (A) undertake all effective measures nec2 essary to provide correct information to voters 

3 affected by the false information; and 

4 (B) refer the matter to the appropriate 

5 Federal and State authorities for criminal pros6 ecution or civil action after the election in7 volved. 

8 (2) REGULATIONS.—The Attorney General shall 

9 promulgate regulations regarding the methods and 

10 means of corrective actions to be taken under para11 graph (1). Such regulations shall be developed in 

12 consultation with the Election Assistance Commis13 sion, civil rights organizations, voting rights groups, 

14 State and local election officials, voter protection 

15 groups, and other interested community organiza16 tions. 

17 (3) STUDY AND REPORT ON METHODS OF DIS18 SEMINATING CORRECTIVE INFORMATION.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General, 

20 in consultation with the Federal Communica21 tions Commission and the Election Assistance 

22 Commission, shall conduct a study on the feasi23 bility of providing the corrective information 

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1 nouncements, the emergency alert system, or 

2 other forms of public broadcast. 

3 (B) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days 

4 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

5 Attorney General shall submit to Congress a re6 port detailing the results of the study conducted 

7 under subparagraph (A). 

8 (4) PUBLICIZING AVAILABILITY OF REM9 EDIES.—The Attorney General shall make public 

10 through the Internet, radio, television, and news11 paper advertisements information on the responsibil12 ities, contact information, and complaint procedures 

13 applicable under this section. 

14 (c) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 90 days after 

16 any election with respect to which a report has been 

17 submitted under subsection (a), the Attorney Gen18 eral shall submit to Congress a report compiling all 

19 such reports submitted under subsection (a) with re20 spect to that election. 

21 (2) CONTENTS.— 

22 (A) IN GENERAL.—Each report submitted 

23 under paragraph (1) shall include— 

24 (i) detailed information on specific al25 legations; 


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1 (ii) statistical compilations of how 

2 many allegations were made and of what 

3 type; 

4 (iii) the geographic locations of and 

5 the populations affected by the alleged vio6 lations; 

7 (iv) the status of the investigations of 

8 such allegations; 

9 (v) any corrective actions taken in re10 sponse to such allegations; 

11 (vi) the rationale used for any correc12 tive actions or for any refusal to pursue an 

13 allegation; 

14 (vii) the effectiveness of any such cor15 rective actions; 

16 (viii) whether a Voting Integrity Task 

17 Force was established with respect to such 

18 election, and, if so, how such task force 

19 was staffed and funded; 

20 (ix) any referrals of information to 

21 other Federal, State, or local agencies; and 

22 (x) any criminal prosecution instituted 

23 under title 18, United States Code, in con24 nection with such allegations. 


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1 (3) REPORT MADE PUBLIC.—On the date that 

2 the Attorney General submits the report under para3 graph (1), the Attorney General shall also make the 

4 report publicly available through the Internet and 

5 other appropriate means. 

6 (d) DELEGATION OF DUTIES.— 

7 (1) USE OF VOTING INTEGRITY TASK FORCE.— 

8 The Attorney General shall delegate the responsibil9 ities under this section with respect to a particular 

10 election to a Voting Integrity Task Force established 

11 by the Attorney General for such purpose. 

12 (2) COMPOSITION.—A Voting Integrity Task 

13 Force established under paragraph (1) shall be 

14 under the direction of the Assistant Attorney Gen15 eral for the Civil Rights Division and the Assistant 

16 Attorney General for the Criminal Division, acting 

17 jointly. 

18 TITLE V—DEMOCRACY 

19 RESTORATION 

20 SEC. 501. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 

21 The right of an individual who is a citizen of the 

22 United States to vote in any election for Federal office 

23 shall not be denied or abridged because that individual has 

24 been convicted of a criminal offense unless such individual 


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1 is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution 

2 or facility at the time of the election. 

3 SEC. 502. ENFORCEMENT. 

4 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

5 may, in a civil action, obtain such declaratory or injunctive 

6 relief as is necessary to remedy a violation of this title. 

7 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

8 (1) A person who is aggrieved by a violation of 

9 this title may provide written notice of the violation 

10 to the chief election official of the State involved. 

11 (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3), if the 

12 violation is not corrected within 90 days after receipt 

13 of a notice under paragraph (1), or within 20 days 

14 after receipt of the notice if the violation occurred 

15 within 120 days before the date of an election for 

16 Federal office, the aggrieved person may, in a civil 

17 action, obtain declaratory or injunctive relief with re18 spect to the violation. 

19 (3) If the violation occurred within 30 days be20 fore the date of an election for Federal office, the 

21 aggrieved person need not provide notice to the chief 

22 election official of the State under paragraph (1) be23 fore bringing a civil action to obtain declaratory or 

24 injunctive relief with respect to the violation. 


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1 SEC. 503. NOTIFICATION OF RESTORATION OF VOTING 

2 RIGHTS. 

3 (a) STATE NOTIFICATION.— 

4 (1) NOTIFICATION.—On the date determined 

5 under paragraph (2), each State shall notify in writ6 ing any individual who has been convicted of a 

7 criminal offense under the law of that State that 

8 such individual has the right to vote in an election 

9 for Federal office pursuant to this title and may reg10 ister to vote in any such election. 

11 (2) DATE OF NOTIFICATION.— 

12 (A) FELONY CONVICTION.—In the case of 

13 such an individual who has been convicted of a 

14 felony, the notification required under para15 graph (1) shall be given on the date on which 

16 the individual— 

17 (i) is sentenced to serve only a term 

18 of probation; or 

19 (ii) is released from the custody of 

20 that State (other than to the custody of 

21 another State or the Federal Government 

22 to serve a term of imprisonment for a fel23 ony conviction). 

24 (B) MISDEMEANOR CONVICTION.—In the 

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1 quired under paragraph (1) shall be given on 

2 the date on which such individual is sentenced 

3 by a State court. 

4 (b) FEDERAL NOTIFICATION.— 

5 (1) NOTIFICATION.—On the date determined 

6 under paragraph (2), the Director of the Bureau of 

7 Prisons shall notify in writing any individual who 

8 has been convicted of a criminal offense under Fed9 eral law that such individual has the right to vote 

10 in an election for Federal office pursuant to this 

11 title and may register to vote in any such election. 

12 (2) DATE OF NOTIFICATION.— 

13 (A) FELONY CONVICTION.—In the case of 

14 such an individual who has been convicted of a 

15 felony, the notification required under para16 graph (1) shall be given on the date on which 

17 the individual— 

18 (i) is sentenced to serve only a term 

19 of probation by a court established by an 

20 Act of Congress; or 

21 (ii) is released from the custody of the 

22 Bureau of Prisons (other than to the cus23 tody of a State to serve a term of impris24 onment for a felony conviction). 


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1 (B) MISDEMEANOR CONVICTION.—In the 

2 case of such an individual who has been con3 victed of a misdemeanor, the notification re4 quired under paragraph (1) shall be given on 

5 the date on which such individual is sentenced 

6 by a State court. 

7 SEC. 504. DEFINITIONS. 

8 For purposes of this title: 

9 (1) CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION OR FACIL10 ITY.—The term ‘‘correctional institution or facility’’ 

11 means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institu12 tion or facility for the confinement of individuals 

13 convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly or 

14 privately operated, except that such term does not 

15 include any residential community treatment center 

16 (or similar public or private facility). 

17 (2) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ means— 

18 (A) a general, special, primary, or runoff 

19 election; 

20 (B) a convention or caucus of a political 

21 party held to nominate a candidate; 

22 (C) a primary election held for the selec23 tion of delegates to a national nominating con24 vention of a political party; or 


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1 (D) a primary election held for the expres2 sion of a preference for the nomination of per3 sons for election to the office of President. 

4 (3) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of5 fice’’ means the office of President or Vice President 

6 of the United States, or of Senator or Representa7 tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, 

8 the Congress of the United States. 

9 (4) PROBATION.—The term ‘‘probation’’ means 

10 probation, imposed by a Federal, State, or local 

11 court, with or without a condition on the individual 

12 involved concerning— 

13 (A) the individual’s freedom of movement; 

14 (B) the payment of damages by the indi15 vidual; 

16 (C) periodic reporting by the individual to 

17 an officer of the court; or 

18 (D) supervision of the individual by an of19 ficer of the court. 

20 SEC. 505. RELATION TO OTHER LAWS. 

21 (a) STATE LAWS RELATING TO VOTING RIGHTS.— 

22 Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit the 

23 States from enacting any State law which affords the right 

24 to vote in any election for Federal office on terms less 

25 restrictive than those established by this title. 


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1 (b) CERTAIN FEDERAL ACTS.—The rights and rem2 edies established by this title are in addition to all other 

3 rights and remedies provided by law, and neither rights 

4 and remedies established by this title shall supersede, re5 strict, or limit the application of the Voting Rights Act 

6 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.) or the National Voter 

7 Registration Act (42 U.S.C. 1973gg). 

8 SEC. 506. FEDERAL PRISON FUNDS. 

9 No State, unit of local government, or other person 

10 may receive or use, to construct or otherwise improve a 

11 prison, jail, or other place of incarceration, any Federal 

12 grant amounts unless that person has in effect a program 

13 under which each individual incarcerated in that person’s 

14 jurisdiction who is a citizen of the United States is noti15 fied, upon release from such incarceration, of that individ16 ual’s rights under section 501. 

17 SEC. 507. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

18 This title shall apply to citizens of the United States 

19 voting in any election for Federal office held after the date 

20 of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 TITLE VI—ACCURACY, INTEG2 RITY, AND SECURITY OF 

3 ELECTIONS 

4 SEC. 600. SHORT TITLE. 

5 This title may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Confidence and 

6 Increased Accessibility Act of 2012’’. 

7 Subtitle A—Promoting Accuracy, 

8 Integrity, and Security Through 

9 Voter-Verified Permanent Paper 

10 Ballot 

11 SEC. 601. PAPER BALLOT AND MANUAL COUNTING RE12 QUIREMENTS. 

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(2) of the Help 

14 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(2)) is 

15 amended to read as follows: 

16 ‘‘(2) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 

17 ‘‘(A) VOTER-VERIFIED PAPER BALLOTS.— 

18 ‘‘(i) PAPER BALLOT REQUIREMENT.— 

19 (I) The voting system shall require the use 

20 of an individual, durable, voter-verified, 

21 paper ballot of the voter’s vote that shall 

22 be marked and made available for inspec23 tion and verification by the voter before 

24 the voter’s vote is cast and counted, and 

25 which shall be counted by hand or read by 


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1 an optical character recognition device or 

2 other counting device. For purposes of this 

3 subclause, the term ‘individual, durable, 

4 voter-verified, paper ballot’ means a paper 

5 ballot marked by the voter by hand or a 

6 paper ballot marked through the use of a 

7 nontabulating ballot marking device or sys8 tem, so long as the voter shall have the op9 tion to mark his or her ballot by hand. 

10 ‘‘(II) The voting system shall provide 

11 the voter with an opportunity to correct 

12 any error on the paper ballot before the 

13 permanent voter-verified paper ballot is 

14 preserved in accordance with clause (ii). 

15 ‘‘(III) The voting system shall not 

16 preserve the voter-verified paper ballots in 

17 any manner that makes it possible, at any 

18 time after the ballot has been cast, to asso19 ciate a voter with the record of the voter’s 

20 vote without the voter’s consent. 

21 ‘‘(ii) PRESERVATION AS OFFICIAL

22 RECORD.—The individual, durable, voter23 verified, paper ballot used in accordance 

24 with clause (i) shall constitute the official 

25 ballot and shall be preserved and used as 


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1 the official ballot for purposes of any re2 count or audit conducted with respect to 

3 any election for Federal office in which the 

4 voting system is used. 

5 ‘‘(iii) MANUAL COUNTING REQUIRE6 MENTS FOR RECOUNTS AND AUDITS.—(I) 

7 Each paper ballot used pursuant to clause 

8 (i) shall be suitable for a manual audit, 

9 and shall be counted by hand in any re10 count or audit conducted with respect to 

11 any election for Federal office. 

12 ‘‘(II) In the event of any inconsist13 encies or irregularities between any elec14 tronic vote tallies and the vote tallies de15 termined by counting by hand the indi16 vidual, durable, voter-verified, paper ballots 

17 used pursuant to clause (i), and subject to 

18 subparagraph (B), the individual, durable, 

19 voter-verified, paper ballots shall be the 

20 true and correct record of the votes cast. 

21 ‘‘(iv) APPLICATION TO ALL BAL22 LOTS.—The requirements of this subpara23 graph shall apply to all ballots cast in elec24 tions for Federal office, including ballots 

25 cast by absent uniformed services voters 


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1 and overseas voters under the Uniformed 

2 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

3 and other absentee voters. 

4 ‘‘(B) SPECIAL RULE FOR TREATMENT OF

5 DISPUTES WHEN PAPER BALLOTS HAVE BEEN

6 SHOWN TO BE COMPROMISED.— 

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—In the event 

8 that— 

9 ‘‘(I) there is any inconsistency 

10 between any electronic vote tallies and 

11 the vote tallies determined by count12 ing by hand the individual, durable, 

13 voter-verified, paper ballots used pur14 suant to subparagraph (A)(i) with re15 spect to any election for Federal of16 fice; and 

17 ‘‘(II) it is demonstrated by clear 

18 and convincing evidence (as deter19 mined in accordance with the applica20 ble standards in the jurisdiction in21 volved) in any recount, audit, or con22 test of the result of the election that 

23 the paper ballots have been com24 promised (by damage or mischief or 

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1 ber of the ballots have been so com2 promised that the result of the elec3 tion could be changed, 

4 the determination of the appropriate rem5 edy with respect to the election shall be 

6 made in accordance with applicable State 

7 law, except that the electronic tally shall 

8 not be used as the exclusive basis for de9 termining the official certified result. 

10 ‘‘(ii) RULE FOR CONSIDERATION OF

11 BALLOTS ASSOCIATED WITH EACH VOTING

12 MACHINE.—For purposes of clause (i), 

13 only the paper ballots deemed com14 promised, if any, shall be considered in the 

15 calculation of whether or not the result of 

16 the election could be changed due to the 

17 compromised paper ballots.’’. 

18 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT CLARIFYING APPLI19 CABILITY OF ALTERNATIVE LANGUAGE ACCESSIBILITY.— 

20 Section 301(a)(4) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(4)) 

21 is amended by inserting ‘‘(including the paper ballots re22 quired to be used under paragraph (2))’’ after ‘‘voting sys23 tem’’. 


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1 (c) OTHER CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 

2 301(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(1)) is amend3 ed— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (A)(i), by striking ‘‘count5 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 

6 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

7 (2) in subparagraph (A)(ii), by striking ‘‘count8 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 

9 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; 

10 (3) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking ‘‘count11 ed’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘counted, in 

12 accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3)’’; and 

13 (4) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ‘‘count14 ed’’ and inserting ‘‘counted, in accordance with 

15 paragraphs (2) and (3)’’. 

16 SEC. 602. ACCESSIBILITY AND BALLOT VERIFICATION FOR 

17 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 301(a)(3)(B) of the Help 

19 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)(3)(B)) is 

20 amended to read as follows: 

21 ‘‘(B)(i) satisfy the requirement of subpara22 graph (A) through the use of at least one voting 

23 system equipped for individuals with disabil24 ities, including nonvisual and enhanced visual 

25 accessibility for the blind and visually impaired, 


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1 and nonmanual and enhanced manual accessi2 bility for the mobility and dexterity impaired, at 

3 each polling place; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) meet the requirements of subpara5 graph (A) and paragraph (2)(A) by using a sys6 tem that— 

7 ‘‘(I) allows the voter to privately and 

8 independently verify the permanent paper 

9 ballot through the presentation, in acces10 sible form, of the printed or marked vote 

11 selections from the same printed or 

12 marked information that would be used for 

13 any vote counting or auditing; and 

14 ‘‘(II) allows the voter to privately and 

15 independently verify and cast the perma16 nent paper ballot without requiring the 

17 voter to manually handle the paper ballot; 

18 and’’. 

19 (b) SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT OF STUDY, TESTING, 

20 AND DEVELOPMENT OF ACCESSIBLE PAPER BALLOT

21 VERIFICATION MECHANISMS.— 

22 (1) STUDY AND REPORTING.—Subtitle C of 

23 title II of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.) is 

24 amended— 


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1 (A) by redesignating section 247 as section 

2 248; and 

3 (B) by inserting after section 246 the fol4 lowing new section: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 247. STUDY AND REPORT ON ACCESSIBLE PAPER 

6 BALLOT VERIFICATION MECHANISMS. 

7 ‘‘(a) STUDY AND REPORT.—The Director of the Na8 tional Science Foundation shall make grants to not fewer 

9 than 3 eligible entities to study, test, and develop acces10 sible paper ballot voting, verification, and casting mecha11 nisms and devices and best practices to enhance the acces12 sibility of paper ballot voting and verification mechanisms 

13 for individuals with disabilities, for voters whose primary 

14 language is not English, and for voters with difficulties 

15 in literacy, including best practices for the mechanisms 

16 themselves and the processes through which the mecha17 nisms are used. 

18 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity is eligible to receive a 

19 grant under this part if it submits to the Director (at such 

20 time and in such form as the Director may require) an 

21 application containing— 

22 ‘‘(1) certifications that the entity shall specifi23 cally investigate enhanced methods or devices, in24 cluding non-electronic devices, that will assist such 

25 individuals and voters in marking voter-verified 


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1 paper ballots and presenting or transmitting the in2 formation printed or marked on such ballots back to 

3 such individuals and voters, and casting such ballots; 

4 ‘‘(2) a certification that the entity shall com5 plete the activities carried out with the grant not 

6 later than December 31, 2014; and 

7 ‘‘(3) such other information and certifications 

8 as the Director may require. 

9 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF TECHNOLOGY.—Any tech10 nology developed with the grants made under this section 

11 shall be treated as non-proprietary and shall be made 

12 available to the public, including to manufacturers of vot13 ing systems. 

14 ‘‘(d) COORDINATION WITH GRANTS FOR TECH15 NOLOGY IMPROVEMENTS.—The Director shall carry out 

16 this section so that the activities carried out with the 

17 grants made under subsection (a) are coordinated with the 

18 research conducted under the grant program carried out 

19 by the Commission under section 271, to the extent that 

20 the Director and Commission determine necessary to pro21 vide for the advancement of accessible voting technology. 

22 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

23 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection 

24 (a) $5,000,000, to remain available until expended.’’. 


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1 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con2 tents of such Act is amended— 

3 (A) by redesignating the item relating to 

4 section 247 as relating to section 248; and 

5 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 

6 section 246 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 247. Study and report on accessible paper ballot verification mechanisms.’’. 

7 (c) CLARIFICATION OF ACCESSIBILITY STANDARDS

8 UNDER VOLUNTARY VOTING SYSTEM GUIDANCE.—In 

9 adopting any voluntary guidance under subtitle B of title 

10 III of the Help America Vote Act with respect to the ac11 cessibility of the paper ballot verification requirements for 

12 individuals with disabilities, the Election Assistance Com13 mission shall include and apply the same accessibility 

14 standards applicable under the voluntary guidance adopt15 ed for accessible voting systems under such subtitle. 

16 (d) PERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR PROTECTION

17 AND ADVOCACY SYSTEMS TO SUPPORT ACTIONS TO EN18 FORCE ELECTION-RELATED DISABILITY ACCESS.—Sec19 tion 292(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 

20 U.S.C. 15462(a)) is amended by striking ‘‘; except that’’ 

21 and all that follows and inserting a period. 

22 SEC. 603. ADDITIONAL VOTING SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS. 

23 (a) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—Section 301(a) of 

24 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481(a)) 


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1 is amended by adding at the end the following new para2 graphs: 

3 ‘‘(7) PROHIBITING USE OF UNCERTIFIED ELEC4 TION-DEDICATED VOTING SYSTEM TECHNOLOGIES; 

5 DISCLOSURE REQUIREMENTS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A voting system used 

7 in an election for Federal office in a State may 

8 not at any time during the election contain or 

9 use any election-dedicated voting system tech10 nology— 

11 ‘‘(i) which has not been certified by 

12 the State for use in the election; and 

13 ‘‘(ii) which has not been deposited 

14 with an accredited laboratory described in 

15 section 231 to be held in escrow and dis16 closed in accordance with this section. 

17 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENT FOR DISCLOSURE AND

18 LIMITATION ON RESTRICTING DISCLOSURE.— 

19 An accredited laboratory under section 231 

20 with whom an election-dedicated voting system 

21 technology has been deposited shall— 

22 ‘‘(i) hold the technology in escrow; 

23 and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) disclose technology and informa2 tion regarding the technology to another 

3 person if— 

4 ‘‘(I) the person is a qualified per5 son described in subparagraph (C) 

6 who has entered into a nondisclosure 

7 agreement with respect to the tech8 nology which meets the requirements 

9 of subparagraph (D); or 

10 ‘‘(II) the laboratory is permitted 

11 or required to disclose the technology 

12 to the person under State law, in ac13 cordance with the terms and condi14 tions applicable under such law. 

15 ‘‘(C) QUALIFIED PERSONS DESCRIBED.— 

16 With respect to the disclosure of election-dedi17 cated voting system technology by a laboratory 

18 under subparagraph (B)(ii)(I), a ‘qualified per19 son’ is any of the following: 

20 ‘‘(i) A governmental entity with re21 sponsibility for the administration of vot22 ing and election-related matters for pur23 poses of reviewing, analyzing, or reporting 

24 on the technology. 


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1 ‘‘(ii) A party to pre- or post-election 

2 litigation challenging the result of an elec3 tion or the administration or use of the 

4 technology used in an election, including 

5 but not limited to election contests or chal6 lenges to the certification of the tech7 nology, or an expert for a party to such 

8 litigation, for purposes of reviewing or ana9 lyzing the technology to support or oppose 

10 the litigation, and all parties to the litiga11 tion shall have access to the technology for 

12 such purposes. 

13 ‘‘(iii) A person not described in clause 

14 (i) or (ii) who reviews, analyzes, or reports 

15 on the technology solely for an academic, 

16 scientific, technological, or other investiga17 tion or inquiry concerning the accuracy or 

18 integrity of the technology. 

19 ‘‘(D) REQUIREMENTS FOR NONDISCLO20 SURE AGREEMENTS.—A nondisclosure agree21 ment entered into with respect to an election22 dedicated voting system technology meets the 

23 requirements of this subparagraph if the agree24 ment— 


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1 ‘‘(i) is limited in scope to coverage of 

2 the technology disclosed under subpara3 graph (B) and any trade secrets and intel4 lectual property rights related thereto; 

5 ‘‘(ii) does not prohibit a signatory 

6 from entering into other nondisclosure 

7 agreements to review other technologies 

8 under this paragraph; 

9 ‘‘(iii) exempts from coverage any in10 formation the signatory lawfully obtained 

11 from another source or any information in 

12 the public domain; 

13 ‘‘(iv) remains in effect for not longer 

14 than the life of any trade secret or other 

15 intellectual property right related thereto; 

16 ‘‘(v) prohibits the use of injunctions 

17 barring a signatory from carrying out any 

18 activity authorized under subparagraph 

19 (C), including injunctions limited to the 

20 period prior to a trial involving the tech21 nology; 

22 ‘‘(vi) is silent as to damages awarded 

23 for breach of the agreement, other than a 

24 reference to damages available under appli25 cable law; 


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1 ‘‘(vii) allows disclosure of evidence of 

2 crime, including in response to a subpoena 

3 or warrant; 

4 ‘‘(viii) allows the signatory to perform 

5 analyses on the technology (including by 

6 executing the technology), disclose reports 

7 and analyses that describe operational 

8 issues pertaining to the technology (includ9 ing vulnerabilities to tampering, errors, 

10 risks associated with use, failures as a re11 sult of use, and other problems), and de12 scribe or explain why or how a voting sys13 tem failed or otherwise did not perform as 

14 intended; and 

15 ‘‘(ix) provides that the agreement 

16 shall be governed by the trade secret laws 

17 of the applicable State. 

18 ‘‘(E) ELECTION-DEDICATED VOTING SYS19 TEM TECHNOLOGY DEFINED.—For purposes of 

20 this paragraph: 

21 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘elec22 tion-dedicated voting system technology’ 

23 means the following: 

24 ‘‘(I) The source code used for the 

25 trusted build and its file signatures. 


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1 ‘‘(II) A complete disk image of 

2 the pre-build, build environment, and 

3 any file signatures to validate that it 

4 is unmodified. 

5 ‘‘(III) A complete disk image of 

6 the post-build, build environment, and 

7 any file signatures to validate that it 

8 is unmodified. 

9 ‘‘(IV) All executable code pro10 duced by the trusted build and any 

11 file signatures to validate that it is 

12 unmodified. 

13 ‘‘(V) Installation devices and 

14 software file signatures. 

15 ‘‘(ii) EXCLUSION.—Such term does 

16 not include ‘commercial-off-the-shelf’ soft17 ware and hardware defined under the 2005 

18 voluntary voting system guidelines adopted 

19 by the Commission under section 222. 

20 ‘‘(8) PROHIBITION OF USE OF WIRELESS COM21 MUNICATIONS DEVICES IN SYSTEMS OR DEVICES.— 

22 No system or device upon which ballots are pro23 grammed or votes are cast or tabulated shall con24 tain, use, or be accessible by any wireless, power25 line, or concealed communication device, except that 


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1 enclosed infrared communications devices which are 

2 certified for use in such device by the State and 

3 which cannot be used for any remote or wide area 

4 communications or used without the knowledge of 

5 poll workers shall be permitted. 

6 ‘‘(9) PROHIBITING CONNECTION OF SYSTEM TO

7 THE INTERNET.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No system or device 

9 upon which ballots are programmed or votes are 

10 cast or tabulated shall be connected to the 

11 Internet at any time. 

12 ‘‘(B) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 

13 contained in this paragraph shall be deemed to 

14 prohibit the Commission from conducting the 

15 studies under section 242 or to conduct other 

16 similar studies under any other provision of law 

17 in a manner consistent with this paragraph. 

18 ‘‘(10) SECURITY STANDARDS FOR VOTING SYS19 TEMS USED IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.— 

20 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—No voting system may 

21 be used in an election for Federal office unless 

22 the manufacturer of such system and the elec23 tion officials using such system meet the appli24 cable requirements described in subparagraph 

25 (B). 


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1 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—The 

2 requirements described in this subparagraph 

3 are as follows: 

4 ‘‘(i) The manufacturer and the elec5 tion officials shall document the secure 

6 chain of custody for the handling of all 

7 software, hardware, vote storage media, 

8 blank ballots, and completed ballots used 

9 in connection with voting systems, and 

10 shall make the information available upon 

11 request to the Commission. 

12 ‘‘(ii) The manufacturer shall disclose 

13 to an accredited laboratory under section 

14 231 and to the appropriate election official 

15 any information required to be disclosed 

16 under paragraph (7). 

17 ‘‘(iii) After the appropriate election 

18 official has certified the election-dedicated 

19 and other voting system software for use in 

20 an election, the manufacturer may not— 

21 ‘‘(I) alter such software; or 

22 ‘‘(II) insert or use in the voting 

23 system any software, software patch, 

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1 tified by the State for use in the elec2 tion. 

3 ‘‘(iv) At the request of the Commis4 sion— 

5 ‘‘(I) the appropriate election offi6 cial shall submit information to the 

7 Commission regarding the State’s 

8 compliance with this subparagraph; 

9 and 

10 ‘‘(II) the manufacturer shall sub11 mit information to the Commission re12 garding the manufacturer’s compli13 ance with this subparagraph. 

14 ‘‘(C) DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLICATION OF

15 BEST PRACTICES OF SECURE CHAIN OF CUS16 TODY.—Not later than August 1, 2016, the 

17 Commission shall develop and make publicly 

18 available best practices regarding the require19 ment of subparagraph (B)(i) and (B)(iii), and 

20 in the case of subparagraph (B)(iii), shall in21 clude best practices for certifying software 

22 patches and minor software modifications under 

23 short deadlines. 

24 ‘‘(D) DISCLOSURE OF SECURE CHAIN OF

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1 mation provided to the Commission under sub2 paragraph (B)(i) available to any person upon 

3 request. 

4 ‘‘(11) DURABILITY AND READABILITY REQUIRE5 MENTS FOR BALLOTS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) DURABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR

7 PAPER BALLOTS.— 

8 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—All voter-verified 

9 paper ballots required to be used under 

10 this Act shall be marked or printed on du11 rable paper. 

12 ‘‘(ii) DEFINITION.—For purposes of 

13 this Act, paper is ‘durable’ if it is capable 

14 of withstanding multiple counts and re15 counts by hand without compromising the 

16 fundamental integrity of the ballots, and 

17 capable of retaining the information 

18 marked or printed on them for the full du19 ration of a retention and preservation pe20 riod of 22 months. 

21 ‘‘(B) READABILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR

22 PAPER BALLOTS MARKED BY BALLOT MARKING

23 DEVICE.—All voter-verified paper ballots com24 pleted by the voter through the use of a ballot 

25 marking device shall be clearly readable by the 


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1 voter without assistance (other than eyeglasses 

2 or other personal vision enhancing devices) and 

3 by an optical character recognition device or 

4 other device equipped for individuals with dis5 abilities. 

6 ‘‘(12) REQUIREMENTS FOR PUBLICATION OF

7 POLL TAPES.— 

8 ‘‘(A) REQUIREMENTS.—Each State shall 

9 meet the following requirements: 

10 ‘‘(i) Upon the closing of the polls at 

11 each polling place, the appropriate election 

12 official, under the observation of the cer13 tified tabulation observers admitted to the 

14 polling place under subparagraph (E) (if 

15 any), shall announce the vote orally, post a 

16 copy of the poll tape reflecting the totals 

17 from each voting machine upon which 

18 votes were cast in the election at the poll19 ing place, and prepare and post a state20 ment of the total number of individuals 

21 who appeared at the polling place to cast 

22 ballots, determined by reference to the 

23 number of signatures in a sign-in book or 

24 other similar independent count. Such offi25 cials shall ensure that each of the certified 


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1 tabulation observers admitted to the poll2 ing place has full access to observe the 

3 process by which the poll tapes and state4 ment are produced and a reasonable period 

5 of time to review the poll tapes and state6 ment before the polling place is closed, and 

7 (if feasible) shall provide such observers 

8 with identical duplicate copies of the poll 

9 tapes and statement. 

10 ‘‘(ii) As soon as practicable, but in no 

11 event later than noon of the day following 

12 the date of the election, the appropriate 

13 election official shall display (at a promi14 nent location accessible to the public dur15 ing regular business hours and in or within 

16 reasonable proximity to the polling place) a 

17 copy of each poll tape and statement pre18 pared under clause (i), and the information 

19 shall be displayed on the official public 

20 websites of the applicable local election of21 ficial and chief State election official, to22 gether with the name of the designated 

23 voting official who entered the information 

24 and the date and time the information was 

25 entered. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) Each website on which informa2 tion is posted under clause (ii) shall in3 clude information on the procedures by 

4 which discrepancies shall be reported to 

5 election officials. If any discrepancy exists 

6 between the posted information and the 

7 relevant poll tape or statement, the appro8 priate election official shall display infor9 mation on the discrepancy on the website 

10 on which the information is posted under 

11 clause (ii) not later than 24 hours after 

12 the official is made aware of the discrep13 ancy, and shall maintain the information 

14 on the discrepancy and its resolution (if 

15 applicable) on such website during the en16 tire period for which results of the election 

17 are typically maintained on such website. 

18 ‘‘(iv) The appropriate election official 

19 shall preserve archived copies of the poll 

20 tapes and statements prepared under 

21 clause (i) and reports of discrepancies filed 

22 by certified tabulation observers for the pe23 riod of time during which records and pa24 pers are required to be retained and pre25 served pursuant to title III of the Civil 


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1 Rights Act of 1960 (42 U.S.C. 1974 et 

2 seq.) or for the same duration for which 

3 archived copies of other records of the elec4 tion are required to be preserved under ap5 plicable State law, whichever is longer. 

6 ‘‘(B) TREATMENT OF BALLOTS CAST AT

7 EARLY VOTING SITES.— 

8 ‘‘(i) APPLICATION.—The requirements 

9 of this subparagraph shall apply with re10 spect to poll tapes and statements of the 

11 number of voters who voted in person at 

12 designated sites prior to the date of the 

13 election. 

14 ‘‘(ii) DAILY COUNT OF VOTERS.—At 

15 the close of business on each day on which 

16 ballots described in clause (i) may be cast 

17 prior to the date of the election, the appro18 priate election official at each such site 

19 shall— 

20 ‘‘(I) under the observation of cer21 tified tabulation observers admitted to 

22 the site under subparagraph (E) (if 

23 any), prepare and post a statement of 

24 the total number of individuals who 

25 appeared at the site to cast ballots, 


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1 determined by reference to the num2 ber of signatures in a sign-in book or 

3 other similar independent count, and 

4 the total number of ballots cast (ex5 cluding information on the votes re6 ceived by individual candidates), and 

7 shall ensure that each of the certified 

8 tabulation observers admitted to the 

9 site has full access to observe the 

10 process by which the statement is pro11 duced and a reasonable period of time 

12 to review the statement before the site 

13 is closed; and 

14 ‘‘(II) display at the site during 

15 regular business hours for the dura16 tion of the early voting period a paper 

17 copy of the statement prepared under 

18 subclause (I). 

19 ‘‘(iii) APPLICATION OF GENERAL RE20 QUIREMENTS FOR POLL TAPES AND

21 STATEMENTS.—Upon the closing of the 

22 polls on the date of the election, the appro23 priate election official at each designated 

24 site described in this subparagraph shall 

25 meet the requirements of subparagraph 


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1 (A) (including requirements relating to the 

2 role of certified tabulation observers) in 

3 the same manner as an election official at 

4 a polling place. 

5 ‘‘(C) TREATMENT OF ABSENTEE BAL6 LOTS.— 

7 ‘‘(i) DAILY COUNT OF BALLOTS

8 MAILED AND RECEIVED.—At the close of 

9 each business day on which a State mails 

10 or accepts absentee ballots cast in an elec11 tion for Federal office prior to the date of 

12 the election, the appropriate election offi13 cial shall— 

14 ‘‘(I) under the observation of cer15 tified tabulation observers admitted 

16 under subparagraph (E) to the site at 

17 which the ballots are mailed and re18 ceived (if any), prepare and post a 

19 statement of the total number of ab20 sentee ballots mailed and received by 

21 the official during that day and a sep22 arate count of the number of absentee 

23 ballots received but rejected (sepa24 rated into categories of the reasons 

25 for rejection), and ensure that each of 


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1 the certified tabulation observers ad2 mitted to the site has full access to 

3 observe the process by which the 

4 statement is produced and a reason5 able period of time to review the 

6 statement before the site is closed; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(II) display at the site during 

9 regular business hours for the dura10 tion of the period during which absen11 tee ballots are processed a paper copy 

12 of the statement prepared under sub13 clause (I). 

14 ‘‘(ii) APPLICATION OF GENERAL RE15 QUIREMENTS FOR POLL TAPES AND

16 STATEMENTS.—At the close of business on 

17 the last day on which absentee ballots are 

18 counted prior to the certification of the 

19 election, the appropriate election official at 

20 the site at which absentee ballots are re21 ceived and counted shall meet the require22 ments of subparagraph (A) (including re23 quirements relating to the role of certified 

24 tabulation observers) in the same manner 

25 as an election official at a polling place. 


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1 ‘‘(D) DAILY COUNT OF PROVISIONAL BAL2 LOTS.—At the close of business on the day on 

3 which the appropriate election official deter4 mines whether or not provisional ballots cast in 

5 an election for Federal office will be counted as 

6 votes in the election (as described in section 

7 302(a)(4)), the official shall— 

8 ‘‘(i) under the observation of certified 

9 tabulation observers admitted under sub10 paragraph (E) to the site at which the de11 termination is made (if any), prepare and 

12 post a statement of the number of such 

13 ballots for which a determination was 

14 made, the number of ballots counted, and 

15 the number of ballots rejected (separated 

16 into categories of the reason for the rejec17 tion), and ensure that each of the certified 

18 tabulation observers admitted to the site 

19 has full access to observe the process by 

20 which the statement is produced and a rea21 sonable period of time to review the state22 ment before the site is closed; and 

23 ‘‘(ii) display at the site during regular 

24 business hours for the duration of the pe25 riod during which provisional ballots are 


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1 processed a paper copy of the statement 

2 prepared under clause (i). 

3 ‘‘(E) ADMISSION OF CERTIFIED TABULA4 TION OBSERVERS.— 

5 ‘‘(i) CERTIFIED TABULATION OB6 SERVER DEFINED.—In this paragraph, a 

7 ‘certified tabulation observer’ is an indi8 vidual who is certified by an appropriate 

9 election official as authorized to carry out 

10 the responsibilities of a certified tabulation 

11 observer under this paragraph. 

12 ‘‘(ii) SELECTION.—In determining 

13 which individuals to certify as tabulation 

14 observers and admit to a polling place or 

15 other location to serve as certified tabula16 tion observers with respect to an election 

17 for Federal office, the election official shall 

18 give preference to individuals who are af19 filiated with a candidate in the election, ex20 cept that— 

21 ‘‘(I) the number of individuals 

22 admitted who are affiliated with the 

23 same candidate for Federal office may 

24 not exceed one; and 


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1 ‘‘(II) the maximum number of in2 dividuals who may be admitted shall 

3 equal the number of candidates in the 

4 election plus 3, or such greater num5 ber as may be authorized under State 

6 law. 

7 ‘‘(iii) NO EFFECT ON ADMISSION OF

8 OTHER OBSERVERS.—Nothing in this sub9 paragraph may be construed to limit or 

10 otherwise affect the authority of other indi11 viduals to enter and observe polling place 

12 operations under any other law, including 

13 international observers authorized under 

14 any treaty or observers of the Federal Gov15 ernment authorized under the Voting 

16 Rights Act of 1965. 

17 ‘‘(F) NO EFFECT ON OTHER TABULATION

18 REQUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this Act may be 

19 construed to supersede any requirement that an 

20 election official at a polling place report vote to21 tals to a central tabulation facility and address 

22 discrepancies the official finds in the aggrega23 tion of those totals with other vote totals.’’. 

24 (b) REQUIRING LABORATORIES TO MEET STAND25 ARDS PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AS CONDIVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00122 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 TION OF ACCREDITATION FOR TESTING OF VOTING SYS2 TEM HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE.— 

3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 231(b) of such Act 

4 (42 U.S.C. 15371(b)) is amended by adding at the 

5 end the following new paragraphs: 

6 ‘‘(3) PROHIBITING CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; 

7 ENSURING AVAILABILITY OF RESULTS.— 

8 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A laboratory may not 

9 be accredited by the Commission for purposes 

10 of this section unless— 

11 ‘‘(i) the laboratory certifies that the 

12 only compensation it receives for the test13 ing carried out in connection with the cer14 tification, decertification, and recertifi15 cation of the manufacturer’s voting system 

16 hardware and software is the payment 

17 made from the Testing Escrow Account 

18 under paragraph (4); 

19 ‘‘(ii) the laboratory meets such stand20 ards as the Commission shall establish 

21 (after notice and opportunity for public 

22 comment) to prevent the existence or ap23 pearance of any conflict of interest in the 

24 testing carried out by the laboratory under 

25 this section, including standards to ensure 


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1 that the laboratory does not have a finan2 cial interest in the manufacture, sale, and 

3 distribution of voting system hardware and 

4 software, and is sufficiently independent 

5 from other persons with such an interest; 

6 ‘‘(iii) the laboratory certifies that it 

7 will permit an expert designated by the 

8 Commission or by the State requiring cer9 tification of the system being tested to ob10 serve any testing the laboratory carries out 

11 under this section; and 

12 ‘‘(iv) the laboratory, upon completion 

13 of any testing carried out under this sec14 tion, discloses the test protocols, results, 

15 and all communication between the labora16 tory and the manufacturer to the Commis17 sion. 

18 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY OF RESULTS.—Upon 

19 receipt of information under subparagraph (A), 

20 the Commission shall make the information 

21 available promptly to election officials and the 

22 public. 

23 ‘‘(4) PROCEDURES FOR CONDUCTING TESTING; 

24 PAYMENT OF USER FEES FOR COMPENSATION OF

25 ACCREDITED LABORATORIES.— 


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1 ‘‘(A) ESTABLISHMENT OF ESCROW AC2 COUNT.—The Commission shall establish an es3 crow account (to be known as the ‘Testing Es4 crow Account’) for making payments to accred5 ited laboratories for the costs of the testing car6 ried out in connection with the certification, de7 certification, and recertification of voting sys8 tem hardware and software. 

9 ‘‘(B) SCHEDULE OF FEES.—In consulta10 tion with the accredited laboratories, the Com11 mission shall establish and regularly update a 

12 schedule of fees for the testing carried out in 

13 connection with the certification, decertification, 

14 and recertification of voting system hardware 

15 and software, based on the reasonable costs ex16 pected to be incurred by the accredited labora17 tories in carrying out the testing for various 

18 types of hardware and software. 

19 ‘‘(C) REQUESTS AND PAYMENTS BY MANU20 FACTURERS.—A manufacturer of voting system 

21 hardware and software may not have the hard22 ware or software tested by an accredited labora23 tory under this section unless— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the manufacturer submits a de2 tailed request for the testing to the Com3 mission; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) the manufacturer pays to the 

5 Commission, for deposit into the Testing 

6 Escrow Account established under sub7 paragraph (A), the applicable fee under the 

8 schedule established and in effect under 

9 subparagraph (B). 

10 ‘‘(D) SELECTION OF LABORATORY.—Upon 

11 receiving a request for testing and the payment 

12 from a manufacturer required under subpara13 graph (C), the Commission shall select, from all 

14 laboratories which are accredited under this 

15 section to carry out the specific testing re16 quested by the manufacturer, an accredited lab17 oratory to carry out the testing. 

18 ‘‘(E) PAYMENTS TO LABORATORIES.— 

19 Upon receiving a certification from a laboratory 

20 selected to carry out testing pursuant to sub21 paragraph (D) that the testing is completed, 

22 along with a copy of the results of the test as 

23 required under paragraph (3)(A)(iv), the Com24 mission shall make a payment to the laboratory 

25 from the Testing Escrow Account established 


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1 under subparagraph (A) in an amount equal to 

2 the applicable fee paid by the manufacturer 

3 under subparagraph (C)(ii). 

4 ‘‘(5) DISSEMINATION OF ADDITIONAL INFORMA5 TION ON ACCREDITED LABORATORIES.— 

6 ‘‘(A) INFORMATION ON TESTING.—Upon 

7 completion of the testing of a voting system 

8 under this section, the Commission shall 

9 promptly disseminate to the public the identi10 fication of the laboratory which carried out the 

11 testing. 

12 ‘‘(B) INFORMATION ON STATUS OF LAB13 ORATORIES.—The Commission shall promptly 

14 notify Congress, the chief State election official 

15 of each State, and the public whenever— 

16 ‘‘(i) the Commission revokes, termi17 nates, or suspends the accreditation of a 

18 laboratory under this section; 

19 ‘‘(ii) the Commission restores the ac20 creditation of a laboratory under this sec21 tion which has been revoked, terminated, 

22 or suspended; or 

23 ‘‘(iii) the Commission has credible evi24 dence of significant security failure at an 

25 accredited laboratory.’’. 


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1 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 231 

2 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15371) is further amended— 

3 (A) in subsection (a)(1), by striking ‘‘test4 ing, certification,’’ and all that follows and in5 serting the following: ‘‘testing of voting system 

6 hardware and software by accredited labora7 tories in connection with the certification, de8 certification, and recertification of the hardware 

9 and software for purposes of this Act.’’; 

10 (B) in subsection (a)(2), by striking ‘‘test11 ing, certification,’’ and all that follows and in12 serting the following: ‘‘testing of its voting sys13 tem hardware and software by the laboratories 

14 accredited by the Commission under this section 

15 in connection with certifying, decertifying, and 

16 recertifying the hardware and software.’’; 

17 (C) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ‘‘test18 ing, certification, decertification, and recertifi19 cation’’ and inserting ‘‘testing’’; and 

20 (D) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘testing, 

21 certification, decertification, and recertification’’ 

22 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘testing’’. 

23 (3) DEADLINE FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF

24 STANDARDS, ESCROW ACCOUNT, AND SCHEDULE OF

25 FEES.—The Election Assistance Commission shall 


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1 establish the standards described in section 

2 231(b)(3) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

3 and the Testing Escrow Account and schedule of 

4 fees described in section 231(b)(4) of such Act (as 

5 added by paragraph (1)) not later than January 1, 

6 2016. 

7 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

8 There are authorized to be appropriated to the Elec9 tion Assistance Commission such sums as may be 

10 necessary to carry out the Commission’s duties 

11 under paragraphs (3) and (4) of section 231 of the 

12 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as added by para13 graph (1)). 

14 (c) GRANTS FOR RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT OF

15 ELECTION-DEDICATED VOTING SYSTEM SOFTWARE.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle D of title II of the 

17 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15401 

18 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol19 lowing new part: 


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1 ‘‘PART 7—GRANTS FOR RESEARCH ON DEVELOP2 MENT OF ELECTION-DEDICATED VOTING 

3 SYSTEM SOFTWARE 

4 ‘‘SEC. 297. GRANTS FOR RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT OF 

5 ELECTION-DEDICATED VOTING SYSTEM 

6 SOFTWARE. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the National 

8 Science Foundation (hereafter in this part referred to as 

9 the ‘Director’) shall make grants to not fewer than 3 eligi10 ble entities to conduct research on the development of elec11 tion-dedicated voting system software. 

12 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—An entity is eligible to receive a 

13 grant under this part if it submits to the Director (at such 

14 time and in such form as the Director may require) an 

15 application containing— 

16 ‘‘(1) certifications regarding the benefits of op17 erating voting systems on election-dedicated software 

18 which is easily understandable and which is written 

19 exclusively for the purpose of conducting elections; 

20 ‘‘(2) certifications that the entity will use the 

21 funds provided under the grant to carry out research 

22 on how to develop voting systems that run on elec23 tion-dedicated software and that will meet the appli24 cable requirements for voting systems under title III; 

25 and 


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1 ‘‘(3) such other information and certifications 

2 as the Director may require. 

3 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF TECHNOLOGY.—Any tech4 nology developed with the grants made under this section 

5 shall be treated as non-proprietary and shall be made 

6 available to the public, including to manufacturers of vot7 ing systems. 

8 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

9 are authorized to be appropriated for grants under this 

10 section $1,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2017 and 2018, 

11 to remain available until expended.’’. 

12 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con13 tents of such Act is amended by adding at the end 

14 of the items relating to subtitle D of title II the fol15 lowing: 

‘‘PART 7—GRANTS FOR RESEARCH ON DEVELOPMENT OF ELECTIONDEDICATED VOTING SYSTEM SOFTWARE

‘‘Sec. 297. Grants for research on development of election-dedicated voting system software.’’. 

16 SEC. 604. AVAILABILITY OF ADDITIONAL FUNDING TO EN17 ABLE STATES TO MEET COSTS OF REVISED 

18 REQUIREMENTS. 

19 (a) EXTENSION OF REQUIREMENTS PAYMENTS FOR

20 MEETING REVISED REQUIREMENTS.—Section 257(a) of 

21 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15407(a)) 

22 is amended by adding at the end the following new para23 graph: 


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1 ‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2018, the sum of— 

2 ‘‘(A) $1,000,000,000, except that any 

3 funds provided under the authorization made by 

4 this subparagraph shall be used by a State only 

5 to meet the requirements of title III which are 

6 first imposed on the State pursuant to the 

7 amendments made by title I of the Voter Con8 fidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2012, 

9 or to otherwise modify or replace its voting sys10 tems in response to such amendments; plus 

11 ‘‘(B) such sums as may be necessary to en12 able States to carry out the activities described 

13 in subparagraph (A) with respect to require14 ments which first apply to elections for Federal 

15 office held after in November 2020, except that 

16 any funds provided under the authorization 

17 made by this subparagraph shall be used by a 

18 State only for carrying out these activities.’’. 

19 (b) USE OF REVISED FORMULA FOR ALLOCATION OF

20 FUNDS.—Section 252(b) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

21 15402(b)) is amended to read as follows: 

22 ‘‘(b) STATE ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE DEFINED.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para24 graph (2), the ‘State allocation percentage’ for a 


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1 State is the amount (expressed as a percentage) 

2 equal to the quotient of— 

3 ‘‘(A) the voting age population of the State 

4 (as reported in the most recent decennial cen5 sus); and 

6 ‘‘(B) the total voting age population of all 

7 States (as reported in the most recent decennial 

8 census). 

9 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR PAYMENTS USED TO

10 MEET REQUIREMENTS IMPOSED UNDER VOTER CON11 FIDENCE AND INCREASED ACCESSIBILITY ACT OF

12 2012.— 

13 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of the re14 quirements payment made to a State under the 

15 authorization made by section 257(a)(5) for fis16 cal year 2018 or any fiscal year thereafter, the 

17 ‘State allocation percentage’ for a State is the 

18 amount (expressed as a percentage) equal to 

19 the quotient of— 

20 ‘‘(i) the sum of the number of non21 compliant precincts in the State and 50 

22 percent of the number of partially non23 compliant precincts in the State; and 

24 ‘‘(ii) the sum of the number of non25 compliant precincts in all States and 50 


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1 percent of the number of partially non2 compliant precincts in all States. 

3 ‘‘(B) NONCOMPLIANT PRECINCT DE4 FINED.—In this paragraph, a ‘noncompliant 

5 precinct’ means any precinct (or equivalent lo6 cation) within a State for which the voting sys7 tem used to administer the regularly scheduled 

8 general election for Federal office held in No9 vember 2016 did not meet either of the require10 ments described in subparagraph (D). 

11 ‘‘(C) PARTIALLY NONCOMPLIANT PRE12 CINCT DEFINED.—In this paragraph, a ‘par13 tially noncompliant precinct’ means any pre14 cinct (or equivalent location) within a State for 

15 which the voting system used to administer the 

16 regularly scheduled general election for Federal 

17 office held in November 2016 met only one of 

18 the requirements described in subparagraph 

19 (D). 

20 ‘‘(D) REQUIREMENTS DESCRIBED.—The 

21 requirements described in this subparagraph 

22 with respect to a voting system are as follows: 

23 ‘‘(i) The primary voting system re24 quired the use of durable paper ballots (as 

25 described in section 301(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) and 


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1 301(a)(11)(A), as amended or added by 

2 the Voter Confidence and Increased Acces3 sibility Act of 2012) for every vote cast. 

4 ‘‘(ii) The voting system allowed the 

5 voter to privately and independently verify 

6 the permanent paper ballot through the 

7 presentation of the same printed or 

8 marked information used for vote counting 

9 and auditing and to privately and inde10 pendently cast the permanent paper ballot 

11 without handling the ballot manually.’’. 

12 (c) REVISED CONDITIONS FOR RECEIPT OF

13 FUNDS.—Section 253 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15403) is 

14 amended— 

15 (1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘A State is el16 igible’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in sub17 section (f), a State is eligible’’; and 

18 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub19 section: 

20 ‘‘(f) SPECIAL RULE FOR PAYMENTS USED TO MEET

21 REQUIREMENTS IMPOSED UNDER VOTER CONFIDENCE

22 AND INCREASED ACCESSIBILITY ACT OF 2012.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 

24 provision of this part, a State is eligible to receive 

25 a requirements payment under the authorization 


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1 made by section 257(a)(5) for fiscal year 2018 or 

2 any fiscal year thereafter if, not later than 90 days 

3 after the date of the enactment of the Voter Con4 fidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2012, the 

5 chief executive officer of the State, or designee, in 

6 consultation and coordination with the chief State 

7 election official— 

8 ‘‘(A) certifies to the Commission the num9 ber of noncompliant and partially noncompliant 

10 precincts in the State (as defined in section 

11 252(b)(2)); 

12 ‘‘(B) certifies to the Commission that the 

13 State will reimburse each unit of local govern14 ment in the State for any costs the unit incurs 

15 in carrying out the activities for which the pay16 ment may be used; and 

17 ‘‘(C) files a statement with the Commis18 sion describing the State’s need for the pay19 ment and how the State will use the payment 

20 to meet the requirements of title III (in accord21 ance with the limitations applicable to the use 

22 of the payment under section 257(a)(5)). 

23 ‘‘(2) CERTIFICATIONS BY STATES THAT RE24 QUIRE CHANGES TO STATE LAW.—In the case of a 

25 State that requires State legislation to carry out any 


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1 activity covered by any certification submitted under 

2 this subsection, the State shall be permitted to make 

3 the certification notwithstanding that the legislation 

4 has not been enacted at the time the certification is 

5 submitted and such State shall submit an additional 

6 certification once such legislation is enacted.’’. 

7 (d) PERMITTING USE OF FUNDS FOR REIMBURSE8 MENT FOR COSTS PREVIOUSLY INCURRED.—Section 

9 251(c)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15401(c)(1)) is amended 

10 by striking the period at the end and inserting the fol11 lowing: ‘‘, or as a reimbursement for any costs incurred 

12 after November 2016 in meeting the requirements of title 

13 III which are imposed pursuant to the amendments made 

14 by title I of the Voter Confidence and Increased Accessi15 bility Act of 2012 or in otherwise upgrading or replacing 

16 voting systems in a manner consistent with such amend17 ments (so long as the voting systems meet any of the re18 quirements that apply with respect to elections for Federal 

19 office held in 2020 and each succeeding year).’’. 

20 (e) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING STATES

21 RECEIVING OTHER FUNDS FOR REPLACING PUNCH

22 CARD, LEVER, OR OTHER VOTING MACHINES.—Nothing 

23 in the amendments made by this section or in any other 

24 provision of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 may be 

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1 thorized to receive a payment under title I or II of such 

2 Act for replacing punch card, lever, or other voting ma3 chines from receiving or using any funds which are made 

4 available under the amendments made by this section. 

5 (f) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION REGARDING USE OF

6 FUNDS RECEIVED IN PRIOR YEARS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Nothing contained in this 

8 Act or the Help America Vote Act of 2002 may be 

9 construed to prohibit a State from using funds re10 ceived under title I or II of the Help America Vote 

11 Act of 2002 to purchase or acquire by other means 

12 a voting system that meets the requirements of 

13 paragraphs (2) and (3) of section 301 of the Help 

14 America Vote Act of 2002 (as amended by this Act) 

15 in order to replace voting systems purchased with 

16 funds received under the Help America Vote Act of 

17 2002 that do not meet such requirements. 

18 (2) WAIVER OF NOTICE AND COMMENT RE19 QUIREMENTS.—The requirements of subparagraphs 

20 (A), (B), and (C) of section 254(a)(11) of the Help 

21 America Vote Act of 2002 shall not apply to any 

22 State using funds received under such Act for the 

23 purposes described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of 

24 paragraph (1). 


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1 (g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

2 this section shall apply with respect to fiscal years begin3 ning with fiscal year 2018. 

4 SEC. 605. EFFECTIVE DATE FOR NEW REQUIREMENTS. 

5 Section 301(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

6 (42 U.S.C. 15481(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para9 graph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be re10 quired to comply with the requirements of this sec11 tion on and after January 1, 2006. 

12 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR CERTAIN REQUIRE13 MENTS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 

15 subparagraphs (B) and (C), the requirements of 

16 this section which are first imposed on a State 

17 and jurisdiction pursuant to the amendments 

18 made by title I of the Voter Confidence and In19 creased Accessibility Act of 2012 shall apply 

20 with respect to voting systems used for any 

21 election for Federal office held in 2018 or any 

22 succeeding year. 

23 ‘‘(B) DELAY FOR JURISDICTIONS USING

24 CERTAIN PAPER RECORD PRINTERS OR CERTAIN


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1 SYSTEMS USING OR PRODUCING VOTER2 VERIFIABLE PAPER RECORDS IN 2016.— 

3 ‘‘(i) DELAY.—In the case of a juris4 diction described in clause (ii), subpara5 graph (A) shall apply to a voting system in 

6 the jurisdiction as if the reference in such 

7 subparagraph to ‘2018’ were a reference to 

8 ‘2020’, but only with respect to the fol9 lowing requirements of this section: 

10 ‘‘(I) Paragraph (2)(A)(i)(I) of 

11 subsection (a) (relating to the use of 

12 voter-marked paper ballots). 

13 ‘‘(II) Paragraph (3)(B)(ii)(I) and 

14 (II) of subsection (a) (relating to ac15 cess to verification from and casting 

16 of the durable paper ballot). 

17 ‘‘(III) Paragraph (11) of sub18 section (a) (relating to durability and 

19 readability requirements for ballots). 

20 ‘‘(ii) JURISDICTIONS DESCRIBED.—A 

21 jurisdiction described in this clause is a ju22 risdiction— 

23 ‘‘(I) which used voter verifiable 

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1 chines, or which used other voting 

2 systems that used or produced paper 

3 records of the vote verifiable by voters 

4 but that are not in compliance with 

5 paragraphs (2)(A)(i)(I), (3)(B)(ii) (I) 

6 and (II), and (11) of subsection (a) 

7 (as amended or added by the Voter 

8 Confidence and Increased Accessibility 

9 Act of 2012), for the administration 

10 of the regularly scheduled general 

11 election for Federal office held in No12 vember 2016; and 

13 ‘‘(II) which will continue to use 

14 such printers or systems for the ad15 ministration of elections for Federal 

16 office held in years before 2020. 

17 ‘‘(iii) MANDATORY AVAILABILITY OF

18 PAPER BALLOTS AT POLLING PLACES

19 USING GRANDFATHERED PRINTERS AND

20 SYSTEMS.— 

21 ‘‘(I) REQUIRING BALLOTS TO BE

22 OFFERED AND PROVIDED.—The ap23 propriate election official at each poll24 ing place that uses a printer or sys25 tem described in clause (ii)(I) for the 


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1 administration of elections for Federal 

2 office shall offer each individual who 

3 is eligible to cast a vote in the election 

4 at the polling place the opportunity to 

5 cast the vote using a blank pre-print6 ed paper ballot which the individual 

7 may mark by hand and which is not 

8 produced by the direct recording elec9 tronic voting machine or other such 

10 system. The official shall provide the 

11 individual with the ballot and the sup12 plies necessary to mark the ballot, and 

13 shall ensure (to the greatest extent 

14 practicable) that the waiting period 

15 for the individual to cast a vote is the 

16 lesser of 30 minutes or the average 

17 waiting period for an individual who 

18 does not agree to cast the vote using 

19 such a paper ballot under this clause. 

20 ‘‘(II) TREATMENT OF BALLOT.— 

21 Any paper ballot which is cast by an 

22 individual under this clause shall be 

23 counted and otherwise treated as a 

24 regular ballot for all purposes (includ25 ing by incorporating it into the final 


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1 unofficial vote count (as defined by 

2 the State) for the precinct) and not as 

3 a provisional ballot, unless the indi4 vidual casting the ballot would have 

5 otherwise been required to cast a pro6 visional ballot. 

7 ‘‘(III) POSTING OF NOTICE.— 

8 The appropriate election official shall 

9 ensure there is prominently displayed 

10 at each polling place a notice that de11 scribes the obligation of the official to 

12 offer individuals the opportunity to 

13 cast votes using a pre-printed blank 

14 paper ballot. 

15 ‘‘(IV) TRAINING OF ELECTION

16 OFFICIALS.—The chief State election 

17 official shall ensure that election offi18 cials at polling places in the State are 

19 aware of the requirements of this 

20 clause, including the requirement to 

21 display a notice under subclause (III), 

22 and are aware that it is a violation of 

23 the requirements of this title for an 

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1 vidual the opportunity to cast a vote 

2 using a blank pre-printed paper ballot. 

3 ‘‘(V) PERIOD OF APPLICA4 BILITY.—The requirements of this 

5 clause apply only during the period in 

6 which the delay is in effect under 

7 clause (i). 

8 ‘‘(C) SPECIAL RULE FOR JURISDICTIONS

9 USING CERTAIN NONTABULATING BALLOT

10 MARKING DEVICES.—In the case of a jurisdic11 tion which uses a nontabulating ballot marking 

12 device which automatically deposits the ballot 

13 into a privacy sleeve, subparagraph (A) shall 

14 apply to a voting system in the jurisdiction as 

15 if the reference in such subparagraph to ‘any 

16 election for Federal office held in 2018 or any 

17 succeeding year’ were a reference to ‘elections 

18 for Federal office occurring held in 2020 or 

19 each succeeding year’, but only with respect to 

20 paragraph (3)(B)(ii)(II) of subsection (a) (re21 lating to nonmanual casting of the durable 

22 paper ballot).’’. 


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1 Subtitle B—Requirement for Man2 datory Manual Audits by Hand 

3 Count 

4 SEC. 611. MANDATORY MANUAL AUDITS. 

5 Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 

6 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following new subtitle: 

8 ‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual 

9 Audits 

10 ‘‘SEC. 321. REQUIRING AUDITS OF RESULTS OF ELECTIONS. 

11 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING AUDITS.— 

12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In accordance with this 

13 subtitle, each State shall administer, without ad14 vance notice to the precincts or alternative audit 

15 units selected, audits of the results of all elections 

16 for Federal office held in the State (and, at the op17 tion of the State or jurisdiction involved, of elections 

18 for State and local office held at the same time as 

19 such election) consisting of random hand counts of 

20 the voter-verified paper ballots required to be used 

21 and preserved pursuant to section 301(a)(2). 

22 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTION FOR CERTAIN ELECTIONS.—A 

23 State shall not be required to administer an audit of 

24 the results of an election for Federal office under 


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1 this subtitle if the winning candidate in the elec2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(A) had no opposition on the ballot; or 

4 ‘‘(B) received 80 percent or more of the 

5 total number of votes cast in the election, as de6 termined on the basis of the final unofficial vote 

7 count. 

8 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF ENTITY CONDUCTING AU9 DITS; APPLICATION OF GAO INDEPENDENCE STAND10 ARDS.—The State shall administer audits under this sub11 title through an entity selected for such purpose by the 

12 State in accordance with such criteria as the State con13 siders appropriate consistent with the requirements of this 

14 subtitle, except that the entity must meet the general 

15 standards established by the Comptroller General and as 

16 set forth in the Comptroller General’s Government Audit17 ing Standards to ensure the independence (including, ex18 cept as provided under section 323(b), the organizational 

19 independence) of entities performing financial audits, at20 testation engagements, and performance audits. 

21 ‘‘(c) REFERENCES TO ELECTION AUDITOR.—In this 

22 subtitle, the term ‘Election Auditor’ means, with respect 

23 to a State, the entity selected by the State under sub24 section (b). 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 322. NUMBER OF BALLOTS COUNTED UNDER AUDIT. 

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

3 (b), the number of voter-verified paper ballots which will 

4 be subject to a hand count administered by the Election 

5 Auditor of a State under this subtitle with respect to an 

6 election shall be determined as follows: 

7 ‘‘(1) In the event that the unofficial count as 

8 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar9 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

10 the largest number of votes in the election is less 

11 than 1 percent of the total votes cast in that elec12 tion, the hand counts of the voter-verified paper bal13 lots shall occur in at least 10 percent of all precincts 

14 or equivalent locations (or alternative audit units 

15 used in accordance with the method provided for 

16 under subsection (b)) in the Congressional district 

17 involved (in the case of an election for the House of 

18 Representatives) or the State (in the case of any 

19 other election for Federal office). 

20 ‘‘(2) In the event that the unofficial count as 

21 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar22 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

23 the largest number of votes in the election is greater 

24 than or equal to 1 percent but less than 2 percent 

25 of the total votes cast in that election, the hand 

26 counts of the voter-verified paper ballots shall occur 


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1 in at least 5 percent of all precincts or equivalent lo2 cations (or alternative audit units used in accord3 ance with the method provided for under subsection 

4 (b)) in the Congressional district involved (in the 

5 case of an election for the House of Representatives) 

6 or the State (in the case of any other election for 

7 Federal office). 

8 ‘‘(3) In the event that the unofficial count as 

9 described in section 323(a)(1) reveals that the mar10 gin of victory between the two candidates receiving 

11 the largest number of votes in the election is equal 

12 to or greater than 2 percent of the total votes cast 

13 in that election, the hand counts of the voter-verified 

14 paper ballots shall occur in at least 3 percent of all 

15 precincts or equivalent locations (or alternative audit 

16 units used in accordance with the method provided 

17 for under subsection (b)) in the Congressional dis18 trict involved (in the case of an election for the 

19 House of Representatives) or the State (in the case 

20 of any other election for Federal office). 

21 ‘‘(b) USE OF ALTERNATIVE MECHANISM.— 

22 ‘‘(1) PERMITTING USE OF ALTERNATIVE MECH23 ANISM.—Notwithstanding subsection (a), a State 

24 may adopt and apply an alternative mechanism to 

25 determine the number of voter-verified paper ballots 


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1 which will be subject to the hand counts required 

2 under this subtitle with respect to an election, so 

3 long as the alternative mechanism uses the voter4 verified paper ballots to conduct the audit and the 

5 National Institute of Standards and Technology de6 termines that the alternative mechanism is in ac7 cordance with the principles set forth in paragraph 

8 (2). 

9 ‘‘(2) PRINCIPLES FOR APPROVAL.—In approv10 ing an alternative mechanism under paragraph (1), 

11 the National Institute of Standards and Technology 

12 shall ensure that the audit procedure will have the 

13 property that for each election— 

14 ‘‘(A) the alternative mechanism will be at 

15 least as statistically effective in ensuring the ac16 curacy of the election results as the procedures 

17 under this subtitle; or 

18 ‘‘(B) the alternative mechanism will 

19 achieve at least a 95% confidence interval (as 

20 determined in accordance with criteria set forth 

21 by the National Institute of Standards and 

22 Technology) with respect to the outcome of the 

23 election. 

24 ‘‘(3) DEADLINE FOR RESPONSE.—The Director 

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1 nology shall make a determination regarding a 

2 State’s request to approve an alternative mechanism 

3 under paragraph (1) not later than 30 days after re4 ceiving the State’s request. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 323. PROCESS FOR ADMINISTERING AUDITS. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Election Auditor of a State 

7 shall administer an audit under this section of the results 

8 of an election in accordance with the following procedures: 

9 ‘‘(1) Within 24 hours after the State announces 

10 the final unofficial vote count (as defined by the 

11 State) in each precinct in the State, the Election 

12 Auditor shall— 

13 ‘‘(A) determine and then announce the 

14 precincts or equivalent locations (or alternative 

15 audit units used in accordance with the method 

16 provided under section 322(b)) in the State in 

17 which it will administer the audits; and 

18 ‘‘(B) with respect to votes cast at the pre19 cinct or equivalent location on or before the 

20 date of the election (other than provisional bal21 lots described in paragraph (2)), begin to ad22 minister the hand count of the votes on the 

23 voter-verified paper ballots required to be used 

24 and preserved under section 301(a)(2)(A) and 

25 the comparison of the count of the votes on 


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1 those ballots with the final unofficial count of 

2 such votes as announced by the State. 

3 ‘‘(2) With respect to votes cast other than at 

4 the precinct on the date of the election (other than 

5 votes cast before the date of the election described 

6 in paragraph (2)) or votes cast by provisional ballot 

7 on the date of the election which are certified and 

8 counted by the State on or after the date of the elec9 tion, including votes cast by absent uniformed serv10 ices voters and overseas voters under the Uniformed 

11 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, the 

12 Election Auditor shall administer the hand count of 

13 the votes on the applicable voter-verified paper bal14 lots required to be produced and preserved under 

15 section 301(a)(2)(A) and the comparison of the 

16 count of the votes on those ballots with the final un17 official count of such votes as announced by the 

18 State. 

19 ‘‘(b) USE OF PERSONNEL.—In administering the au20 dits, the Election Auditor may utilize the services of the 

21 personnel of the State or jurisdiction, including election 

22 administration personnel and poll workers, without regard 

23 to whether or not the personnel have professional auditing 

24 experience. 


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1 ‘‘(c) LOCATION.—The Election Auditor shall admin2 ister an audit of an election— 

3 ‘‘(1) at the location where the ballots cast in 

4 the election are stored and counted after the date of 

5 the election or such other appropriate and secure lo6 cation agreed upon by the Election Auditor and the 

7 individual that is responsible under State law for the 

8 custody of the ballots; and 

9 ‘‘(2) in the presence of the personnel who under 

10 State law are responsible for the custody of the bal11 lots. 

12 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULE IN CASE OF DELAY IN REPORT13 ING ABSENTEE VOTE COUNT.—In the case of a State in 

14 which the final count of absentee and provisional votes is 

15 not announced until after the date of the election, the 

16 Election Auditor shall initiate the process described in 

17 subsection (a) for administering the audit not later than 

18 24 hours after the State announces the final unofficial 

19 vote count for the votes cast at the precinct or equivalent 

20 location on or before the date of the election, and shall 

21 initiate the administration of the audit of the absentee and 

22 provisional votes pursuant to subsection (a)(2) not later 

23 than 24 hours after the State announces the final unoffi24 cial count of such votes. 

25 ‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL AUDITS IF CAUSE SHOWN.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Election Auditor 

2 finds that any of the hand counts administered 

3 under this section do not match the final unofficial 

4 tally of the results of an election, the Election Audi5 tor shall administer hand counts under this section 

6 of such additional precincts (or alternative audit 

7 units) as the Election Auditor considers appropriate 

8 to resolve any concerns resulting from the audit and 

9 ensure the accuracy of the election results. 

10 ‘‘(2) ESTABLISHMENT AND PUBLICATION OF

11 PROCEDURES GOVERNING ADDITIONAL AUDITS.— 

12 Not later than August 1, 2017, each State shall es13 tablish and publish procedures for carrying out the 

14 additional audits under this subsection, including the 

15 means by which the State shall resolve any concerns 

16 resulting from the audit with finality and ensure the 

17 accuracy of the election results. 

18 ‘‘(f) PUBLIC OBSERVATION OF AUDITS.—Each audit 

19 conducted under this section shall be conducted in a man20 ner that allows public observation of the entire process. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 324. SELECTION OF PRECINCTS. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in subsection 

23 (c), the selection of the precincts or alternative audit units 

24 in the State in which the Election Auditor of the State 

25 shall administer the hand counts under this subtitle shall 


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1 be made by the Election Auditor on a random basis, in 

2 accordance with procedures adopted by the National Insti3 tute of Standards and Technology, except that at least one 

4 precinct shall be selected at random in each county, with 

5 additional precincts selected by the Election Auditor at the 

6 Auditor’s discretion. 

7 ‘‘(b) PUBLIC SELECTION.—The random selection of 

8 precincts under subsection (a) shall be conducted in pub9 lic, at a time and place announced in advance. 

10 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY SELECTION OF PRECINCTS ESTAB11 LISHED SPECIFICALLY FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS.—If a 

12 State does not sort absentee ballots by precinct and in13 clude those ballots in the hand count with respect to that 

14 precinct, the State shall create absentee ballot precincts 

15 or audit units which are of similar size to the average pre16 cinct or audit unit in the jurisdiction being audited, and 

17 shall include those absentee precincts or audit units 

18 among the precincts in the State in which the Election 

19 Auditor shall administer the hand counts under this sub20 title. 

21 ‘‘(d) DEADLINE FOR ADOPTION OF PROCEDURES BY

22 COMMISSION.—The National Institute of Standards and 

23 Technology shall adopt the procedures described in sub24 section (a) not later than March 31, 2017, and shall pub25 lish them in the Federal Register upon adoption. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 325. PUBLICATION OF RESULTS. 

2 ‘‘(a) SUBMISSION TO COMMISSION.—As soon as prac3 ticable after the completion of an audit under this subtitle, 

4 the Election Auditor of a State shall submit to the Com5 mission the results of the audit, and shall include in the 

6 submission a comparison of the results of the election in 

7 the precinct as determined by the Election Auditor under 

8 the audit and the final unofficial vote count in the precinct 

9 as announced by the State and all undervotes, overvotes, 

10 blank ballots, and spoiled, voided, or cancelled ballots, as 

11 well as a list of any discrepancies discovered between the 

12 initial, subsequent, and final hand counts administered by 

13 the Election Auditor and such final unofficial vote count 

14 and any explanation for such discrepancies, broken down 

15 by the categories of votes described in paragraphs (1)(B) 

16 and (2) of section 323(a). 

17 ‘‘(b) PUBLICATION BY COMMISSION.—Immediately 

18 after receiving the submission of the results of an audit 

19 from the Election Auditor of a State under subsection (a), 

20 the Commission shall publicly announce and publish the 

21 information contained in the submission. 

22 ‘‘(c) DELAY IN CERTIFICATION OF RESULTS BY

23 STATE.— 

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1 sults of any election which is subject to an audit 

2 under this subtitle prior to— 

3 ‘‘(A) the completion of the audit (and, if 

4 required, any additional audit conducted under 

5 section 323(e)(1)) and the announcement and 

6 submission of the results of each such audit to 

7 the Commission for publication of the informa8 tion required under this section; and 

9 ‘‘(B) the completion of any procedure es10 tablished by the State pursuant to section 

11 323(e)(2) to resolve discrepancies and ensure 

12 the accuracy of results. 

13 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION OF AUDITS

14 OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS.—In the case of an 

15 election for electors for President and Vice President 

16 which is subject to an audit under this subtitle, the 

17 State shall complete the audits and announce and 

18 submit the results to the Commission for publication 

19 of the information required under this section in 

20 time for the State to certify the results of the elec21 tion and provide for the final determination of any 

22 controversy or contest concerning the appointment 

23 of such electors prior to the deadline described in 

24 section 6 of title 3, United States Code. 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 326. PAYMENTS TO STATES. 

2 ‘‘(a) PAYMENTS FOR COSTS OF CONDUCTING AU3 DITS.—In accordance with the requirements and proce4 dures of this section, the Commission shall make a pay5 ment to a State to cover the costs incurred by the State 

6 in carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elections 

7 that are the subject of the audits conducted under this 

8 subtitle. 

9 ‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION OF COMPLIANCE AND ANTICI10 PATED COSTS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) CERTIFICATION REQUIRED.—In order to 

12 receive a payment under this section, a State shall 

13 submit to the Commission, in such form as the Com14 mission may require, a statement containing— 

15 ‘‘(A) a certification that the State will con16 duct the audits required under this subtitle in 

17 accordance with all of the requirements of this 

18 subtitle; 

19 ‘‘(B) a notice of the reasonable costs in20 curred or the reasonable costs anticipated to be 

21 incurred by the State in carrying out this sub22 title with respect to the elections involved; and 

23 ‘‘(C) such other information and assur24 ances as the Commission may require. 

25 ‘‘(2) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The amount of a 

26 payment made to a State under this section shall be 


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1 equal to the reasonable costs incurred or the reason2 able costs anticipated to be incurred by the State in 

3 carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elec4 tions involved, as set forth in the statement sub5 mitted under paragraph (1). 

6 ‘‘(3) TIMING OF NOTICE.—The State may not 

7 submit a notice under paragraph (1) until can8 didates have been selected to appear on the ballot 

9 for all of the elections for Federal office which will 

10 be the subject of the audits involved. 

11 ‘‘(c) TIMING OF PAYMENTS.—The Commission shall 

12 make the payment required under this section to a State 

13 not later than 30 days after receiving the notice submitted 

14 by the State under subsection (b). 

15 ‘‘(d) RECOUPMENT OF OVERPAYMENTS.—No pay16 ment may be made to a State under this section unless 

17 the State agrees to repay to the Commission the excess 

18 (if any) of— 

19 ‘‘(1) the amount of the payment received by the 

20 State under this section with respect to the elections 

21 involved; over 

22 ‘‘(2) the actual costs incurred by the State in 

23 carrying out this subtitle with respect to the elec24 tions involved. 


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1 ‘‘(e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to the Commission for 

3 fiscal year 2018 and each succeeding fiscal year 

4 $100,000,000 for payments under this section. 

5 ‘‘SEC. 327. EXCEPTION FOR ELECTIONS SUBJECT TO RE6 COUNT UNDER STATE LAW PRIOR TO CER7 TIFICATION. 

8 ‘‘(a) EXCEPTION.—This subtitle does not apply to 

9 any election for which a recount under State law will com10 mence prior to the certification of the results of the elec11 tion, including but not limited to a recount required auto12 matically because of the margin of victory between the 2 

13 candidates receiving the largest number of votes in the 

14 election, but only if each of the following applies to the 

15 recount: 

16 ‘‘(1) The recount commences prior to the deter17 mination and announcement by the Election Auditor 

18 under section 323(a)(1) of the precincts in the State 

19 in which it will administer the audits under this sub20 title. 

21 ‘‘(2) If the recount would apply to fewer than 

22 100 percent of the ballots cast in the election— 

23 ‘‘(A) the number of ballots counted will be 

24 at least as many as would be counted if an 


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1 audit were conducted with respect to the elec2 tion in accordance with this subtitle; and 

3 ‘‘(B) the selection of the precincts in which 

4 the recount will be conducted will be made in 

5 accordance with the random selection proce6 dures applicable under section 324. 

7 ‘‘(3) The recount for the election meets the re8 quirements of section 323(f) (relating to public ob9 servation). 

10 ‘‘(4) The State meets the requirements of sec11 tion 325 (relating to the publication of results and 

12 the delay in the certification of results) with respect 

13 to the recount. 

14 ‘‘(b) CLARIFICATION OF EFFECT ON OTHER RE15 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in this section may be construed 

16 to waive the application of any other provision of this Act 

17 to any election (including the requirement set forth in sec18 tion 301(a)(2) that the voter verified paper ballots serve 

19 as the vote of record and shall be counted by hand in all 

20 audits and recounts, including audits and recounts de21 scribed in this subtitle). 

22 ‘‘SEC. 328. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

23 ‘‘This subtitle shall apply with respect to elections for 

24 Federal office held in 2018 or any succeeding year.’’. 


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1 SEC. 612. AVAILABILITY OF ENFORCEMENT UNDER HELP 

2 AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 

3 Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

4 (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amended by striking the period at 

5 the end and inserting the following: ‘‘, or the requirements 

6 of subtitle C of title III.’’. 

7 SEC. 613. GUIDANCE ON BEST PRACTICES FOR ALTER8 NATIVE AUDIT MECHANISMS. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than May 1, 2017, the 

10 Director of the National Institute for Standards and Tech11 nology shall establish guidance for States that wish to es12 tablish alternative audit mechanisms under section 322(b) 

13 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as added by section 

14 611). Such guidance shall be based upon scientifically and 

15 statistically reasonable assumptions for the purpose of cre16 ating an alternative audit mechanism that will be con17 sistent with the principles for approval described in section 

18 322(b)(2) of such Act (as so added). 

19 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out subsection 

21 (a) $100,000, to remain available until expended. 

22 SEC. 614. CLERICAL AMENDMENT. 

23 The table of contents of the Help America Vote Act 

24 of 2002 is amended by adding at the end of the items 

25 relating to title III the following: 

‘‘Subtitle C—Mandatory Manual Audits 


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‘‘Sec. 321. Requiring audits of results of elections. 

‘‘Sec. 322. Number of ballots counted under audit. 

‘‘Sec. 323. Process for administering audits. 

‘‘Sec. 324. Selection of precincts. 

‘‘Sec. 325. Publication of results. 

‘‘Sec. 326. Payments to States. 

‘‘Sec. 327. Exception for elections subject to recount under State law prior to 

certification. 

‘‘Sec. 328. Effective date.’’. 

1 TITLE VII—PROVISIONAL 

2 BALLOTS 

3 SEC. 701. REQUIREMENTS FOR COUNTING PROVISIONAL 

4 BALLOTS; ESTABLISHMENT OF UNIFORM AND 

5 NONDISCRIMINATORY STANDARDS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 302 of the Help America 

7 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482) is amended— 

8 (1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub9 section (f); and 

10 (2) by inserting after subsection (c) the fol11 lowing new subsections: 

12 ‘‘(d) STATEWIDE COUNTING OF PROVISIONAL BAL13 LOTS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of subsection 

15 (a)(4), notwithstanding the precinct or polling place 

16 at which a provisional ballot is cast within the State, 

17 the appropriate election official shall count each vote 

18 on such ballot for each election in which the indi19 vidual who cast such ballot is eligible to vote. 


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1 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

2 apply with respect to elections held on or after Janu3 ary 1, 2013. 

4 ‘‘(e) UNIFORM AND NONDISCRIMINATORY STAND5 ARDS.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Consistent with the re7 quirements of this section, each State shall establish 

8 uniform and nondiscriminatory standards for the 

9 issuance, handling, and counting of provisional bal10 lots. 

11 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

12 apply with respect to elections held on or after Janu13 ary 1, 2013.’’. 

14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 302(f) of 

15 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15482(f)), as redesignated by sub16 section (a), is amended by striking ‘‘Each State’’ and in17 serting ‘‘Except as provided in subsections (d)(2) and 

18 (e)(2), each State’’. 

19 TITLE VIII—EARLY VOTING AND 

20 VOTING BY MAIL 

21 SEC. 801. EARLY VOTING AND VOTING BY MAIL. 

22 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 

23 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.), 

24 as amended by section 114(a) and section 201(a), is 

25 amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating sections 306 and 307 as 

2 sections 308 and 309; and 

3 (2) by inserting after section 305 the following 

4 new sections: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 306. EARLY VOTING. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall allow individ7 uals to vote in an election for Federal office not less than 

8 15 days prior to the day scheduled for such election in 

9 the same manner as voting is allowed on such day. 

10 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING REQUIREMENTS.— 

11 Each polling place which allows voting prior to the day 

12 of a Federal election pursuant to subsection (a) shall— 

13 ‘‘(1) allow such voting for no less than 4 hours 

14 on each day (other than Sunday); and 

15 ‘‘(2) have uniform hours each day for which 

16 such voting occurs. 

17 ‘‘(c) LOCATION OF POLLING PLACES NEAR PUBLIC

18 TRANSPORTATION.—To the greatest extent practicable, a 

19 State shall ensure that each polling place which allows vot20 ing prior to the day of a Federal election pursuant to sub21 section (a) is located within walking distance of a stop on 

22 a public transportation route. 

23 ‘‘(d) STANDARDS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall issue 

25 standards for the administration of voting prior to 


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1 the day scheduled for a Federal election. Such 

2 standards shall include the nondiscriminatory geo3 graphic placement of polling places at which such 

4 voting occurs. 

5 ‘‘(2) DEVIATION.—The standards described in 

6 paragraph (1) shall permit States, upon providing 

7 adequate public notice, to deviate from any require8 ment in the case of unforeseen circumstances such 

9 as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or a change 

10 in voter turnout. 

11 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

12 with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 2014. 

13 ‘‘SEC. 307. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 

14 MAIL. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli16 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 

17 State may not impose any additional conditions or require18 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 

19 in such election by mail, except as required under sub20 section (b) and except to the extent that the State imposes 

21 a deadline for requesting the ballot and related voting ma22 terials from the appropriate State or local election official 

23 and for returning the ballot to the appropriate State or 

24 local election official. 


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1 ‘‘(b) REQUIRING SIGNATURE VERIFICATION.—A 

2 State may not accept and process an absentee ballot sub3 mitted by any individual with respect to an election for 

4 Federal office unless the State verifies the identification 

5 of the individual by comparing the individual’s signature 

6 on the absentee ballot with the individual’s signature on 

7 the official list of registered voters in the State, in accord8 ance with such procedures as the State may adopt. 

9 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

10 with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 

11 2014.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

13 ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS14 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (42 

15 U.S.C. 15501(b)), as amended by section 201(b), is 

16 amended— 

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

18 (3); 

19 (2) by striking the period at the end of para20 graph (4) and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

22 paragraphs: 

23 ‘‘(5) in the case of the recommendations with 

24 respect to section 306, June 30, 2013; and 


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1 ‘‘(6) in the case of the recommendations with 

2 respect to section 307, June 30, 2013.’’. 

3 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

4 of such Act is amended— 

5 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec6 tions 306 and 307 as relating to sections 308 and 

7 309; and 

8 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec9 tion 305 the following new items: 

‘‘Sec. 306. Early voting. 

‘‘Sec. 307. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. 

10 TITLE IX—ABSENT UNIFORMED 

11 SERVICES VOTERS AND 

12 OVERSEAS VOTERS 

13 SEC. 901. EXTENDING GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR 

14 VOTING PURPOSES TO FAMILY MEMBERS OF 

15 ABSENT MILITARY PERSONNEL. 

16 Section 705 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 

17 (50 U.S.C. App. 595) is amended— 

18 (1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘SPOUSES’’ and 

19 inserting ‘‘FAMILY MEMBERS’’; and 

20 (2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol21 lows: 

22 ‘‘(b) FAMILY MEMBERS.—For the purposes of voting 

23 for in any election for any Federal office (as defined in 

24 section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 


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1 (2 U.S.C. 431)) or any State or local office, a spouse, do2 mestic partner, or dependent of a person who is absent 

3 from a State in compliance with military or naval orders 

4 shall not, solely by reason of that person’s absence and 

5 without regard to whether or not such family member is 

6 accompanying that person— 

7 ‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or 

8 domicile in that State, without regard to whether or 

9 not the person intends to return to that State; 

10 ‘‘(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or 

11 domicile in any other State; or 

12 ‘‘(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or 

13 a resident of any other State.’’. 

14 SEC. 902. PRE-ELECTION REPORTS ON AVAILABILITY AND 

15 TRANSMISSION OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 

16 Section 102(c) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citi17 zens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(c)) is 

18 amended to read as follows: 

19 ‘‘(c) REPORTS ON AVAILABILITY, TRANSMISSION, 

20 AND RECEIPT OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS.— 

21 ‘‘(1) PRE-ELECTION REPORT ON ABSENTEE

22 BALLOT AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 55 days be23 fore any regularly scheduled general election for 

24 Federal office, each State shall submit a report to 

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1 mission (hereafter in this subsection referred to as 

2 the ‘Commission’), and the Presidential Designee, 

3 and make that report publicly available that same 

4 day, certifying that absentee ballots for the election 

5 are or will be available for transmission to absent 

6 uniformed services voters and overseas voters by not 

7 later than 45 days before the election. The report 

8 shall be in a form prescribed jointly by the Attorney 

9 General and the Commission and shall require the 

10 State to certify specific information about ballot 

11 availability from each unit of local government which 

12 will administer the election. 

13 ‘‘(2) PRE-ELECTION REPORT ON ABSENTEE

14 BALLOT TRANSMISSION.—Not later than 43 days be15 fore any regularly scheduled general election for 

16 Federal office, each State shall submit a report to 

17 the Attorney General, the Commission, and the 

18 Presidential Designee, and make that report publicly 

19 available that same day, certifying whether all ab20 sentee ballots have been transmitted by not later 

21 than 45 days before the election to all qualified ab22 sent uniformed services and overseas voters whose 

23 requests were received at least 45 days before the 

24 election. The report shall be in a form prescribed 

25 jointly by the Attorney General and the Commission, 


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1 and shall require the State to certify specific infor2 mation about ballot transmission, including the total 

3 numbers of ballot requests received and ballots 

4 transmitted, from each unit of local government 

5 which will administer the election. 

6 ‘‘(3) POST-ELECTION REPORT ON NUMBER OF

7 ABSENTEE BALLOTS TRANSMITTED AND RE8 CEIVED.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 

9 each regularly scheduled general election for Federal 

10 office, each State and unit of local government 

11 which administered the election shall (through the 

12 State, in the case of a unit of local government) sub13 mit a report to the Attorney General, the Commis14 sion, and the Presidential Designee on the combined 

15 number of absentee ballots transmitted to absent 

16 uniformed services voters and overseas voters for the 

17 election and the combined number of such ballots 

18 which were returned by such voters and cast in the 

19 election, and shall make such report available to the 

20 general public that same day.’’. 

21 SEC. 903. ENFORCEMENT. 

22 (a) AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL PENALTIES AND PRI23 VATE RIGHTS OF ACTION.—Section 105 of the Uniformed 

24 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 

25 1973ff–4) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 105. ENFORCEMENT. 

2 ‘‘(a) ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

3 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 

4 bring civil action in an appropriate district court for 

5 such declaratory or injunctive relief as may be nec6 essary to carry out this title. 

7 ‘‘(2) PENALTY.—In a civil action brought under 

8 paragraph (1), if the court finds that the State vio9 lated any provision of this title, it may, to vindicate 

10 the public interest, assess a civil penalty against the 

11 State— 

12 ‘‘(A) in an amount not to exceed $110,000 

13 for each such violation, in the case of a first 

14 violation; or 

15 ‘‘(B) in an amount not to exceed $220,000 

16 for each such violation, for any subsequent vio17 lation. 

18 ‘‘(3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 

19 December 31 of each year, the Attorney General 

20 shall submit to Congress an annual report on any 

21 civil action brought under paragraph (1) during the 

22 preceding year. 

23 ‘‘(b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person who is 

24 aggrieved by a State’s violation of this title may bring a 

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1 atory or injunctive relief as may be necessary to carry out 

2 this title. 

3 ‘‘(c) STATE AS ONLY NECESSARY DEFENDANT.—In 

4 any action brought under this section, the only necessary 

5 party defendant is the State, and it shall not be a defense 

6 to any such action that a local election official or a unit 

7 of local government is not named as a defendant, notwith8 standing that a State has exercised the authority described 

9 in section 576 of the Military and Overseas Voter Em10 powerment Act to delegate to another jurisdiction in the 

11 State any duty or responsibility which is the subject of 

12 an action brought under this section.’’. 

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

14 this section shall apply with respect to violations alleged 

15 to have occurred on or after the date of the enactment 

16 of this Act. 

17 SEC. 904. REVISIONS TO 45-DAY ABSENTEE BALLOT TRANS18 MISSION RULE. 

19 (a) REPEAL OF WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Uni21 formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 

22 (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1) is amended by striking sub23 section (g). 

24 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

25 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff– 


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1 1(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘except as pro2 vided in subsection (g),’’. 

3 (b) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN CASE

4 OF FAILURE TO MEET REQUIREMENT.—Section 102 of 

5 such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1), as amended by subsection 

6 (a), is amended by inserting after subsection (f) the fol7 lowing new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(g) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN

9 CASE OF FAILURE TO TRANSMIT BALLOTS WITHIN

10 DEADLINES.— 

11 ‘‘(1) TRANSMISSION OF BALLOT BY EXPRESS

12 DELIVERY.—If a State fails to meet the requirement 

13 of subsection (a)(8)(A) to transmit a validly re14 quested absentee ballot to an absent uniformed serv15 ices voter or overseas voter not later than 45 days 

16 before the election (in the case in which the request 

17 is received at least 45 days before the election)— 

18 ‘‘(A) the State shall transmit the ballot to 

19 the voter by express delivery; or 

20 ‘‘(B) in the case of a voter who has des21 ignated that absentee ballots be transmitted 

22 electronically in accordance with subsection 

23 (f)(1), the State shall transmit the ballot to the 

24 voter electronically. 


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1 ‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR TRANSMISSION FEWER

2 THAN 40 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION.—If, in car3 rying out paragraph (1), a State transmits an ab4 sentee ballot to an absent uniformed services voter 

5 or overseas voter fewer than 40 days before the elec6 tion, the State shall enable the ballot to be returned 

7 by the voter by express delivery, except that in the 

8 case of an absentee ballot of an absent uniformed 

9 services voter for a regularly scheduled general elec10 tion for Federal office, the State may satisfy the re11 quirement of this paragraph by notifying the voter 

12 of the procedures for the collection and delivery of 

13 such ballots under section 103A.’’. 

14 (c) CLARIFICATION OF TREATMENT OF WEEK15 ENDS.—Section 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 

16 1973ff–1(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘the election;’’ 

17 and inserting the following: ‘‘the election (or, if the 45th 

18 day preceding the election is a weekend or legal public hol19 iday, not later than the most recent weekday which pre20 cedes such 45th day and which is not a legal public holi21 day, but only if the request is received by at least such 

22 most recent weekday);’’. 


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1 SEC. 905. USE OF SINGLE ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION 

2 FOR SUBSEQUENT ELECTIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 104 of the Uniformed and 

4 Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff– 

5 3) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 104. USE OF SINGLE APPLICATION FOR SUBSEQUENT 

7 ELECTIONS. 

8 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If a State accepts and processes 

9 an official post card form (prescribed under section 101) 

10 submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or over11 seas voter for simultaneous voter registration and absen12 tee ballot application (in accordance with section 

13 102(a)(4)) and the voter requests that the application be 

14 considered an application for an absentee ballot for each 

15 subsequent election for Federal office held in the State 

16 through the next regularly scheduled general election for 

17 Federal office (including any runoff elections which may 

18 occur as a result of the outcome of such general election), 

19 the State shall provide an absentee ballot to the voter for 

20 each such subsequent election. 

21 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION FOR VOTERS CHANGING REGISTRA22 TION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a 

23 voter registered to vote in a State for any election held 

24 after the voter notifies the State that the voter no longer 

25 wishes to be registered to vote in the State or after the 

26 State determines that the voter has registered to vote in 


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1 another State or is otherwise no longer eligible to vote in 

2 the State. 

3 ‘‘(c) PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL OF APPLICATION ON

4 GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION.—A State may not 

5 refuse to accept or to process, with respect to any election 

6 for Federal office, any otherwise valid voter registration 

7 application or absentee ballot application (including the 

8 postcard form prescribed under section 101) submitted by 

9 an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter on 

10 the grounds that the voter submitted the application be11 fore the first date on which the State otherwise accepts 

12 or processes such applications for that election which are 

13 submitted by absentee voters who are not members of the 

14 uniformed services or overseas citizens.’’. 

15 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

16 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to voter registration 

17 and absentee ballot applications which are submitted to 

18 a State or local election official on or after the date of 

19 the enactment of this Act. 

20 SEC. 906. APPLICATION OF UOCAVA TO COMMONWEALTH 

21 OF NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS. 

22 Section 107(6) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citi23 zens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973 ff–6(6)) is 

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1 ing ‘‘American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the 

2 Northern Mariana Islands’’. 

3 SEC. 907. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

4 The amendments made by this title shall apply with 

5 respect to elections occurring on or after January 1, 2014. 

6 TITLE X—POLL WORKER 

7 RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING 

8 SEC. 1001. LEAVE TO SERVE AS A POLL WORKER FOR FED9 ERAL EMPLOYEES. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 63 of 

11 title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

12 end the following: 

13 ‘‘§ 6329. Absence in connection with serving as a poll 

14 worker 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee in or under an Ex16 ecutive agency is entitled to leave, without loss of or reduc17 tion in pay, leave to which otherwise entitled, credit for 

18 time or service, or performance or efficiency rating, not 

19 to exceed 6 days in a leave year, in order— 

20 ‘‘(1) to provide election administration assist21 ance to a State or unit of local government at a poll22 ing place on the date of any election for public of23 fice; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) to receive any training without which such 

2 employee would be ineligible to provide such assist3 ance. 

4 ‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—The Director of the Office of 

5 Personnel Management may prescribe regulations for the 

6 administration of this section, including regulations set7 ting forth the terms and conditions of the election admin8 istration assistance an employee may provide for purposes 

9 of subsection (a).’’. 

10 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

11 for chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 

12 by inserting after the item relating to section 6328 the 

13 following: 

‘‘6329. Absence in connection with serving as a poll worker.’’. 

14 SEC. 1002. GRANTS TO STATES FOR POLL WORKER RE15 CRUITMENT AND TRAINING. 

16 (a) GRANTS BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS17 SION.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 

19 Commission (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Commis20 sion’’) shall make a grant to each eligible State for 

21 recruiting and training individuals to serve as non22 partisan poll workers on dates of elections for public 

23 office. 

24 (2) USE OF COMMISSION MATERIALS.—In car25 rying out activities with a grant provided under this 


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1 section, the recipient of the grant shall use the man2 ual prepared by the Commission on successful prac3 tices for poll worker recruiting, training and reten4 tion as an interactive training tool, and shall develop 

5 training programs with the participation and input 

6 of experts in adult learning. 

7 (b) REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY.— 

8 (1) APPLICATION.—Each State that desires to 

9 receive a payment under this section shall submit an 

10 application for the payment to the Commission at 

11 such time and in such manner and containing such 

12 information as the Commission shall require. 

13 (2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli14 cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 

15 (A) describe the activities for which assist16 ance under this section is sought; 

17 (B) provide assurances that the funds pro18 vided under this section will be used to supple19 ment and not supplant other funds used to 

20 carry out the activities; 

21 (C) provide assurances that the State will 

22 furnish the Commission with information on the 

23 number of individuals who served as non24 partisan poll workers after recruitment and 


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1 training with the funds provided under this sec2 tion; and 

3 (D) provide such additional information 

4 and certifications as the Commission deter5 mines to be essential to ensure compliance with 

6 the requirements of this section. 

7 (c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—The amount of a grant 

9 made to a State under this section shall be equal to 

10 the product of— 

11 (A) the aggregate amount made available 

12 for grants to States under this section; and 

13 (B) the voting age population percentage 

14 for the State. 

15 (2) VOTING AGE POPULATION PERCENTAGE DE16 FINED.—In paragraph (1), the ‘‘voting age popu17 lation percentage’’ for a State is the quotient of— 

18 (A) the voting age population of the State 

19 (as determined on the basis of the most recent 

20 information available from the Bureau of the 

21 Census); and 

22 (B) the total voting age population of all 

23 States (as determined on the basis of the most 

24 recent information available from the Bureau of 

25 the Census). 


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1 (d) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 

2 (1) REPORTS BY RECIPIENTS OF GRANTS.—Not 

3 later than 6 months after the date on which the 

4 final grant is made under this section, each recipient 

5 of a grant shall submit a report to the Commission 

6 on the activities conducted with the funds provided 

7 by the grant. 

8 (2) REPORTS BY COMMISSION.—Not later than 

9 1 year after the date on which the final grant is 

10 made under this section, the Commission shall sub11 mit a report to Congress on the grants made under 

12 this section and the activities carried out by recipi13 ents with the grants, and shall include in the report 

14 such recommendations as the Commission considers 

15 appropriate. 

16 (e) FUNDING.— 

17 (1) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNT AP18 PROPRIATED.—Any amount appropriated to carry 

19 out this section shall remain available without fiscal 

20 year limitation until expended. 

21 (2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—Of the 

22 amount appropriated for any fiscal year to carry out 

23 this section, not more than 3 percent shall be avail24 able for administrative expenses of the Commission. 


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1 SEC. 1003. MODEL POLL WORKER TRAINING PROGRAM. 

2 (a) DEVELOPMENT OF PROGRAM BY ELECTION AS3 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Not later than 1 year after the 

4 date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assistance 

5 Commission shall develop and provide to each State mate6 rials for a model poll worker training program which the 

7 State may use to train individuals to serve as poll workers 

8 in elections for Federal office. 

9 (b) CONTENTS OF MATERIALS.—The materials for 

10 the model poll worker training program developed under 

11 this section shall include materials to provide training with 

12 respect to the following: 

13 (1) The relevant provisions of the Federal laws 

14 which apply to the administration of elections for 

15 Federal office in the State, including the Voting 

16 Rights Act of 1965 and the Help America Vote Act 

17 of 2002. 

18 (2) The provision of access to voting to individ19 uals with disabilities in a manner which preserves 

20 the dignity and privacy of such individuals. 

21 (3) The provision of access to voting to individ22 uals with limited English language proficiency, and 

23 to individuals who are members or racial or ethnic 

24 minorities, consistent with the protections provided 

25 for such individuals under relevant law, in a manner 

26 which preserves the dignity of such individuals. 


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1 (4) Practical experience in the use of the voting 

2 machines which will be used in the election involved, 

3 including the accessibility features of such machines. 

4 (5) Such other election administration subjects 

5 as the Commission considers appropriate to ensure 

6 that poll workers are able to effectively assist with 

7 the administration of elections for Federal office. 

8 SEC. 1004. STATE DEFINED. 

9 In this title, the term ‘‘State’’ includes the District 

10 of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, 

11 American Samoa, and the United States Virgin Islands. 

12 TITLE XI—ENHANCEMENT OF 

13 ENFORCEMENT 

14 SEC. 1101. ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT OF HELP 

15 AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 

16 (a) COMPLAINTS; AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT

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

18 of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amended— 

19 (1) by striking ‘‘The Attorney General’’ and in20 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General’’; 

21 and 

22 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub23 sections: 

24 ‘‘(b) FILING OF COMPLAINTS BY AGGRIEVED PER25 SONS.— 


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

2 by a violation of subtitle A or subtitle C of title III 

3 which has occurred, is occurring, or is about to 

4 occur may file a written, signed, notarized complaint 

5 with the Attorney General describing the violation 

6 and requesting the Attorney General to take appro7 priate action under this section. The Attorney Gen8 eral shall immediately provide a copy of a complaint 

9 filed under the previous sentence to the entity re10 sponsible for administering the State-based adminis11 trative complaint procedures described in section 

12 402(a) for the State involved. 

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

14 Attorney General shall respond to each complaint 

15 filed under paragraph (1), in accordance with proce16 dures established by the Attorney General that re17 quire responses and determinations to be made with18 in the same (or shorter) deadlines which apply to a 

19 State under the State-based administrative com20 plaint procedures described in section 402(a)(2). 

21 The Attorney General shall immediately provide a 

22 copy of the response made under the previous sen23 tence to the entity responsible for administering the 

24 State-based administrative complaint procedures de25 scribed in section 402(a) for the State involved. 


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1 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC2 TION.—Any person who is authorized to file a complaint 

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

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

5 paper ballot, the right to have the voter-verified paper bal6 lot counted in accordance with this Act, or any other right 

7 under subtitles A or C of title III) may file an action under 

8 section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States 

9 (42 U.S.C. 1983) to enforce the uniform and nondiscrim10 inatory election technology and administration require11 ments under subtitle A of title III, or the requirements 

12 of subtitle C of title III. 

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

14 in this section may be construed to affect the availability 

15 of the State-based administrative complaint procedures re16 quired under section 402 to any person filing a complaint 

17 under this subsection.’’. 

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

19 this section shall apply with respect to violations occurring 

20 with respect to elections for Federal office held in 2014 

21 or any succeeding year. 


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1 TITLE XII—FEDERAL ELECTION 

2 INTEGRITY 

3 SEC. 1201. PROHIBITION ON CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES BY 

4 CHIEF STATE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION 

5 OFFICIALS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Federal Election 

7 Campaign Act of 1971 (2 U.S.C. 431 et seq.) is amended 

8 by inserting after section 319 the following new section: 

9 ‘‘CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES BY CHIEF STATE ELECTION

10 ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS

11 ‘‘SEC. 319A. (a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful 

12 for a chief State election administration official to take 

13 an active part in political management or in a political 

14 campaign with respect to any election for Federal office 

15 over which such official has supervisory authority. 

16 ‘‘(b) CHIEF STATE ELECTION ADMINISTRATION OF17 FICIAL.—The term ‘chief State election administration of18 ficial’ means the highest State official with responsibility 

19 for the administration of Federal elections under State 

20 law. 

21 ‘‘(c) ACTIVE PART IN POLITICAL MANAGEMENT OR

22 IN A POLITICAL CAMPAIGN.—The term ‘active part in po23 litical management or in a political campaign’ means— 

24 ‘‘(1) serving as a member of an authorized com25 mittee of a candidate for Federal office; 


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1 ‘‘(2) the use of official authority or influence 

2 for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the 

3 result of an election for Federal office; 

4 ‘‘(3) the solicitation, acceptance, or receipt of a 

5 contribution from any person on behalf of a can6 didate for Federal office; and 

7 ‘‘(4) any other act which would be prohibited 

8 under paragraph (2) or (3) of section 7323(b) of 

9 title 5, United States Code, if taken by an individual 

10 to whom such paragraph applies (other than any 

11 prohibition on running for public office). 

12 ‘‘(d) EXCEPTION FOR CAMPAIGNS OF OFFICIAL OR

13 IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBERS.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—This section does not apply 

15 to a chief State election administration official with 

16 respect to an election for Federal office in which the 

17 official or an immediate family member of the offi18 cial is a candidate. 

19 ‘‘(2) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER DEFINED.— 

20 In paragraph (1), the term ‘immediate family mem21 ber’ means, with respect to a candidate, a father, 

22 mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, 

23 wife, father-in-law, or mother-in-law.’’. 


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

2 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections for 

3 Federal office held after December 2012. 

4 TITLE XIII—OTHER ELECTION 

5 ADMINISTRATION IMPROVE6 MENTS 

7 SEC. 1301. TREATMENT OF UNIVERSITIES AS VOTER REG8 ISTRATION AGENCIES. 

9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 7(a) of the National Voter 

10 Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5(a)) is 

11 amended— 

12 (1) in paragraph (2)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of sub14 paragraph (A); 

15 (B) by striking the period at the end of 

16 subparagraph (B) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

17 (C) by adding at the end the following new 

18 subparagraph: 

19 ‘‘(C) each institution of higher education 

20 (as defined in section 101 of the Higher Edu21 cation Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001)) in the 

22 State that receives Federal funds.’’; and 

23 (2) in paragraph (6)(A), by inserting ‘‘or, in 

24 the case of an institution of higher education, with 


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1 each registration of a student for enrollment in a 

2 course of study’’ after ‘‘assistance,’’. 

3 (b) AMENDMENT TO HIGHER EDUCATION ACT OF

4 1965.—Section 487(a) of the Higher Education Act of 

5 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)) is amended by striking para6 graph (23). 

7 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

8 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 

9 or after January 1, 2014. 

10 SEC. 1302. MINIMUM NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR 

11 VOTERS AFFECTED BY POLLING PLACE 

12 CHANGES. 

13 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Section 302 of the Help Amer14 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482), as amended by 

15 section 701(a), is amended— 

16 (1) by redesignating subsection (f) as sub17 section (g); and 

18 (2) by inserting after subsection (e) the fol19 lowing new subsection: 

20 ‘‘(f) MINIMUM NOTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS FOR

21 VOTERS AFFECTED BY POLLING PLACE CHANGES.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If a State assigns an indi23 vidual who is a registered voter in a State to a poll24 ing place with respect to an election for Federal of25 fice which is not the same polling place to which the 


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1 individual was previously assigned with respect to 

2 the most recent election for Federal office in the 

3 State in which the individual was eligible to vote— 

4 ‘‘(A) the State shall notify the individual of 

5 the location of the polling place not later than 

6 7 days before the date of the election; or 

7 ‘‘(B) if the State makes such an assign8 ment fewer than 7 days before the date of the 

9 election and the individual appears on the date 

10 of the election at the polling place to which the 

11 individual was previously assigned, the State 

12 shall make every reasonable effort to enable the 

13 individual to vote on the date of the election. 

14 ‘‘(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This subsection shall 

15 apply with respect to elections held on or after Janu16 ary 1, 2013.’’. 

17 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 302(f) of 

18 such Act (42 U.S.C. 15482(f)), as redesignated by sub19 section (a) and as amended by section 701(b), is amended 

20 by striking ‘‘(d)(2) and (e)(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(d)(2), 

21 (e)(2), and (f)(2)’’. 

22 SEC. 1303. VOTER INFORMATION RESPONSE SYSTEMS AND 

23 HOTLINE. 

24 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF SYSTEMS

25 AND SERVICES.— 


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1 (1) STATE-BASED RESPONSE SYSTEMS.—The 

2 Attorney General shall coordinate the establishment 

3 of a State-based response system for responding to 

4 questions and complaints from individuals voting or 

5 seeking to vote, or registering to vote or seeking to 

6 register to vote, in elections for Federal office. Such 

7 system shall provide— 

8 (A) State-specific, same-day, and imme9 diate assistance to such individuals, including 

10 information on how to register to vote, the loca11 tion and hours of operation of polling places, 

12 and how to obtain absentee ballots; and 

13 (B) State-specific, same-day, and imme14 diate assistance to individuals encountering 

15 problems with registering to vote or voting, in16 cluding individuals encountering intimidation or 

17 deceptive practices. 

18 (2) HOTLINE.—The Attorney General, in con19 sultation with State election officials, shall establish 

20 and operate a toll-free telephone service, using a 

21 telephone number that is accessible throughout the 

22 United States and that uses easily identifiable nu23 merals, through which individuals throughout the 

24 United States— 


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1 (A) may connect directly to the State2 based response system described in paragraph 

3 (1) with respect to the State involved; 

4 (B) may obtain information on voting in 

5 elections for Federal office, including informa6 tion on how to register to vote in such elections, 

7 the locations and hours of operation of polling 

8 places, and how to obtain absentee ballots; and 

9 (C) may report information to the Attor10 ney General on problems encountered in reg11 istering to vote or voting, including incidences 

12 of voter intimidation or suppression. 

13 (3) COLLABORATION WITH STATE AND LOCAL

14 ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 

15 (A) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION FROM

16 STATES.—The Attorney General shall coordi17 nate the collection of information on State and 

18 local election laws and policies, including infor19 mation on the Statewide computerized voter 

20 registration lists maintained under title III of 

21 the Help America Vote Act of 2002, so that in22 dividuals who contact the free telephone service 

23 established under paragraph (2) on the date of 

24 an election for Federal office may receive an 

25 immediate response on that day. 


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1 (B) FORWARDING QUESTIONS AND COM2 PLAINTS TO STATES.—If an individual contacts 

3 the free telephone service established under 

4 paragraph (2) on the date of an election for 

5 Federal office with a question or complaint with 

6 respect to a particular State or jurisdiction 

7 within a State, the Attorney General shall for8 ward the question or complaint immediately to 

9 the appropriate election official of the State or 

10 jurisdiction so that the official may answer the 

11 question or remedy the complaint on that date. 

12 (b) USE OF SERVICE BY INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS13 ABILITIES AND INDIVIDUALS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH

14 LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY.—The Attorney General shall 

15 design and operate the telephone service established under 

16 this section in a manner that ensures that individuals with 

17 disabilities and individuals with limited proficiency in the 

18 English language are fully able to use the service. 

19 (c) VOTER HOTLINE TASK FORCE.— 

20 (1) APPOINTMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

21 The Attorney General shall appoint individuals (in 

22 such number as the Attorney General considers ap23 propriate but in no event fewer than 3) to serve on 

24 a Voter Hotline Task Force to provide ongoing anal25 ysis and assessment of the operation of the teleVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:13 Oct 02, 2012 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00193 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3608.IS S3608

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1 phone service established under this section, and 

2 shall give special consideration in making appoint3 ments to the Task Force to individuals who rep4 resent civil rights organizations. At least one mem5 ber of the Task Force shall be a representative of 

6 an organization promoting voting rights or civil 

7 rights which has experience in the operation of simi8 lar telephone services or in protecting the rights of 

9 individuals to vote, especially individuals who are 

10 members or racial minorities or of communities who 

11 have been adversely affected by efforts to suppress 

12 voting rights. 

13 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—An individual shall be eligi14 ble to serve on the Task Force under this subsection 

15 if the individual meets such criteria as the Attorney 

16 General may establish, except that an individual may 

17 not serve on the task force if the individual has been 

18 convicted of any criminal offense relating to voter in19 timidation or voter suppression. 

20 (3) TERM OF SERVICE.—An individual ap21 pointed to the Task Force shall serve a single term 

22 of 2 years, except that the initial terms of the mem23 bers first appointed to the Task Force shall be stag24 gered so that there are at least 3 individuals serving 

25 on the Task Force during each year. A vacancy in 


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1 the membership of the Task Force shall be filled in 

2 the same manner as the original appointment. 

3 (4) NO COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE.—Mem4 bers of the Task Force shall serve without pay, but 

5 shall receive travel expenses, including per diem in 

6 lieu of subsistence, in accordance with applicable 

7 provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

8 5, United States Code. 

9 (d) BI-ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

10 than March 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Attorney 

11 General shall submit a report to Congress on the operation 

12 of the telephone service established under this section dur13 ing the previous 2 years, and shall include in the report— 

14 (1) an enumeration of the number and type of 

15 calls that were received by the service; 

16 (2) a compilation and description of the reports 

17 made to the service by individuals citing instances of 

18 voter intimidation or suppression; 

19 (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

20 service in making information available to all house21 holds in the United States with telephone service; 

22 (4) any recommendations developed by the 

23 Task Force established under subsection (c) with re24 spect to how voting systems may be maintained or 

25 upgraded to better accommodate voters and better 


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1 ensure the integrity of elections, including but not 

2 limited to identifying how to eliminate coordinated 

3 voter suppression efforts and how to establish effec4 tive mechanisms for distributing updates on changes 

5 to voting requirements; and 

6 (5) any recommendations on best practices for 

7 the State-based response systems established under 

8 subsection (a)(1). 

9 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

10 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

11 be appropriated to the Attorney General for fiscal 

12 year 2012 and each succeeding fiscal year such sums 

13 as may be necessary to carry out this section. 

14 (2) SET-ASIDE FOR OUTREACH.—Of the 

15 amounts appropriated to carry out this Act for a fis16 cal year pursuant to the authorization under para17 graph (1), not less than 15% shall be used for out18 reach activities to make the public aware of the 

19 availability of the telephone service established under 

20 this section, with an emphasis on outreach to indi21 viduals with disabilities and individuals with limited 

22 proficiency in the English language. 


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1 SEC. 1304. REAUTHORIZATION OF ELECTION ASSISTANCE 

2 COMMISSION. 

3 Section 210 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

4 (42 U.S.C. 15330) is amended by striking ‘‘for each of 

5 the fiscal years 2003 through 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘for 

6 each of the fiscal years 2012 through 2016’’. 

7 SEC. 1305. REPEAL OF EXEMPTION OF ELECTION ASSIST8 ANCE COMMISSION FROM CERTAIN GOVERN9 MENT CONTRACTING REQUIREMENTS. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 205 of the Help America 

11 Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15325) is amended by strik12 ing subsection (e). 

13 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

14 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to contracts entered 

15 into by the Election Assistance Commission on or after 

16 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

17 SEC. 1306. NO EFFECT ON OTHER LAWS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Except as specifically provided, 

19 nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize or re20 quire conduct prohibited under any of the following laws, 

21 or to supersede, restrict, or limit the application of such 

22 laws: 

23 (1) The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 

24 1973 et seq.). 

25 (2) The Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and 

26 Handicapped Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ee et seq.). 


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1 (3) The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Ab2 sentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff et seq.). 

3 (4) The National Voter Registration Act of 

4 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg et seq.). 

5 (5) The Americans with Disabilities Act of 

6 1990 (42 U.S.C. 12101 et seq.). 

7 (6) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 

8 701 et seq.). 

9 (b) NO EFFECT ON PRECLEARANCE OR OTHER RE10 QUIREMENTS UNDER VOTING RIGHTS ACT.—The ap11 proval by any person of a payment or grant application 

12 under this Act, or any other action taken by any person 

13 under this Act, shall not be considered to have any effect 

14 on requirements for preclearance under section 5 of the 

15 Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973c) or any other 

16 requirements of such Act. 

Æ 


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