I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5557 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the National Voter 

Registration Act of 1993 to prohibit an election official from requiring 

an individual to present a piece of identification that has an associated 

cost as a condition of voting or registering to vote in an election for 

Federal office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 22, 2016 

Mr. VEASEY (for himself, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Ms. NORTON, Ms. WILSON

of Florida, Mr. HINOJOSA, Ms. LEE, Mr. ELLISON, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. 

CUMMINGS, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. MEEKS, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. 

HUFFMAN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Miss RICE of New York, 

and Mr. RANGEL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the 

National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to prohibit an 

election official from requiring an individual to present 

a piece of identification that has an associated cost as 

a condition of voting or registering to vote in an election 

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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Poll Tax Prohibition 

3 Act of 2016’’. 

4 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN VOTER IDENTIFICATION 

5 REQUIREMENTS. 

6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the Help 

7 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is 

8 amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 

9 section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PROHIBITING AN ELECTION OFFICIAL FROM 

11 REQUIRING IDENTIFICATION WITH ASSOCI12 ATED COST AS CONDITION FOR VOTING. 

13 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An election official may not re14 quire an individual to present a piece of identification that 

15 has an associated cost as a condition of voting in an elec16 tion for Federal office or, in the case of an individual who 

17 wishes to vote by mail in such an election, a copy of a 

18 piece of identification that has an associated cost. 

19 ‘‘(b) ASSOCIATED COST.—For purposes of this sec20 tion, a piece of identification for an individual has an asso21 ciated cost if, to obtain such identification, the individual 

22 is required— 

23 ‘‘(1) to pay a fee for such identification; or 

24 ‘‘(2) to provide a supplemental document that 

25 the individual is required to pay a fee to obtain. 


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1 ‘‘(c) SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT.—For purposes of 

2 this section, a supplemental document, in relation to a 

3 piece of identification, is a document that an individual 

4 is required to present in order to receive that piece of iden5 tification. 

6 ‘‘(d) DEFINITION OF FEE.—For purposes of this sec7 tion, the term ‘fee’ includes any administrative fee or other 

8 cost that an individual must pay as a condition of receiv9 ing a piece of identification or supplemental document.’’. 

10 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 

11 U.S.C. 2111) is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and in12 serting ‘‘303, and 303A’’. 

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

14 this section shall apply with respect to elections held after 

15 the end of the 90-day period which begins on the date 

16 of the enactment of this Act. 

17 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

18 of such Act is amended by adding after the item relating 

19 to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Prohibiting an election official from requiring identification with 

associated cost as condition for voting.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. PROHIBITION ON CERTAIN VOTER REGISTRATION 

21 REQUIREMENTS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 9 of the National Voter 

23 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20508) is amended— 

24 (1) in subsection (b)— 


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1 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para2 graph (3); 

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

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

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

6 paragraph: 

7 ‘‘(5) may not require the inclusion of a piece of 

8 identification that has an associated cost or a copy 

9 of a piece of identification that has an associated 

10 cost.’’; and 

11 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub12 section: 

13 ‘‘(c) SPECIAL RULES REGARDING COST OF IDENTI14 FICATION.— 

15 ‘‘(1) ASSOCIATED COST.—For purposes of this 

16 section, a piece of identification for an individual has 

17 an associated cost if, to obtain such identification, 

18 the individual is required— 

19 ‘‘(A) to pay a fee for such identification; or 

20 ‘‘(B) to provide a supplemental document 

21 that the individual is required to pay a fee to 

22 obtain. 

23 ‘‘(2) SUPPLEMENTAL DOCUMENT.—For pur24 poses of this section, a supplemental document, in 

25 relation to a piece of identification, is a document 


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1 that an individual is required to present in order to 

2 receive that piece of identification. 

3 ‘‘(3) DEFINITION OF FEE.—For purposes of 

4 this section, the term ‘fee’ includes any administra5 tive fee or other cost that an individual must pay as 

6 a condition of receiving a piece of identification or 

7 supplemental document.’’. 

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

9 this section shall apply with respect to voter registration 

10 forms submitted on or after the date that is 90 days after 

11 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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