I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 764 

To require that ballots used in Federal elections be generally printed only 

in English and to amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to modify 

the requirement that certain jurisdictions provide ballots and other voting 

materials in languages other than English, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 28, 2009 

Mr. HELLER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the 

Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 

each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require that ballots used in Federal elections be generally 

printed only in English and to amend the Voting Rights 

Act of 1965 to modify the requirement that certain jurisdictions provide ballots and other voting materials in 

languages other than English, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘American Elections 

5 Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING BALLOTS USED IN FEDERAL ELEC2 TIONS TO BE PROVIDED ONLY IN ENGLISH 

3 LANGUAGE. 

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

5 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 

6 amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 

7 section: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 303A. REQUIRING BALLOTS USED IN FEDERAL ELEC9 TIONS TO BE PROVIDED ONLY IN ENGLISH 

10 LANGUAGE. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Except to the extent required 

12 under section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, all 

13 ballots and balloting material used with respect to an elec14 tion for Federal office, including all voting information de15 scribed in section 302(b), may be provided only in the 

16 English language. 

17 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 

18 with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for 

19 Federal office held in November 2010 and each succeeding 

20 election for Federal office.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

22 (1) CONTENTS OF PERIODIC ELECTION ADMIN23 ISTRATION STUDIES.—Section 241 of such Act (42 

24 U.S.C. 15381) is amended— 

25 (A) in subsection (a)(1)— 


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1 (i) by striking ‘‘voters, individuals’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘voters and individuals’’, and 

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘, and voters with lim4 ited proficiency in the English language’’; 

5 (B) in subsection (b)(5)— 

6 (i) by striking ‘‘impaired), Native 

7 American’’ and inserting ‘‘impaired) and 

8 Native American’’, and 

9 (ii) by striking ‘‘, and voters with lim10 ited proficiency in the English language’’; 

11 and 

12 (C) by striking subsection (b)(14). 

13 (2) ENFORCEMENT OF REQUIREMENT.—Section 

14 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amended by 

15 striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘, 303, and 

16 303A’’. 

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

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

19 to section 303 the following: 

‘‘303A. Requiring ballots used in Federal elections to be provided only in 

English language.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. BILINGUAL ELECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR CER2 TAIN POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS WITH POPU3 LATIONS OF AMERICAN INDIANS OR ALASKA 

4 NATIVES. 

5 Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 

6 U.S.C. 1973aa–1a) is amended to read as follows: 

7 ‘‘BILINGUAL ELECTION REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN PO8 LITICAL SUBDIVISIONS WITH POPULATIONS OF

9 AMERICAN INDIANS OR ALASKA NATIVES

10 ‘‘SEC. 203. (a) BASIS FOR REQUIREMENT.—The 

11 Congress finds that Native American dialect translations 

12 should be provided in voting materials because the lan13 guages of Native Americans and Native Alaskans predate 

14 the establishment of the United States. 

15 ‘‘(b) BILINGUAL VOTING MATERIALS REQUIRE16 MENT.— 

17 ‘‘(1) GENERALLY.—Before August 6, 2032, no 

18 covered political subdivision of a State shall provide 

19 voting materials only in the English language. 

20 ‘‘(2) COVERED POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—A 

21 political subdivision is a covered political subdivision 

22 for the purposes of this subsection if the Director of 

23 the Census determines, based on the 2010 American 

24 Community Survey census data and subsequent 

25 American Community Survey data in 5-year incre26 ments, or comparable census data, that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) the political subdivision contains all 

2 or any part of an Indian reservation and more 

3 than 5 percent of the American Indian or Alas4 ka Native citizens of voting age within the In5 dian reservation are members of a single lan6 guage minority and are limited-English pro7 ficient; and 

8 ‘‘(B) the illiteracy rate of the citizens in 

9 the language minority as a group is higher than 

10 the national illiteracy rate. 

11 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section— 

12 ‘‘(A) the term ‘language minorities’ means 

13 persons who are American Indian or Alaskan 

14 Natives; 

15 ‘‘(B) the term ‘voting materials’ means 

16 registration or voting notices, forms, instruc17 tions, assistance, or other materials or informa18 tion relating to the electoral process, including 

19 ballots; 

20 ‘‘(C) the term ‘limited-English proficient’ 

21 means unable to speak or understand English 

22 adequately enough to participate in the electoral 

23 process; 

24 ‘‘(D) the term ‘Indian reservation’ means 

25 any area that is an American Indian or Alaska 


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1 Native area, as defined by the Census Bureau 

2 for the purposes of the 1990 decennial census; 

3 ‘‘(E) the term ‘citizens’ means citizens of 

4 the United States; and 

5 ‘‘(F) the term ‘illiteracy’ means the failure 

6 to complete the 5th primary grade. 

7 ‘‘(4) SPECIAL RULE.—The determinations of 

8 the Director of the Census under this subsection 

9 shall be effective upon publication in the Federal 

10 Register and shall not be subject to review in any 

11 court. 

12 ‘‘(c) ENGLISH AND NON-ENGLISH VERSIONS.— 

13 Whenever any political subdivision subject to the prohibi14 tion of subsection (b) of this section provides any registra15 tion or voting notices, forms, instructions, assistance, or 

16 other materials or information relating to the electoral 

17 process, including ballots, it shall provide them in the lan18 guage of the applicable minority group as well as in the 

19 English language. However, where the language is histori20 cally unwritten, the political subdivision is only required 

21 to furnish oral instructions, assistance, or other informa22 tion relating to registration and voting. 

23 ‘‘(d) DECLARATORY JUDGMENT.—Any political sub24 division subject to the prohibition of subsection (b) of this 

25 section, which seeks to provide English-only registration 


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1 or voting materials or information, including ballots, may 

2 file an action against the United States in the United 

3 States District Court for a declaratory judgment permit4 ting such provision. The court shall grant the requested 

5 relief if it determines that the illiteracy rate of the applica6 ble language minority group within the political subdivi7 sion is equal to or less than the national illiteracy rate.’’. 

Æ 


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