I 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1280 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to increase the 

penalties imposed for intimidating, threatening, or coercing any person 

from engaging in voter registration activities or for procuring, submitting, 

or casting false voter registration applications or ballots, to require 

election officials to transmit voter registration cards and absentee ballots 

to voters in elections for Federal office through the use of the automated 

tagging and tracing services provided by the United States Postal Service, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2013 

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

on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 

increase the penalties imposed for intimidating, threatening, or coercing any person from engaging in voter 

registration activities or for procuring, submitting, or 

casting false voter registration applications or ballots, 

to require election officials to transmit voter registration 

cards and absentee ballots to voters in elections for Federal office through the use of the automated tagging 

and tracing services provided by the United States Postal 

Service, and for other purposes. 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1280 IH

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 ‘‘Voter Fraud Preven5 tion Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. INCREASE IN PENALTIES FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVI7 TIES INVOLVING VOTER REGISTRATION AND 

8 VOTING. 

9 (a) INCREASE IN LENGTH OF TERM OF IMPRISON10 MENT.—Section 12 of the National Voter Registration Act 

11 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–10) is amended in the matter 

12 following paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘5 years’’ and insert13 ing ‘‘10 years’’. 

14 (b) PROHIBITION FROM VOTING IN SUBSEQUENT

15 ELECTIONS.—Section 12 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973gg– 

16 10) is amended in the matter following paragraph (2) by 

17 striking the period at the end and inserting the following: 

18 ‘‘and, in the case of an individual, shall not be permitted 

19 to cast a ballot in any subsequent election for Federal of20 fice.’’. 

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

22 this section shall apply with respect to violations occurring 

23 on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1280 IH

1 SEC. 3. REQUIRING USE OF AUTOMATED TAGGING AND 

2 TRACING SERVICES FOR VOTER REGISTRA3 TION CARDS AND ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 

4 (a) VOTER REGISTRATION CARDS.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(a) of the National 

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

7 6(a)) is amended— 

8 (A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para9 graph (5); 

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

11 paragraph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

13 paragraph: 

14 ‘‘(7) in transmitting voter registration cards to 

15 individuals who are registered to vote— 

16 ‘‘(A) ensure that any tray or sack con17 taining such cards is tagged with Tag 191 or 

18 some other similar tagging device used by the 

19 United States Postal Service to provide greater 

20 visibility to containers of such cards, and 

21 ‘‘(B) use IMb Tracing or other similar 

22 tracking methods made available by the United 

23 States Postal Service to provide real-time track24 ing information for such cards.’’. 

25 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

26 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to elecVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:10 Mar 26, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1280.IH H1280

pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1280 IH

1 tions for Federal office held on or after January 1, 

2 2014. 

3 (b) ABSENTEE BALLOTS.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer5 ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 

6 amended— 

7 (A) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 

8 as sections 305 and 306; and 

9 (B) by inserting after section 303 the fol10 lowing new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 304. USE OF AUTOMATED TAGGING AND TRACING 

12 SERVICES FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 

13 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING USE OF AUTOMATED TAGGING AND

14 TRACING.—In transmitting blank absentee ballots to indi15 viduals who are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in an 

16 election for Federal office, the appropriate State election 

17 official shall— 

18 ‘‘(1) ensure that any tray or sack containing 

19 such ballots is tagged with Tag 191 or some other 

20 similar tagging device used by the United States 

21 Postal Service to provide greater visibility to con22 tainers of such ballots; and 

23 ‘‘(2) use IMb Tracing or other similar tracking 

24 methods made available by the United States Postal 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1280 IH

1 Service to provide real-time tracking information for 

2 such ballots. 

3 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Subsection (a) shall apply 

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

5 January 1, 2014.’’. 

6 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO

7 ENFORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 

8 U.S.C. 15511) is amended by striking ‘‘sections 301, 

9 302, and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘subtitle A of title 

10 III’’. 

11 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con12 tents of such Act is amended— 

13 (A) by redesignating the items relating to 

14 sections 304 and 305 as relating to sections 

15 305 and 306; and 

16 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 

17 section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Use of automated tagging and tracing services for absentee ballots.’’. 

18 (c) REPORT ON EFFORTS TO DETER AND PREVENT

19 LOSS AND THEFT OF VOTER REGISTRATION CARDS AND

20 ABSENTEE BALLOTS.—Not later than 90 days after the 

21 date of the enactment of this Act, the Postmaster General 

22 shall submit a report to Congress detailing the efforts that 

23 the Postmaster General has undertaken to deter and pre24 vent the loss and theft of voter registration cards and 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1280 IH

1 blank absentee ballots which are transmitted to voters in 

2 elections for Federal office. 

Æ 


pwalker on DSK7TPTVN1PROD with BILLS