II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 737 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in order to measure, compare, 

and improve the quality of voter access to polls and voter services 

in the administration of Federal elections in the States. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 1, 2007 

Mr. OBAMA introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 in order 

to measure, compare, and improve the quality of voter 

access to polls and voter services in the administration 

of Federal elections in the States. 

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 Advocate and 

5 Democracy Index Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. OFFICE OF THE VOTER ADVOCATE AND STATE RE7 QUIREMENT TO REPORT VOTER DATA. 

8 (a) OFFICE OF THE VOTER ADVOCATE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title II of the 

2 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15321 

3 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol4 lowing new part: 

5 ‘‘PART 4—OFFICE OF THE VOTER ADVOCATE 

6 ‘‘SEC. 223. OFFICE OF THE VOTER ADVOCATE. 

7 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There is established within the 

8 Commission an Office of the Voter Advocate (in this sec9 tion referred to as the ‘Office’). 

10 ‘‘(b) DUTIES.—The Office shall develop and admin11 ister a program to— 

12 ‘‘(1) collect the voter data described in sub13 section (c) from States with respect to each election 

14 for Federal office; 

15 ‘‘(2) develop, refine, and publish a Democracy 

16 Index (as described in subsection (f)); 

17 ‘‘(3) make grants to eligible entities under sec18 tion 224; and 

19 ‘‘(4) provide recommendations to States to im20 prove their performance in the administration of 

21 Federal elections (as determined based on a State22 by-State comparison of the voter data collected 

23 under paragraph (1)). 

24 ‘‘(c) VOTER DATA DESCRIBED.—The voter data de25 scribed in this subsection includes any data the Office deVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:52 Mar 06, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S737.IS S737

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1 termines appropriate for developing or refining the De2 mocracy Index published under subsection (b), which may 

3 include the following: 

4 ‘‘(1) The amount of time spent by voters wait5 ing in line. 

6 ‘‘(2) The number of voters who appeared at, or 

7 were incorrectly directed to, the wrong polling place. 

8 ‘‘(3) The rate of voter ballots discarded or not 

9 counted, and the reasons those voter ballots were 

10 discarded or not counted. 

11 ‘‘(4) Provisional voting rates, including the per12 centage of provisional ballots that were cast and not 

13 counted and the reasons those provisional ballots 

14 were not counted. 

15 ‘‘(5) The number and a description of registra16 tion and election day complaints, including any prob17 lems faced by individual voters in becoming involved 

18 and effectively participating in the process and the 

19 reasons given for such problems. 

20 ‘‘(6) The rate of voting system malfunctions 

21 and the time required on average to put malfunc22 tioning voting systems back online or otherwise cor23 rect the malfunction, or to replace them. 

24 ‘‘(d) CONSULTATION.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In developing and refining 

2 the Democracy Index published under subsection 

3 (b), the Office shall consult an independent Board of 

4 Advisors (as described in paragraph (2)). 

5 ‘‘(2) INDEPENDENT BOARD OF ADVISORS.—The 

6 Independent Board of Advisors consulted under 

7 paragraph (1) shall be composed of 20 members, se8 lected by the Office from— 

9 ‘‘(A) the academic, nonprofit, and election 

10 administration communities; and 

11 ‘‘(B) Citizen Advisors nominated by the 

12 chief State election official of each State. 

13 ‘‘(e) COORDINATION WITH STATES.—The Office 

14 may, in coordination with a State, select precincts within 

15 the State on a sample basis from which to draw the infor16 mation described in subsection (c) in order to form statis17 tical conclusions. In forming such statistical conclusions, 

18 the Office may append the information collected from the 

19 samples to other information provided by the State that 

20 was collected with respect to elections for Federal office 

21 in that State. 

22 ‘‘(f) DEMOCRACY INDEX.—The Democracy Index 

23 published under subsection (b) shall include the informa24 tion described in subsection (c) with respect to each elecVerDate Aug 31 2005 00:52 Mar 06, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S737.IS S737

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1 tion for Federal office, presented on a State-by-State basis 

2 that allows for— 

3 ‘‘(1) comparisons and rankings between States 

4 along each category of voter data collected under 

5 this section; and 

6 ‘‘(2) an aggregate ranking of each State across 

7 all categories of such voter data. 

8 ‘‘(g) REPORT.—The Office shall submit an annual re9 port to Congress and to chief State elections officials of 

10 each State that includes the voter data collected under 

11 subsection (b), together with any recommendations for— 

12 ‘‘(1) improving the types of voter data that are 

13 collected and included in the Democracy Index pub14 lished under such subsection; and 

15 ‘‘(2) taking into consideration the voter data 

16 collected under such subsection, legislation or admin17 istrative action to improve State performance in the 

18 administration of Federal elections (as determined 

19 based on a State-by-State comparison of such voter 

20 data). 

21 ‘‘SEC. 224. DEMOCRACY INDEX PILOT PROGRAM. 

22 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall establish a 

24 Democracy Index Pilot Program (in this section re25 ferred to as the ‘pilot program’) for calendar year 


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1 2008 to make grants to eligible entities for the pur2 pose of creating a Democracy Index (consistent with 

3 the requirements of section 223). 

4 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—In this section, the 

5 term ‘eligible entity’ means— 

6 ‘‘(A) a State; 

7 ‘‘(B) a nonprofit voting rights organiza8 tion; and 

9 ‘‘(C) any other organization the Office de10 termines appropriate for the purpose of car11 rying out this section. 

12 ‘‘(3) DURATION.—The pilot program shall be 

13 conducted with respect to the general election for 

14 Federal office held in 2008. 

15 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—A grant awarded under sub16 section (a) shall be used for the following purposes: 

17 ‘‘(1) For the collection of voter data described 

18 in section 223(c) through survey research. 

19 ‘‘(2) The development and implementation of 

20 innovative proposals for adding— 

21 ‘‘(A) to the types of voter data collected 

22 under such section; and 

23 ‘‘(B) efficient mechanisms for collecting 

24 such voter data. 


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1 ‘‘(3) The development and use of methodologies 

2 to check such voter data for accuracy and uni3 formity. 

4 ‘‘(c) PUBLICATION OF PROGRAM SCOPE AND MEAS5 URES.—Not later than 6 months before the general elec6 tion held in 2008, the Commission shall publish a descrip7 tion of the scope of the program, including— 

8 ‘‘(1) the voter data that will be included in the 

9 Democracy Index (consistent with the requirements 

10 of section 223); and 

11 ‘‘(2) which States will receive a grant and par12 ticipate in the pilot program under this section. 

13 ‘‘(d) REPORT.—Not later than 6 months after the 

14 regularly scheduled general election for Federal office held 

15 in 2008, the Office shall submit a report to Congress and 

16 each chief State election officials on the pilot program con17 ducted under this section, together with recommendations 

18 for such legislation and administrative action as the Sec19 retary determines appropriate. 

20 ‘‘SEC. 225. FUNDING. 

21 ‘‘There are authorized to be appropriated such sums 

22 as are necessary to carry out this part.’’. 

23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

24 contents of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is 


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1 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec2 tion 222 the following: 

‘‘PART 4—OFFICE OF THE VOTER ADVOCATE

‘‘Sec. 223. Office of the Voter Advocate. 

‘‘Sec. 224. Democracy Index Pilot Program. 

‘‘Sec. 225. Funding.’’. 

3 (b) STATE REQUIREMENT.— 

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer5 ica Vote Act of 2002 is amended— 

6 (A) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 

7 as sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 

8 (B) by inserting after section 303 the fol9 lowing new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 304. REPORTING OF STATE VOTER DATA. 

11 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall submit to the 

12 Office of the Voter Advocate the voter data described in 

13 section 223(c) with respect to each election for Federal 

14 office. Such voter data shall be submitted at the time and 

15 place, and in the manner, requested by the Office of the 

16 Voter Advocate. 

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

18 with respect to general elections for Federal office held 

19 after 2008.’’. 

20 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 401 of the Help 

21 America Vote Act of 2002 is amended by striking 

22 ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 304’’. 


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1 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of 

2 contents of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is 

3 amended— 

4 (A) by redesignating the items relating to 

5 sections 304 and 305 as relating to sections 

6 305 and 306, respectively; and 

7 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 

8 section 303 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 304. Reporting of State voter data.’’. 

Æ 


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