I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1482

To establish a grant program administered by the Federal Election Commission for the purpose of assisting States to upgrade voting systems to

use more advanced and accurate voting devices and to enhance participation by military personnel in national elections.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 4, 2001

Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. FRANK, Mr. MCGOVERN,

Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. HONDA, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, and Mrs. MEEK of

Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on

Veterans’ Affairs, 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 establish a grant program administered by the Federal

Election Commission for the purpose of assisting States

to upgrade voting systems to use more advanced and

accurate voting devices and to enhance participation by

military personnel in national elections.

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 ‘‘Make Every Vote

5 Count Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. VOTING MODERNIZATION PROGRAM.

2 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Federal Election

3 Commission (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Commission’’)

4 is authorized to award matching grants to encourage

5 States and local voting areas to modernize applicable vot6 ing systems used for voting and to enhance voter partici7 pation.

8 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—

9 (1) STATE.—Amounts received under this sec10 tion by a State shall be—

11 (A) disbursed to eligible local voting areas

12 in accordance with subsection (d) to replace ap13 plicable voting systems used in elections for

14 Federal office in eligible local voting areas with

15 advanced voting systems, such as electronic vot16 ing systems; and

17 (B) from any amounts not disbursed under

18 subparagraph (A) or amounts received from eli19 gible local voting areas under paragraph (2),

20 used—

21 (i) to enhance voter participation

22 through activities such as improving reg23 istration of voters, expanding training of

24 election officials, and upgrading other vot25 ing equipment; and
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1 (ii) to reimburse any costs incurred by

2 the State as a result of the amendments

3 made under section 3.

4 (2) ELIGIBLE LOCAL VOTING AREA.—Amounts

5 received under this section by an eligible local voting

6 area shall be—

7 (A) used to replace applicable voting sys8 tems used in elections for Federal office in the

9 voting area with an advanced voting system (as

10 determined under paragraph (3)(B)), such as

11 electronic voting systems;

12 (B) in an amount not in excess of 33 per13 cent of the amount received, used—

14 (i) to train election officials and edu15 cate voters in the use of advanced voting

16 systems implemented under subparagraph

17 (A); and

18 (ii) to reimburse any costs incurred by

19 the voting area as a result of the amend20 ments made under section 3;

21 (C) to the extent that all applicable voting

22 systems in the voting area are replaced under

23 subparagraph (A), for purposes described in

24 subparagraph (B); and
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1 (D) to the extent any amount is not need2 ed for a use under this paragraph, transferred

3 to the State for use under paragraph (1)(B).

4 (3) REPLACEMENT OF SYSTEMS.—

5 (A) IN GENERAL.—Applicable voting sys6 tems replaced under paragraph (1) shall only be

7 replaced with an advanced voting system, as de8 termined under subparagraph (B), that signifi9 cantly lowers error rates in voting procedures

10 with the intent of eventually replacing all appli11 cable voting systems in the State with a single

12 advanced voting system.

13 (B) DETERMINATION OF SYSTEM TO BE

14 USED.—Not later than 60 days after receiving

15 a grant under this section, the chief election of16 ficial of the State shall determine the single ad17 vanced voting system to be used to replace the

18 applicable voting systems in the State under

19 this subsection.

20 (c) REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.—A State

21 that receives a grant under this section shall agree to ex22 pend State or local funds in an amount equal to 20 per23 cent of the amount of the grant for any purpose for which

24 the grant was awarded.

25 (d) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after

2 the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission

3 shall make grants to eligible States in accordance

4 with this subsection.

5 (2) AMOUNT OF GRANT AWARDS.—For pur6 poses of making grants under this subsection, the

7 Commission shall allocate to each eligible State an

8 amount that bears the same ratio to the total

9 amount allocated under this section as—

10 (A) the number of applicable voting sys11 tems in use in the eligible State; bears to

12 (B) the total number of such systems in

13 use in all eligible States receiving grants under

14 this section.

15 (3) STATES.—

16 (A) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 90

17 days after a grant is received under this sub18 section, the State election official shall—

19 (i) notify local election officials of the

20 grant availability and the requirements of

21 the grant; and

22 (ii) expeditiously disburse such pro23 ceeds to eligible local voting areas for use

24 under this section.
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1 (B) FORMULA.—The State election official

2 shall disburse to each eligible local voting area

3 an amount that bears the same ratio to the

4 total amount the State receives under this sec5 tion as—

6 (i) the total number of applicable vot7 ing systems in use in the eligible local vot8 ing area; bears to

9 (ii) the total number of such systems

10 in use in all local voting areas in the State.

11 (4) DETERMINATION OF NUMBER OF APPLICA12 BLE VOTING SYSTEMS.—

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in

14 subparagraph (B), the number of applicable

15 voting systems in a State or local voting area

16 shall be determined in such manner as the

17 Commission determines reasonable.

18 (B) PAPER BALLOT.—In the case of an ap19 plicable voting system that is a paper ballot, the

20 number shall be an amount equal to the num21 ber of registered voters in the State or local

22 voting area using the paper ballot, as applica23 ble, divided by 200.

24 (e) OPT-OUT PROVISION.—An eligible State may opt

25 to not receive any amount under this section if, not later
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1 than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the

2 State notifies the Commission that the State does not

3 want to receive a grant under this section.

4 (f) REPORTS TO COMMISSION.—Each State which re5 ceives a grant under this section shall submit a report to

6 the Commission not later than 60 days after the end of

7 the 1-year period which begins on the date the State re8 ceives the grant. The report shall contain a description

9 of the activities carried out by the State and local voting

10 areas within the State with the funds provided under the

11 grant, including a description of the amount expended by

12 the State to meet the matching requirement under sub13 section (c).

14 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:

15 (1) ADVANCED VOTING SYSTEM.—The term

16 ‘‘advanced voting system’’ means a system that—

17 (A) does not allow for overvotes;

18 (B) significantly reduces undervotes from

19 voter error (such as by indicating any office on

20 the ballot for which the voter has not cast a

21 vote);

22 (C) provides a record of a ballot cast;

23 (D) significantly reduces recount error in

24 comparison to the system being replaced; and
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1 (E) ensures accessibility to voters with dis2 abilities and provides such voters with the op3 portunity for casting a secure, secret, and inde4 pendent ballot.

5 (2) APPLICABLE VOTING SYSTEM.—The term

6 ‘‘applicable voting system’’ means—

7 (A) a lever machine;

8 (B) a punchcard system; or

9 (C) a paper ballot.

10 (3) ELIGIBLE LOCAL VOTING AREA.—The term

11 ‘‘eligible local voting area’’ means a local voting area

12 that—

13 (A) uses an applicable voting system; and

14 (B) not later than 30 days after the date

15 the area receives notification of grant avail16 ability under subsection (d)(3)(A), notifies the

17 State election official of the acceptance of the

18 grant.

19 (4) ELIGIBLE STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible

20 State’’ means a State that has a local voting area

21 that uses an applicable voting system.

22 (5) LEVER MACHINE.—The term ‘‘lever ma23 chine’’ means a voting device that employs a lever to

24 cast a vote for a candidate from a list of candidates
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1 posted on a ballot and records the vote by advancing

2 a counting mechanism.

3 (6) LOCAL VOTING AREA.—The term ‘‘local vot4 ing area’’ means the unit of local government in a

5 State for which a local agency is responsible for ad6 ministering elections and the purchase and mainte7 nance of voting equipment, such as a county.

8 (7) PAPER BALLOT.—The term ‘‘paper ballot’’

9 means a method of voting that employs a paper

10 ballot—

11 (A) that is counted by hand;

12 (B) containing all choices for the offices in

13 the election;

14 (C) on which the voter casts a vote by

15 marking the ballot; and

16 (D) the results of which are confidential.

17 (8) PUNCHCARD SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘punch18 card system’’ means a voting device, such as the

19 Votomatic machine, that employs a stylus which

20 punches through the ballot to record a vote.

21 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is

22 authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2002

23 $1,000,000,000 to carry out the provisions of this section.
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1 SEC. 3. MILITARY VOTING PROVISIONS.

2 (a) GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY.—Article VII of the

3 Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940 (50 U.S.C.

4 590 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol5 lowing:

6 ‘‘SEC. 704. (a) For purposes of voting for an office

7 of the United States or of a State, a person who is absent

8 from a State in compliance with military or naval orders

9 shall not, solely by reason of that absence—

10 ‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or

11 domicile in that State;

12 ‘‘(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or

13 domicile in any other State; or

14 ‘‘(3) be deemed to have become resident in or

15 a resident of any other State.

16 ‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘State’ includes a terri17 tory or possession of the United States, a political subdivi18 sion of a State, territory, or possession, and the District

19 of Columbia.’’.

20 (b) STATE RESPONSIBILITY TO GUARANTEE MILI21 TARY VOTING RIGHTS.—

22 (1) REGISTRATION AND BALLOTING.—Section

23 102 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absen24 tee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1) is amended—
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1 (A) by inserting ‘‘(a) ELECTIONS FOR

2 FEDERAL OFFICES.—’’ before ‘‘Each State

3 shall—’’; and

4 (B) by adding at the end the following:

5 ‘‘(b) ELECTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL OFFICES.—

6 Each State shall—

7 ‘‘(1) permit absent uniformed services voters to

8 use absentee registration procedures and to vote by

9 absentee ballot in general, special, primary, and run10 off elections for State and local offices; and

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

12 election described in paragraph (1), any otherwise

13 valid voter registration application from an absent

14 uniformed services voter if the application is received

15 by the appropriate State election official not less

16 than 30 days before the election.’’.

17 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading

18 for title I of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘FOR

19 FEDERAL OFFICE’’.

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