I

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1377

To ensure that military personnel do not lose the right to cast votes in

elections in their domicile as a result of their service away from the

domicile, to amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting

Act to extend the voter registration and absentee ballot protections for

absent uniformed services personnel under such Act to State and local

elections, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

APRIL 3, 2001

Mr. THORNBERRY (for himself, Mr. CUNNINGHAM, Mr. SAM JOHNSON of

Texas, and Mrs. TAUSCHER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the

Committees on Veterans’ Affairs, the Judiciary, and Armed Services, 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 ensure that military personnel do not lose the right to

cast votes in elections in their domicile as a result of

their service away from the domicile, to amend the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to

extend the voter registration and absentee ballot protections for absent uniformed services personnel under such

Act to State and local elections, 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 ‘‘Military Overseas

3 Voter Empowerment Act of 2001’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 Congress finds as follows:

6 (1) National defense is a core responsibility of

7 the Federal Government, which has the sole author8 ity to raise and maintain the military, and the Fed9 eral Government has a special responsibility to en10 sure the voting rights of military members and their

11 families are adequately protected.

12 (2) Over 2,700,000 members of the military

13 and their families are stationed away from their

14 home of record at any given time.

15 (3) The disenfranchisement of military voters

16 has been acknowledged since 1952, when the Sub17 committee on Elections of the Committee on House

18 Administration of the House of Representatives con19 ducted hearings on the likely disenfranchisement of

20 military personnel then fighting in the Korean War,

21 and President Truman recommended the enactment

22 of temporary legislation by Congress since it ‘‘should

23 be possible to make all the necessary changes in

24 State laws before the congressional elections of

25 1954.’’
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1 (4) The most recent controversy over uncounted

2 military absentee ballots has again shown that the

3 votes of many military members and their families

4 have not been counted because of confusing State

5 and local procedures, cumbersome ballot request and

6 submission requirements, and complicated proce7 dures and ballots.

8 (5) Some States do not recognize the rights of

9 military voters and their families to vote in their

10 domicile of origin, further disenfranchising these vot11 ers and their families.

12 (6) Therefore, Federal legislation is needed to

13 protect the voting rights of military personnel who

14 serve in defense of our Nation.

15 SEC. 3. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR MILITARY PER16 SONNEL.

17 Article VII of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief

18 Act of 1940 (50 U.S.C. 700 et seq.) is amended by adding

19 at the end the following:

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

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

22 from a State in compliance with military or naval orders

23 shall not, solely by reason of that absence—
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1 ‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or

2 domicile in that State, without regard to whether or

3 not the person intends to return to that State;

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

5 domicile in any other State; or

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

7 a resident of any other State.

8 ‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘State’ includes a terri9 tory or possession of the United States, a political subdivi10 sion of a State, territory, or possession, and the District

11 of Columbia.’’.

12 SEC. 4. EXTENSION OF REGISTRATION AND BALLOTING

13 RIGHTS FOR ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES

14 VOTERS TO STATE AND LOCAL ELECTIONS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Uniformed and

16 Overseas Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1) is

17 amended—

18 (1) by inserting ‘‘(a) ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL

19 OFFICES.—’’ before ‘‘Each State shall—’’; and

20 (2) by adding at the end the following:

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

22 Each State shall—

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

24 use absentee registration procedures and to vote by
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1 absentee ballot in general, special, primary, and run2 off elections for State and local offices; and

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

4 election described in paragraph (1), any otherwise

5 valid voter registration application from an absent

6 uniformed services voter if the application is received

7 by the appropriate State election official not less

8 than 30 days before the election.’’.

9 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading for

10 title I of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘FOR FED11 ERAL OFFICE’’.

12 SEC. 5. TREATMENT OF APPLICATIONS AND ABSENTEE

13 BALLOTS SUBMITTED BY ABSENT UNI14 FORMED SERVICES VOTERS.

15 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Uniformed and

16 Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1073ff–

17 1), as amended by section 4(a), is further amended by

18 adding at the end the following new subsections:

19 ‘‘(c) MANDATORY MINIMUM PERIOD BETWEEN

20 AVAILABILITY OF ABSENTEE BALLOT AND DEADLINE

21 FOR SUBMISSION FOR ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES

22 VOTERS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a

23 State may not refuse to count a ballot submitted in an

24 election for Federal, State, or local office by an absent

25 uniformed services voter on the grounds that the ballot
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1 was not submitted in a timely manner if the ballot was

2 submitted not later than 30 days after the date on which

3 the ballot was made available by the State.

4 ‘‘(d) STANDARD FOR INVALIDATION OF BALLOTS

5 SUBMITTED BY ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES VOT6 ERS.—

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may not refuse to

8 count a ballot submitted in an election for Federal

9 office by an absent uniformed services voter on the

10 grounds that the ballot was improperly or fraudu11 lently cast unless the State finds clear and con12 vincing evidence of fraud in the preparation or cast13 ing of the ballot by the voter. For purposes of the

14 previous sentence, the lack of a witness signature,

15 address, postmark, or other identifying information

16 may not be considered clear and convincing evidence

17 of fraud (absent any other information or evidence).

18 ‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON FILING DEADLINES UNDER

19 STATE LAW.—Nothing in this subsection may be

20 construed to affect the application to ballots sub21 mitted by absent uniformed services voters of any

22 ballot submission deadline applicable under State

23 law (taking into account the requirements of sub24 section (c)).
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1 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITING REFUSAL OF APPLICATIONS ON

2 GROUNDS OF EARLY SUBMISSION.—A State may not

3 refuse to accept or process, with respect to any general,

4 special, primary, or runoff election for Federal office, any

5 otherwise valid voter registration application or absentee

6 ballot application from an absent uniformed services voter

7 during a year on the grounds that the voter submitted the

8 application before the first date on which the State other9 wise accepts or processes such applications from absentee

10 voters during the year.’’.

11 (b) USE OF SINGLE APPLICATION FOR ABSENTEE

12 BALLOTS FOR ALL FEDERAL ELECTIONS.—Section

13 102(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1(a)), as amended

14 by section 4(a), is amended—

15 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

16 (2);

17 (2) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para18 graph (4); and

19 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol20 lowing new paragraph:

21 ‘‘(3) accept and process, with respect to all gen22 eral, special, primary, and runoff elections for Fed23 eral office occurring during a year, any otherwise

24 valid absentee ballot application from an absent uni25 formed services voter or overseas voter, if a single
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1 application for all such elections is received by the

2 appropriate State election official not less than 30

3 days before the first election for Federal office oc4 curring during the year; and’’.

5 (c) RECOMMENDATION REGARDING EXTENSION OF

6 PERIOD BETWEEN AVAILABILITY OF ABSENTEE BALLOT

7 AND DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.—Section 104 of such

8 Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–3) is amended—

9 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph

10 (8);

11 (2) by striking the period at the end of para12 graph (9) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

13 (3) by adding at the end the following new

14 paragraph:

15 ‘‘(10) find that any ballot submitted in an elec16 tion for Federal, State, or local office by an absent

17 uniformed services voter was submitted in a timely

18 manner if the ballot was submitted not later than 45

19 days after the date on which the ballot was made

20 available by the State.’’.
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1 SEC. 6. GRANTING PROTECTIONS GIVEN TO ABSENT UNI2 FORMED SERVICES VOTERS TO RECENTLY

3 SEPARATED UNIFORMED SERVICES VOTERS.

4 The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Vot5 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff et seq.) is amended by inserting

6 after section 104 the following new section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 104A. COVERAGE OF RECENTLY SEPARATED UNI8 FORMED SERVICES VOTERS.

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this Act, an in10 dividual who is a separated uniformed services voter (or

11 the spouse or dependent of such an individual) shall be

12 treated in the same manner as an absent uniformed serv13 ices voter with respect to any election occurring during

14 the 60-day period which begins on the date the individual

15 becomes a separated uniformed services voter.

16 ‘‘(b) SEPARATED UNIFORMED SERVICES VOTER DE17 FINED.—

18 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In this section, the term

19 ‘separated uniformed services voter’ means an indi20 vidual who—

21 ‘‘(A) is separated from the uniformed serv22 ices;

23 ‘‘(B) was a uniformed services voter imme24 diately prior to separation;

25 ‘‘(C) presents to an appropriate election of26 ficial Department of Defense Form 214 show-
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1 ing that the individual meets the requirements

2 of subparagraphs (A) and (B) (or any other of3 ficial proof of meeting such requirements); and

4 ‘‘(D) is otherwise qualified to vote with re5 spect to the election involved.

6 ‘‘(2) UNIFORMED SERVICES VOTER.—In para7 graph (1), the term ‘uniformed services voter’

8 means—

9 ‘‘(A) a member of a uniformed service on

10 active duty; or

11 ‘‘(B) a member of the merchant marine.’’.

12 SEC. 7. ELECTRONIC VOTING DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

13 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Defense shall

14 carry out a demonstration project under which absent uni15 formed services voters shall be permitted to cast ballots

16 in the regularly scheduled general election for Federal of17 fice for November 2002 through an electronic voting sys18 tem.

19 (b) COORDINATION WITH STATE ELECTION OFFI20 CIALS.—To the greatest extent practicable, the Secretary

21 shall carry out the demonstration project under this sec22 tion through cooperative agreements with State election

23 officials.

24 (c) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than June 1,

25 2003, the Secretary shall submit a report to Congress ana-
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1 lyzing the demonstration project conducted under this sec2 tion, and shall include in the report any recommendations

3 the Secretary considers appropriate for continuing the

4 project on an expanded basis during the next regularly

5 scheduled general election for Federal office.

6 SEC. 8. ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES VOTER DEFINED.

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘absent uniformed services

8 voter’’ has the meaning given such term in section 107(1)

9 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting

10 Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–6(1)).

11 SEC. 9. EFFECTIVE DATE.

12 This Act and the amendments made by this Act shall

13 apply with respect to ballots submitted for elections occur14 ring after the date of the enactment of this Act.

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