I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 946 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters 

to vote by mail in Federal elections. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 7, 2017 

Mrs. DAVIS of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow 

all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal 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 ‘‘Universal Right to 

5 Vote by Mail Act of 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) An inequity of voting rights exists in the 

9 United States because voters in some States have 


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1 the universal right to vote by mail while voters in 

2 other States do not. 

3 (2) Many voters often have work, family, or 

4 other commitments that make getting to polls on the 

5 date of an election difficult or impossible. Under 

6 current State laws, many of these voters are not per7 mitted to vote by mail. 

8 (3) 29 States and the District of Columbia cur9 rently allow universal absentee voting (also known as 

10 ‘‘no-excuse’’ absentee voting), which permits any 

11 voter to request a mail-in ballot without providing a 

12 reason for the request, and no State which has im13 plemented no-excuse absentee voting has switched 

14 back. 

15 (4) Voting by mail gives voters more time to 

16 consider their choices, which is especially important 

17 as many ballots contain greater numbers of ques18 tions about complex issues than in the past due to 

19 the expanded use of the initiative and referendum 

20 process in many States. 

21 (5) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 

22 mail can lead to increased voter participation. 

23 (6) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 

24 mail can reduce waiting times for those voters who 

25 choose to vote at the polls. 


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1 (7) Voting by mail is preferable to many voters 

2 as an alternative to going to the polls. Voting by 

3 mail has become increasingly popular with voters 

4 who want to be certain that they are able to vote no 

5 matter what comes up on Election Day. 

6 (8) No evidence exists suggesting the potential 

7 for fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the 

8 potential for fraud by any other method of voting. 

9 (9) Many of the reasons which voters in many 

10 States are required to provide in order to vote by 

11 mail require the revelation of personal information 

12 about health, travel plans, or religious activities, 

13 which violate voters’ privacy while doing nothing to 

14 prevent voter fraud. 

15 (10) State laws which require voters to obtain 

16 a notary signature to vote by mail only add cost and 

17 inconvenience to voters without increasing security. 

18 SEC. 3. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL 

19 IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 

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

21 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is 

22 amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 

23 section: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 

2 MAIL. 

3 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli4 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 

5 State may not impose any additional conditions or require6 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 

7 in such election by mail, except to the extent that the 

8 State imposes a deadline for requesting the ballot and re9 lated voting materials from the appropriate State or local 

10 election official and for returning the ballot to the appro11 priate State or local election official. 

12 ‘‘(b) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec13 tion shall be construed to affect the authority of States 

14 to conduct elections for Federal office through the use of 

15 polling places at which individuals cast ballots on the date 

16 of the election. 

17 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A State shall be required 

18 to comply with the requirements of this section with re19 spect to elections for Federal office held in years beginning 

20 with 2020.’’. 

21 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN22 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 

23 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 

24 303A’’. 


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

2 for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat3 ing to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. 

Æ 


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