I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4250 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require States 

to provide notice and an opportunity for review prior to removing any 

individual from the official list of eligible voters by reason of criminal 

conviction or mental incapacity. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 29, 2004 

Mr. PRICE of North Carolina (for himself, Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida, 

Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of 

Texas, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. LEE, Mr. BALLANCE, Mr. CLAY, Mr. 

FORD, Mr. OWENS, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. WATT, Mr. WYNN, Mr. 

BERMAN, Mr. DINGELL, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. 

CASE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. HOLT) 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 

require States to provide notice and an opportunity for 

review prior to removing any individual from the official 

list of eligible voters by reason of criminal conviction 

or mental incapacity. 

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 ‘‘Protect American Vot3 ers Act of 2004’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 Congress makes the following findings: 

6 (1) Prior to the 2000 Presidential election, 

7 which was decided by only 547 votes in Florida, sev8 eral Florida counties purged their voting rolls of just 

9 under 58,000 people who supposedly had committed 

10 felonies and were therefore forbidden to vote by 

11 Florida law. Those removed from the voting rolls re12 ceived no notification and were given no chance to 

13 appeal the decision. 

14 (2) After the election, it was learned that thou15 sands of Floridians had been mistakenly included on 

16 the list of convicted felons used to purge the voter 

17 rolls and were incorrectly denied their right to vote. 

18 (3) Purging voting rolls of felons can be a dif19 ficult and confusing process for State election offi20 cials. Many States do not keep comprehensive data 

21 sets of convicted felons. Furthermore, there have 

22 been numerous documented instances in which 

23 States have incorrectly purged voters because their 

24 names were similar to convicted felons, because 

25 State records did not distinguish between arrests 

26 and convictions, or due to simple clerical errors. 
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1 (4) The risk that innocent Americans may be 

2 mistakenly denied their Constitutional right to vote 

3 is still very real and places the legitimacy of future 

4 elections at risk. 

5 SEC. 3. NOTICE AND REVIEW REQUIREMENTS FOR RE6 MOVAL OF INDIVIDUALS FROM OFFICIAL 

7 LIST OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS BY REASON OF 

8 CRIMINAL CONVICTION OR MENTAL INCA9 PACITY. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8 of the National Voter 

11 Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6) is amend12 ed— 

13 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub14 section (k); and 

15 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol16 lowing new subsection: 

17 ‘‘(j) NOTICE AND REVIEW REQUIREMENTS FOR RE18 MOVAL OF INDIVIDUALS FROM LIST OF ELIGIBLE VOT19 ERS BY REASON OF CRIMINAL CONVICTION OR MENTAL

20 INCAPACITY.— 

21 ‘‘(1) MINIMUM NOTICE PRIOR TO REMOVAL.— 

22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any 

23 other requirements applicable under this sec24 tion, a State may not remove a registrant from 

25 the official list of eligible voters for an election 
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1 for Federal office by reason of criminal convic2 tion or mental incapacity unless the State pro3 vides the registrant with a notice of removal 

4 meeting the requirements of subparagraph (B) 

5 not later than 30 days before the date of the 

6 election. 

7 ‘‘(B) REQUIREMENTS FOR NOTICE.—The 

8 notice required under this subparagraph shall 

9 be sent by forwardable mail, and shall include 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(i) A statement that the State in12 tends to remove the registrant from the of13 ficial list of eligible voters for elections for 

14 Federal office. 

15 ‘‘(ii) A description of the reasons for 

16 removal, including (in the case of an indi17 vidual proposed to be removed by reason of 

18 criminal conviction) sufficient identifying 

19 information on the criminal conviction al20 leged to be the basis for removal to enable 

21 the registrant to determine whether the 

22 registrant was convicted of the offense 

23 cited in the notice. 

24 ‘‘(iii) A statement that the registrant 

25 may obtain a review of the removal from 
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1 an appropriate State election official in ac2 cordance with paragraph (2). 

3 ‘‘(iv) A postage pre-paid and pre-ad4 dressed envelope and a clear list of contact 

5 information for the appropriate state elec6 tion official that includes a mailing ad7 dress, telephone number, and fax number. 

8 ‘‘(2) REVIEW OF DECISION TO REMOVE.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A registrant who re10 ceives a notice of removal under paragraph (1) 

11 may submit a written request to an appropriate 

12 State election official to withdraw the notice 

13 and retain the registrant on the official list of 

14 eligible voters, and may include in the request 

15 such information and evidence as the registrant 

16 considers appropriate to show that the reg17 istrant is not subject to removal from the list 

18 under State law, including information and evi19 dence showing that the registrant was not con20 victed of the criminal offense cited in the notice 

21 (in the case of an individual proposed to be re22 moved by reason of criminal conviction). 

23 ‘‘(B) RESPONSE BY STATE.—Not later 

24 than 10 days after receiving a request from a 

25 registrant under subparagraph (A), the State 
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1 shall review the information and evidence in2 cluded and accept or reject the request, and 

3 shall notify the registrant in writing of its deci4 sion. 

5 ‘‘(3) OPPORTUNITY TO CAST PROVISIONAL BAL6 LOT.—Any registrant who receives a notice of re7 moval under paragraph (1) and believes that the re8 moval decision was made in error shall be permitted 

9 to cast a provisional ballot in an election for Federal 

10 office in accordance with section 302(a) of the Help 

11 America Vote Act of 2002.’’. 

12 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 8(a)(3)(B) 

13 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6(a)(3)(B)) is amended 

14 by striking ‘‘State law,’’ and inserting ‘‘State law and con15 sistent with the requirements of subsection (j),’’. 

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

17 this Act shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled 

18 general election for Federal office in November 2004 and 

19 each succeeding election for Federal office. 

20 SEC. 4. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

21 Nothing in this Act or any amendment made by this 

22 Act may be construed— 

23 (1) to affect the right of any individual to cast 

24 a provisional ballot under section 302(a) of the Help 

25 America Vote Act of 2002; or 
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1 (2) to prohibit any State from providing indi2 viduals threatened with removal from the official list 

3 of eligible voters in the State with greater protec4 tions than those required under section 8(j) of the 

5 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (as added 

6 by section 2(a)). 

Æ