II 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 4018 

To establish a Vote by Mail grant program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 

Mr. WYDEN (for himself, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. OBAMA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules 

and Administration 

A BILL 

To establish a Vote by Mail grant program. 

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 ‘‘Vote by Mail Act of 

5 2006’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Supreme Court declared in Reynolds v. 

9 Sims that ‘‘[i]t has been repeatedly recognized that 

10 all qualified voters have a constitutionally protected 

11 right to vote . . . and to have their votes counted.’’. 


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1 (2) In the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, 

2 voting technology failures and procedural irregular3 ities deprived some Americans of their fundamental 

4 right to vote. 

5 (3) In 2000, faulty punch card ballots and 

6 other equipment failures prevented accurate vote 

7 counts nationwide. A report by the Caltech/MIT 

8 Voting Technology Project estimates that approxi9 mately 1,500,000 votes for president were intended 

10 to be cast but not counted in the 2000 election be11 cause of equipment failures. 

12 (4) In 2004, software errors, malfunctioning 

13 electronic voting systems, and long lines at the polls 

14 prevented accurate vote counts and prevented some 

15 people from voting. For instance, voters at Kenyon 

16 College in Gambier, Ohio waited in line for up to 12 

17 hours because there were only 2 machines available 

18 for 1,300 voters. 

19 (5) Under the Oregon Vote by Mail system, 

20 election officials mail ballots to all registered voters 

21 at least 2 weeks before election day. Voters mark 

22 their ballots, seal the ballots in both unmarked se23 crecy envelopes and signed return envelopes, and re24 turn the ballots by mail or to secure drop boxes. 

25 Once a ballot is received, election officials scan the 


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1 bar code on the ballot envelope, which brings up the 

2 voter’s signature on a computer screen. The election 

3 official compares the signature on the screen and the 

4 signature on the ballot envelope. Only if the signa5 ture on the ballot envelope is determined to be au6 thentic is the ballot forwarded on to be counted. 

7 (6) Oregon’s Vote by Mail system has resulted 

8 in an extremely low rate of voter fraud because the 

9 system includes numerous security measures such as 

10 the signature authentication system. Potential mis11 conduct is also deterred by the power of the State 

12 to punish those who engage in voter fraud with up 

13 to five years in prison, $100,000 in fines, and the 

14 loss of their vote. 

15 (7) Vote by Mail is one factor making voter 

16 turnout in Oregon consistently higher than the aver17 age national voter turnout. For example, Oregon ex18 perienced a record voting-age-eligible population 

19 turnout of 70.6 percent in the 2004 presidential 

20 election, compared to 58.4 percent nationally. Or21 egon’s turnout of registered voters for that election 

22 was 86.48 percent. 

23 (8) Women, younger voters, and homemakers 

24 also report that they vote more often using Vote by 

25 Mail. 


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1 (9) Vote by Mail reduces election costs by elimi2 nating the need to transport equipment to polling 

3 stations and to hire and train poll workers. Oregon 

4 has reduced its election-related costs by 30 percent 

5 since implementing Vote by Mail. 

6 (10) Vote by Mail allows voters to educate 

7 themselves because they receive ballots well before 

8 election day, which provides them with ample time 

9 to research issues, study ballots, and deliberate in a 

10 way that is not possible at a polling place. 

11 (11) Vote by Mail is accurate—at least 2 stud12 ies comparing voting technologies show that absentee 

13 voting methods, including Vote by Mail systems, re14 sult in a more accurate vote count. 

15 (12) Vote by Mail results in more up-to-date 

16 voter rolls, since election officials use forwarding in17 formation from the post office to update voter reg18 istration. 

19 (13) Vote by Mail allows voters to visually 

20 verify that their votes were cast correctly and pro21 duces a paper trail for recounts. 

22 (14) In a survey taken 5 years after Oregon im23 plemented the Vote by Mail system, more than 8 in 

24 10 Oregon voters said they preferred voting by mail 

25 to traditional voting. 


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1 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ means 

4 any general, special, primary, or runoff election. 

5 (2) PARTICIPATING STATE.—The term ‘‘partici6 pating State’’ means a State receiving a grant under 

7 the Vote by Mail grant program under section 4. 

8 (3) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means a State 

9 of the United States, the District of Columbia, the 

10 Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or pos11 session of the United States. 

12 (4) VOTING SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘voting sys13 tem’’ has the meaning given such term under section 

14 301(b) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 

15 U.S.C. 15481(b)). 

16 SEC. 4. VOTE BY MAIL GRANT PROGRAM. 

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 270 days after 

18 the date of enactment of this Act, the Election Assistance 

19 Commission shall establish a Vote by Mail grant program 

20 (in this section referred to as the ‘‘program’’). 

21 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the program is to 

22 make implementation grants to participating States solely 

23 for the implementation of procedures for the conduct of 

24 all elections by mail at the State or local government level. 

25 (c) LIMITATION ON USE OF FUNDS.—In no case may 

26 grants made under this section be used to reimburse a 


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1 State for costs incurred in implementing mail-in voting for 

2 elections at the State or local government level if such 

3 costs were incurred prior to the date of enactment of this 

4 Act. 

5 (d) APPLICATION.—A State seeking to participate in 

6 the program under this section shall submit an application 

7 to the Election Assistance Commission containing such in8 formation, and at such time as, the Election Assistance 

9 Commission may specify. 

10 (e) AMOUNT AND NUMBER OF IMPLEMENTATION

11 GRANTS; DURATION OF PROGRAM.— 

12 (1) AMOUNT OF GRANTS.— 

13 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara14 graph (B), the amount of an implementation 

15 grant made to a participating State shall be, in 

16 the case of a State that certifies that it will im17 plement all elections by mail in accordance with 

18 the requirements of subsection (f), with respect 

19 to— 

20 (i) the entire State, $2,000,000; or 

21 (ii) any single unit or multiple units 

22 of local government within the State, 

23 $1,000,000. 

24 (B) EXCESS FUNDS.— 


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1 (i) IN GENERAL.—The Election As2 sistance Commission shall establish a proc3 ess to distribute excess funds to partici4 pating States. The process shall ensure 

5 that such funds are allocated among par6 ticipating States in an equitable manner, 

7 based on the number of registered voters 

8 in the area in which the State certifies that 

9 it will implement all of its elections by mail 

10 under subparagraph (A). 

11 (ii) EXCESS FUNDS DEFINED.—For 

12 purposes of clause (i), the term ‘‘excess 

13 funds’’ means any amounts appropriated 

14 pursuant to the authorization under sub15 section (h)(1) with respect to a fiscal year 

16 that are not awarded to a participating 

17 State under an implementation grant dur18 ing such fiscal year. 

19 (C) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS

20 AFTER APPROPRIATION.—An implementation 

21 grant made to a participating State under this 

22 section shall be available to the State without 

23 fiscal year limitation. 

24 (2) NUMBER OF IMPLEMENTATION GRANTS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assist2 ance Commission shall award an implementa3 tion grant to up to 18 participating States 

4 under this section during each year in which 

5 the program is conducted. 

6 (B) ONE GRANT PER STATE.—The Elec7 tion Assistance Commission shall not award 

8 more than 1 implementation grant to any par9 ticipating State under this section over the du10 ration of the program. 

11 (3) DURATION.—The program shall be con12 ducted for a period of 3 years. 

13 (f) REQUIREMENTS.— 

14 (1) REQUIRED PROCEDURES.—A participating 

15 State shall establish and implement procedures for 

16 conducting all elections by mail in the area with re17 spect to which it receives an implementation grant 

18 to conduct such elections, including the following: 

19 (A) A process for recording electronically 

20 each voter’s registration information and signa21 ture. 

22 (B) A process for mailing ballots to all eli23 gible voters. 

24 (C) The designation of places for the de25 posit of ballots cast in an election. 


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1 (D) A process for ensuring the secrecy and 

2 integrity of ballots cast in the election. 

3 (E) Procedures and penalties for pre4 venting election fraud and ballot tampering, in5 cluding procedures for the verification of the 

6 signature of the voter accompanying the ballot 

7 through comparison of such signature with the 

8 signature of the voter maintained by the State 

9 in accordance with subparagraph (A). 

10 (F) Procedures for verifying that a ballot 

11 has been received by the appropriate authority. 

12 (G) Procedures for obtaining a replace13 ment ballot in the case of a ballot which is de14 stroyed, spoiled, lost, or not received by the 

15 voter. 

16 (H) A plan for training election workers in 

17 signature verification techniques. 

18 (I) Plans and procedures to ensure that 

19 voters who are blind, visually-impaired, or oth20 erwise disabled have the opportunity to partici21 pate in elections conducted by mail and to en22 sure compliance with the Help America Vote 

23 Act of 2002. Such plans and procedures shall 

24 be developed in consultation with disabled and 

25 other civil rights organizations, voting rights 


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1 groups, State election officials, voter protection 

2 groups, and other interested community organi3 zations. 

4 (g) BEST PRACTICES, TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, AND

5 REPORTS.—The Election Assistance Commission shall— 

6 (1) develop, periodically issue, and, as appro7 priate, update best practices for conducting elections 

8 by mail; 

9 (2) provide technical assistance to participating 

10 States for the purpose of implementing procedures 

11 for conducting elections by mail; and 

12 (3) submit to the appropriate committees of 

13 Congress— 

14 (A) annual reports on the implementation 

15 of such procedures by participating States dur16 ing each year in which the program is con17 ducted; and 

18 (B) upon completion of the program con19 ducted under this section, a final report on the 

20 program, together with recommendations for 

21 such legislation or administrative action as the 

22 Election Assistance Commission determines to 

23 be appropriate. 

24 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 


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1 (1) GRANTS.—There are authorized to be ap2 propriated to award grants under this section, for 

3 each of fiscal years 2007 through 2009, 

4 $36,000,000, to remain available without fiscal year 

5 limitation until expended. 

6 (2) ADMINISTRATION.—There are authorized to 

7 be appropriated to administer the program under 

8 this section, $2,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 

9 2007 through 2009, to remain available without fis10 cal year limitation until expended. 

11 (i) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—In no case shall any 

12 provision of this section be construed as affecting or re13 placing any provisions or requirements under the Help 

14 America Vote Act of 2002, or any other laws relating to 

15 the conduct of Federal elections. 

16 SEC. 5. STUDY ON IMPLEMENTATION OF MAIL-IN VOTING 

17 FOR ELECTIONS. 

18 (a) STUDY.— 

19 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of 

20 the United States (in this section referred to as the 

21 ‘‘Comptroller General’’) shall conduct a study evalu22 ating the benefits of nationwide implementation of 

23 mail-in voting in elections, taking into consideration 

24 the annual reports submitted by the Election AssistVerDate Aug 31 2005 23:48 Oct 04, 2006 Jkt 059196 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4018.IS S4018

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1 ance Commission under section 4(f)(3)(A) before 

2 November 1, 2009. 

3 (2) SPECIFIC ISSUES STUDIED.—The study 

4 conducted under paragraph (1) shall include a com5 parison of traditional voting methods and mail-in 

6 voting with respect to— 

7 (A) the likelihood of voter fraud and mis8 conduct; 

9 (B) accuracy of voter rolls; 

10 (C) accuracy of election results; 

11 (D) voter participation in urban and rural 

12 communities and by minorities, language mi13 norities (as defined in section 203 of the Voting 

14 Rights Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973aa–1a)), 

15 and individuals with disabilities; and 

16 (E) public confidence in the election sys17 tem. 

18 (b) REPORT.—Not later than November 1, 2009, the 

19 Comptroller General shall prepare and submit to the ap20 propriate committees of Congress a report on the study 

21 conducted under subsection (a), together with such rec22 ommendations for legislation or administrative action as 

23 the Comptroller General determines to be appropriate. 

Æ 


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