I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2540 

To direct the Attorney General to establish and operate a toll-free nationwide 

telephone hotline through which individuals may obtain information on 

voting in elections for Federal office and report information on problems 

encountered in voting in such elections, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 14, 2011 

Ms. FUDGE introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, 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 direct the Attorney General to establish and operate 

a toll-free nationwide telephone hotline through which 

individuals may obtain information on voting in elections 

for Federal office and report information on problems 

encountered in voting in such 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voter Protection Hot5 line Act of 2011’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds as follows: 

3 (1) At the Federal, State, and local levels, gov4 ernment funding supports well-intentioned voter hot5 lines that are not fully utilized because of a lack of 

6 access to information on such programs by the pub7 lic at-large. All 50 states and the District of Colum8 bia have at least one voter hotline in addition to an 

9 unprecedented amount of privately funded voter hot10 lines, all with different telephone numbers. The mul11 tiplicity of resources makes it difficult for voters to 

12 identify the correct hotline for their needs, which 

13 may result in voters who have immediate or urgent 

14 needs abandoning their effort to vote. 

15 (2) The Department of Justice has declared 

16 that a national telephone number or hotline on vot17 ing information is an important tool to facilitate the 

18 voting process, and has established a hotline through 

19 which individuals may obtain this kind of informa20 tion. Notwithstanding the existence of the hotline, 

21 voting irregularities were still rampant, as evidenced 

22 by a number of problems that occurred during the 

23 2008 election cycle, including the following: 

24 (A) Virginia voters who registered through 

25 the Department of Motor Vehicles or via third 

26 party groups reported never receiving a regVerDate Mar 15 2010 02:09 Jul 16, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2540.IH H2540

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1 istration card. In other cases, they arrived at 

2 their polling places only to find their names 

3 missing from the voter rolls. Some voters did 

4 not fill out their registration paperwork cor5 rectly, but were not notified of this until well 

6 after the registration deadline of October 6. 

7 There were reports in one location all seven vot8 ing machines in the building had failed and 

9 that there were no paper ballots available. Vot10 ers at that polling place waited in line for an 

11 extraordinary 7 hours and 15 minutes to vote. 

12 (B) St. Louis voters who had submitted 

13 change of address forms several weeks prior to 

14 Election Day found that these forms had not 

15 been processed by Election Day. 

16 (C) On December 2, the New York Post 

17 reported that more than 3,500 voter registra18 tion forms were shipped to the New York City 

19 Board of Elections on September 10, only to sit 

20 in a box until November 6, 2 days after the 

21 election. Of these voters, those who cast provi22 sional ballots had their votes counted, but it is 

23 unclear how many other voters were turned 

24 away at the polls. 


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1 (D) Pennsylvania voters in cities reported 

2 not receiving absentee ballots by Election Day. 

3 This caused additional problems at polling 

4 places on Election Day, as some of those who 

5 feared their votes would go uncounted took time 

6 away from family obligations, work, or strug7 gled with a disability to get to their polling 

8 place. Upon arrival, they were told they would 

9 be unable to vote in person since they had al10 ready requested an absentee ballot. 

11 (E) Voters at poorly prepared poll loca12 tions in Los Angeles County and elsewhere in 

13 California began reporting ballot shortages in 

14 the early afternoon on Election Day. Many peo15 ple who went to the wrong polling place were 

16 incorrectly instructed to vote provisionally in17 stead of being sent to the correct location. At 

18 one polling place, provisional ballots were hand19 ed out because so many voters were unaware 

20 that their poll location had changed and had 

21 gone to the wrong location. In other places, vot22 ers were not offered provisional ballots even 

23 when they were warranted, for example, when 

24 paper ballots were requested or when regular 

25 ballots were running out. In all, nearly 


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1 1,000,000 people voted by provisional ballot in 

2 California. 

3 (F) Wait times of 6 hours were reported 

4 for early voting in Franklin County, Ohio, lead5 ing to people leaving the line without voting. 

6 Wait times of between 2 and 10 hours were re7 ported during early voting at multiple Georgia 

8 locations. 

9 (3) The fifteenth amendment to the Constitu10 tion protects the right of citizens to vote, yet every 

11 election cycle, the voting rights of thousands of citi12 zens are denied or abridged due to factors ranging 

13 from misinformation to wholesale intimidation. For 

14 example: 

15 (A) In the 2004 presidential election, vot16 ers reported receiving calls telling them to re17 port to the polls to vote the day after Election 

18 Day, that the polling location had changed, and 

19 that they would only be allowed to vote if they 

20 brought four separate forms of identification to 

21 the poll. In 2008, in southern Virginia and at 

22 George Mason University in the northern part 

23 of the state, official-looking fliers ‘‘informed’’ 

24 voters that, because of projected high turnout, 

25 Democrats should wait and vote on November 


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1 5, 2008, the day after the election. North Caro2 lina voters complained of misleading calls that 

3 provided inaccurate information regarding ab4 sentee ballot deadlines. 

5 (B) Michigan poll workers were often un6 aware that Michigan voters who did not have a 

7 government-issued photo ID could vote after 

8 signing an affidavit. 

9 (C) In 2008, fliers distributed and posted 

10 in a west Philadelphia neighborhood claimed 

11 that any violation as simple as an unpaid park12 ing ticket would render citizens ineligible to 

13 vote and subject to arrest at the polls. A flier 

14 disseminated on the campus of Drexel Univer15 sity in Philadelphia warned that undercover of16 ficers would be present at the polls, looking for 

17 voters with outstanding warrants or parking 

18 violations. 

19 (D) In Virginia, Michigan and Colorado, 

20 students were told that if they registered to 

21 vote where they went to school (instead of at 

22 their parents’ address) they could lose their 

23 healthcare, financial aid, and jeopardize their 

24 parent’s taxes, all false claims. 


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1 (E) In 2008, the non-profit group Min2 nesota Majority, pretending to be from the Sec3 retary of State’s office, made calls to voters 

4 questioning their registrations in a supposed at5 tempt to uncover voting irregularities. 

6 (F) Twelve Ohio counties released sample 

7 paper ballots that split the presidential contest 

8 over two columns for the November election. A 

9 study found that this particular layout often 

10 confuses voters and causes them to double-vote, 

11 which ultimately disqualifies the ballot. 

12 SEC. 3. VOTER INFORMATION HOTLINE. 

13 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF TELE14 PHONE SERVICE.—The Attorney General, in consultation 

15 with State election officials, shall establish and operate a 

16 toll-free telephone service, using a telephone number that 

17 is accessible throughout the United States and that uses 

18 easily identifiable numerals, through which individuals 

19 throughout the United States— 

20 (1) may obtain information on voting in elec21 tions for Federal office, including information on 

22 how to register to vote in such elections, the hours 

23 of operation of polling places, and how to obtain ab24 sentee ballots; and 


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1 (2) may report information to the Attorney 

2 General on problems encountered in registering to 

3 vote or voting, including incidences of voter intimi4 dation or suppression. 

5 (b) VOTER HOTLINE TASK FORCE.— 

6 (1) APPOINTMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

7 The Attorney General shall appoint individuals (in 

8 such number as the Attorney General considers ap9 propriate) to serve on a Voter Hotline Task Force 

10 to provide ongoing analysis and assessment of the 

11 operation of the telephone service established under 

12 this Act, and shall give special consideration in mak13 ing appointments to the Task Force to individuals 

14 who represent civil rights organizations. 

15 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—An individual shall be eligi16 ble to serve on the Task Force under this subsection 

17 if the individual meets such criteria as the Attorney 

18 General may establish, except that an individual may 

19 not serve on the task force if the individual has been 

20 convicted of any criminal offense relating to voter in21 timidation or voter suppression. 

22 (3) TERM OF SERVICE.—An individual ap23 pointed to the Task Force shall serve a single term 

24 of 2 years. A vacancy in the membership of the Task 


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1 Force shall be filled in the same manner as the 

2 original appointment. 

3 (4) NO COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE.—Mem4 bers of the Task Force shall serve without pay, but 

5 shall receive travel expenses, including per diem in 

6 lieu of subsistence, in accordance with applicable 

7 provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

8 5, United States Code. 

9 (c) BI-ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

10 than March 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Attorney 

11 General shall submit a report to Congress on the operation 

12 of the telephone service established under this Act during 

13 the previous 2 years, and shall include in the report— 

14 (1) a compilation and description of the reports 

15 made to the hotline by individuals citing instances of 

16 voter intimidation or suppression; and 

17 (2) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

18 service in making information available to all house19 holds in the United States with telephone service. 

20 SEC. 4. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

21 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to be ap22 propriated to the Attorney General for fiscal year 2011 

23 and each succeeding fiscal year such sums as may be nec24 essary to carry out this Act. 


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1 (b) SET-ASIDE FOR OUTREACH.—Of the amounts 

2 appropriated to carry out this Act for a fiscal year pursu3 ant to the authorization under subsection (a), not less 

4 than 15% shall be used for outreach activities to make 

5 the public aware of the availability of the telephone service 

6 established under this Act. 

Æ 


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