I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3163 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require any State offering 

an early voting period in elections for Federal office to make the period 

available for the entire 14-day period that precedes the date of the 

election, to prohibit States from imposing identification requirements 

on individuals who wish to vote or register to vote who are not otherwise 

required to provide identification under such Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 12, 2011 

Ms. BROWN of Florida 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 require 

any State offering an early voting period in elections 

for Federal office to make the period available for the 

entire 14-day period that precedes the date of the election, to prohibit States from imposing identification requirements on individuals who wish to vote or register 

to vote who are not otherwise required to provide identification under such Act, 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 ‘‘Easy Voting Act of 

3 2011’’. 

4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING MINIMUM EARLY VOTING PERIOD 

5 FOR JURISDICTIONS CONDUCTING EARLY 

6 VOTING. 

7 (a) MINIMUM PERIOD.—Subtitle A of title III of the 

8 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) 

9 is amended by inserting after section 303 the following 

10 new section: 

11 ‘‘SEC. 303A. REQUIREMENTS FOR STATES PERMITTING 

12 EARLY VOTING. 

13 ‘‘(a) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING PERIOD.—If a State 

14 permits individuals to cast ballots in an election for Fed15 eral office during a period that occurs prior to the date 

16 of the election in the same manner in which ballots are 

17 cast on the date of the election, the State shall ensure 

18 that such period includes the entire 14-day period (includ19 ing Saturdays and Sundays) which ends on the date of 

20 the election. 

21 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re22 quired to comply with the requirements of this section be23 ginning January 1, 2012.’’. 

24 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN25 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) 


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1 is amended by striking ‘‘sections 301, 302, and 303’’ and 

2 inserting ‘‘subtitle A of title III’’. 

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

4 of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 

5 to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Requirements for States permitting early voting’’. 

6 SEC. 3. PROHIBITING STATES FROM REQUIRING STATE7 ISSUED IDENTIFICATION AS CONDITION FOR 

8 VOTING OR REGISTERING TO VOTE. 

9 (a) PROHIBITION.—Subtitle A of title III of the Help 

10 America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.), as 

11 amended by section 2(a), is amended by inserting after 

12 section 303A the following new section: 

13 ‘‘SEC. 303B. PROHIBITING STATES FROM REQUIRING 

14 STATE-ISSUED IDENTIFICATION AS CONDI15 TION FOR VOTING OR REGISTERING TO 

16 VOTE. 

17 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—An election official may not re18 quire an individual to provide a State-issued identification 

19 (including an identification issued by a unit of local gov20 ernment in the State) as a condition of receiving or casting 

21 a ballot in any election for Federal office or of registering 

22 to vote in any election for Federal office. 

23 ‘‘(b) NO EFFECT ON REQUIREMENTS FOR CERTAIN

24 VOTERS WHO REGISTER BY MAIL.—Nothing in this sec25 tion shall be construed to affect any requirement under 


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1 section 303(b) that certain individuals who register to vote 

2 by mail present a form of identification as a condition of 

3 casting a ballot in an election. 

4 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re5 quired to comply with the requirements of this section be6 ginning January 1, 2012.’’. 

7 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 

8 of such Act, as amended by section 2(c), is amended by 

9 inserting after the item relating to section 303A the fol10 lowing new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303B. Prohibiting States from requiring State-issued identification as 

condition for voting or registering to vote’’. 

11 SEC. 4. REQUIRING STATES TO MAKE SAME-DAY VOTER 

12 REGISTRATION AND CHANGE OF ADDRESS 

13 SERVICE AVAILABLE. 

14 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the 

16 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 

17 et seq.), as amended by section 3(a), is amended by 

18 inserting after section 303B the following new sec19 tion: 

20 ‘‘SEC. 303C. ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION AND CHANGE 

21 OF ADDRESS SERVICE. 

22 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

23 ‘‘(1) REGISTRATION.—Notwithstanding section 

24 8(a)(1)(D) of the National Voter Registration Act of 


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1 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6), each State shall permit 

2 any individual on the day of an election for Federal 

3 office— 

4 ‘‘(A) to register to vote in such election at 

5 the polling place using a form that meets the 

6 requirements of section 9(b) of the National 

7 Voter Registration Act of 1993; and 

8 ‘‘(B) if, on the basis of registering to vote 

9 under subparagraph (A), the individual is quali10 fied to vote in such election, to cast a vote in 

11 such election. 

12 ‘‘(2) CHANGE OF ADDRESS SERVICE FOR REG13 ISTERED VOTERS.—If an individual who is a reg14 istered voter in a State moves to a new address in 

15 the State but does not provide the appropriate State 

16 election official with information on the new address 

17 prior to appearing at a polling place to cast a vote 

18 in an election for Federal office, the State shall per19 mit the individual— 

20 ‘‘(A) to provide such information at the 

21 polling place using a change of address form 

22 developed by the State; and 

23 ‘‘(B) notwithstanding section 302(a), to 

24 cast a regular ballot instead of a provisional 

25 ballot for the election. 


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1 ‘‘(3) EXCEPTION.—The requirements under 

2 paragraphs (1) and (2) shall not apply to a State in 

3 which, under a State law in effect continuously on 

4 and after the date of the enactment of this Act, 

5 there is no voter registration requirement for indi6 viduals in the State with respect to elections for 

7 Federal office. 

8 ‘‘(b) TRANSMITTAL OF FORMS TO STATE ELECTION

9 OFFICIALS.—The appropriate election official at the poll10 ing place shall transmit a voter registration form provided 

11 by an individual at the polling place under subsection 

12 (a)(1) or a change of address form provided by an indi13 vidual at the polling place under subsection (a)(2) to the 

14 appropriate State election official at the time the official 

15 transmits the ballots cast in the election. 

16 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re17 quired to comply with the requirements of this section be18 ginning January 1, 2012.’’. 

19 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con20 tents of such Act, as amended by section 3(b), is 

21 amended by inserting after the item relating to sec22 tion 303B the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303C. Election Day registration and change of address service’’. 

23 (b) APPLICATION TO EARLY VOTING SITES.—Section 

24 303A of such Act, as added by section 2(a), is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (b) as sub2 section (c); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol4 lowing new subsection: 

5 ‘‘(b) APPLICATION OF ELECTION DAY REGISTRATION

6 AND CHANGE OF ADDRESS SERVICE TO EARLY VOT7 ING.—At each polling place in a State which allows voting 

8 prior to the day of a Federal election (as described in sub9 section (a)), the State shall permit individuals to register 

10 to vote in the same manner as the State is required to 

11 permit individuals to register to vote and vote on the day 

12 of the election under section 303C(a)(1), and shall provide 

13 change of address service in the same manner as the State 

14 is required to provide such service under section 

15 303C(a)(2).’’. 

Æ 


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