I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3552 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to clarify the treatment 

of provisional ballots cast in elections for Federal office, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SEPTEMBER 10, 2009 

Mr. HOLT 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 clarify 

the treatment of provisional ballots cast in elections for 

Federal office, 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 ‘‘Provisional Ballot 

5 Fairness in Counting Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. UNIFORM STANDARD FOR TREATMENT OF PROVI2 SIONAL BALLOTS CAST AT INCORRECT POLL3 ING PLACES. 

4 Section 302(a)(4) of the Help America Vote Act of 

5 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482(a)(4)) is amended to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(4) The provisional ballot of an individual who 

8 is a registered voter in a jurisdiction in a State and 

9 who is eligible to vote in an election for Federal of10 fice in the State shall be counted as a vote in such 

11 an election if the appropriate State or local election 

12 official to whom the ballot or voter information is 

13 transmitted under paragraph (3)— 

14 ‘‘(A) in the case of an election for electors 

15 for President or for the office of a Senator, de16 termines that the individual is registered to vote 

17 in the State in which the provisional ballot is 

18 cast; and 

19 ‘‘(B) in the case of an election for the of20 fice of a Member of the House of Representa21 tives (including a Delegate or Resident Com22 missioner to the Congress), determines that the 

23 individual is registered to vote in the Congres24 sional district in which the provisional ballot is 

25 cast.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. MINIMUM CONTENTS OF PROVISIONAL BALLOTS. 

2 Section 302(a)(1) of the Help America Vote Act of 

3 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15482(a)(1)) is amended by adding at 

4 the end the following new sentence: ‘‘The provisional ballot 

5 shall include (at a minimum) all information required for 

6 the individual to cast a vote in each election for Federal 

7 office held at the polling place.’’. 

8 SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF VOTERS WHO VOTE AFTER CLOS9 ING OF POLLING PLACES. 

10 Section 302(c) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

11 (42 U.S.C. 15482(c)) is amended to read as follows: 

12 ‘‘(c) EQUAL TREATMENT OF VOTERS WHO VOTE

13 AFTER THE POLLS CLOSE.—Any individual who votes in 

14 an election for Federal office as a result of a Federal or 

15 State court order or any other order extending the time 

16 established for closing the polls by a State law in effect 

17 10 days before the date of that election shall cast the indi18 vidual’s ballot for the election in the same manner, and 

19 under the same terms and conditions, as any individual 

20 who votes in the election during the regular hours for the 

21 operation of polling places in the State, including the 

22 terms and conditions applicable to individuals permitted 

23 to cast provisional ballots under this section.’’. 


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1 SEC. 5. TREATMENT OF BALLOTS AFTER CASTING. 

2 (a) RESPONSIBILITY OF ELECTION OFFICIAL TO NO3 TIFY INDIVIDUAL OF DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF

4 BALLOT.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 302(a)(5) of the 

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

7 15482(a)(5)) is amended to read as follows: 

8 ‘‘(5)(A) Not later than 24 hours after deter9 mining whether or not the vote of an individual who 

10 casts a provisional ballot in an election will be count11 ed in that election under this Act, the appropriate 

12 State or local election official shall notify the indi13 vidual of the determination and (if the determination 

14 is made that the vote will not be counted) the rea15 sons for the determination and the individual’s right 

16 to challenge the determination under the procedures 

17 established under subparagraph (B). 

18 ‘‘(B) Each State shall establish procedures, in19 cluding a free access system (such as a toll-free tele20 phone number or an Internet website), under which 

21 an individual who casts a provisional ballot in an 

22 election and who is notified by the appropriate State 

23 or local election official that the provisional ballot 

24 cast by the individual will not be counted as a vote 

25 in the election may challenge the determination prior 

26 to the final tabulation of ballots in the election. 


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1 ‘‘(C) In carrying out subparagraph (B), each 

2 State shall ensure that, in each jurisdiction of the 

3 State, an appropriate State or local election official 

4 operates open office hours for at least 8 hours on 

5 the day after the date of the election, during which 

6 a voter who cast a provisional ballot in the election 

7 may contact the official and challenge the deter8 mination under the procedures established under 

9 subparagraph (B).’’. 

10 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

11 302(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15482(a)) is amend12 ed in the matter following paragraph (5) by striking 

13 ‘‘The appropriate State or local official’’ and all that 

14 follows through ‘‘paragraph (5)(B).’’. 

15 (b) PROHIBITING INITIATION OF RECOUNT OR CER16 TIFICATION OF RESULTS PRIOR TO REVIEW OF PROVI17 SIONAL BALLOTS CAST; STANDARDS FOR DETERMINA18 TION OF ACCEPTANCE OF PROVISIONAL BALLOTS.—Sec19 tion 302(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15482(a)) is amended 

20 by inserting after paragraph (5) the following new para21 graphs: 

22 ‘‘(6) The chief State election official may not 

23 make any determination regarding the applicability 

24 of any requirement under State law to conduct a re25 count of the results of any election for Federal office 


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1 in the State, or certify the results of any election for 

2 Federal office in the State, until all of the votes cast 

3 by provisional ballot cast in the election which are 

4 to be counted pursuant to this Act have been count5 ed. 

6 ‘‘(7) In making a determination as to whether 

7 a vote cast by an individual by provisional ballot will 

8 be counted in an election, the chief State election of9 ficial shall review not only the official Statewide list 

10 of registered voters but any other information which 

11 was submitted by the individual in the process of ap12 plying to register to vote.’’. 

13 (c) TREATMENT OF REJECTED PROVISIONAL BAL14 LOT AS APPLICATION FOR VOTER REGISTRATION.—Sec15 tion 302(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15482(a)), as amended 

16 by subsection (b), is amended by inserting after paragraph 

17 (7) the following new paragraph: 

18 ‘‘(8) If a provisional ballot cast by an individual 

19 in an election for Federal office is rejected on the 

20 ground that the individual is not registered to vote 

21 in the election, the ballot shall be treated (for pur22 poses of this Act, the National Voter Registration 

23 Act of 1993, and applicable State law) as an appli24 cation by the individual for voter registration in the 

25 appropriate registrar’s jurisdiction with respect to 


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1 the next election for Federal office held in the juris2 diction, under the same terms and conditions appli3 cable to applications for voter registration under this 

4 Act, including section 303(b)(4) (relating to the 

5 treatment of incomplete forms).’’. 

6 SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

7 Section 302(d) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 

8 (42 U.S.C. 15482(d)) is amended to read as follows: 

9 ‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para11 graph (2), each State and jurisdiction shall be re12 quired to comply with the requirements of this sec13 tion on and after January 1, 2004. 

14 ‘‘(2) DELAYED EFFECTIVE DATE FOR CERTAIN

15 PROVISIONS.—To the extent that any provision of 

16 this section was amended by the Provisional Ballot 

17 Fairness in Counting Act of 2009, such provision 

18 shall apply with respect to the regularly scheduled 

19 general election for Federal office held in November 

20 2010 and each succeeding election for Federal of21 fice.’’. 

Æ 


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