I 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8607 
To protect and promote the ability of members of the Armed Forces and 
citizens to vote by mail, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 16, 2020 
Mr. LARSON of Connecticut (for himself and Mr. COURTNEY) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Re-
form, and in addition to the Committees on House Administration, and 
Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To protect and promote the ability of members of the Armed 
Forces and citizens to vote by mail, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘U.S. Postal Service 
Accountability and Voting Rights Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. POSTAL SERVICE OPERATION AND LEVEL OF SERV-
ICE CHANGES TEMPORARILY PROHIBITED. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—During the period beginning on 
the date of the enactment of this Act and ending on Janu-
ary 31, 2021, the United States Postal Service may not 
implement or approve any change to the operations or the 
level of service provided by the Postal Service from those 
in effect on January 1, 2020, that would reduce service 
performance or impede prompt, reliable, and efficient serv-
ices, including any of the following actions: 
(1) Any change in the nature of postal services 
which will generally affect service on a nationwide or 
substantially nationwide basis. 
(2) Any revision of service standards. 
(3) Any closure or consolidation of any post of-
fice or postal facility, or any reduction of such office 
or facility hours. 
(4) Any prohibition or restriction on the use of 
overtime or overtime pay to Postal Service officers 
or employees. 
(5) Any change that would prevent the Postal 
Service from meeting its service standards or cause 
a decline in measurements of performance relative to 
those service standards. 
(6) Any change that would have the effect of 
delaying deferring, or curtailing mail, allowing for 
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the non-delivery of mail to a delivery route, or in-
creasing the volume of undelivered mail. 
(7) Treating election mail as any class of mail 
other than first-class mail, regardless of whether 
such treatment requires payment of overtime pay to 
officers or employees of the Postal Service. 
(8) Removing, decommissioning, or any other 
stoppage of mail sorting machines, other than for 
routine maintenance. 
(9) Removing or eliminating any mail collection 
box that is available to the public. 
(10) Enacting any rule, policy, or standard the 
purpose or effect of which would delay the delivery 
of mail to or from a government entity. 
(11) Instituting any hiring freeze. 
(b) REVERSAL OF POLICIES HINDERING DELIVERY 
OF MAIL.—Not later than 30 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Postal Service shall reverse any 
initiative or action that was implemented during the pe-
riod beginning on January 1, 2020, and ending on the 
date of the enactment of this Act and is causing delay 
in processing or delivery or non-delivery of the mail. 
(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
(1) ELECTION MAIL.—The term ‘‘election mail’’ 
means mail consisting of— 
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(A) voter registration application forms, 
completed voter registration application forms, 
and voter registration cards or similar mate-
rials; 
(B) absentee and other mail-in ballot appli-
cation forms, blank absentee and other mail-in 
ballots, and completed absentee and other mail- 
in ballots; and 
(C) other materials relating to an election 
which are mailed by a State or local election of-
ficial to individuals who are registered to vote 
in the election. 
(2) GOVERNMENT ENTITY.—The term ‘‘govern-
ment entity’’ means the Federal Government or any 
State (as that term is defined in section 311 of title 
5, United States Code) or local government and any 
subdivision thereof. 
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is 
authorized to be appropriated to the Postal Service Fund 
(established under section 2003 of title 39, United States 
Code) $1,000,000,000 for fiscal years 2020 and 2021 to 
carry out this section. 
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SEC. 3. PROHIBITING CERTAIN OPERATIONAL AND LEVEL 
OF SERVICE CHANGES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—During any calendar year begin-
ning after the date of the enactment of this Act in which 
a Federal election is held, the Postal Service may not im-
plement or approve any change to the operations or the 
level of service provided by the Postal Service from those 
in effect on January 1 of the calendar year, that would 
reduce service performance or impede prompt, reliable, 
and efficient services, including the actions described in 
paragraphs (1) through (11) of section 2(a). 
(b) SERVICE TO MILITARY AND FAMILIES OF MILI-
TARY.—The Postal Service may not implement or approve 
any change that reduces the level of service with respect 
to absent uniformed service voters or overseas voters below 
the level of service in effect on January 1, 2020. 
SEC. 4. TRACKING PROGRAM FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS AND 
VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICATION FORMS; 
AVAILABILITY OF FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSEN-
TEE BALLOT FOR ALL VOTERS. 
(a) REQUIREMENTS.—Title III of the Help America 
Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating section 304 as section 305; 
and 
(2) by inserting after section 303 the following 
new sections: 
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