I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3274 
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to provide members 
of the Armed Forces and their family members equal access to voter 
registration assistance, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 21, 2009 
Mr. HUNTER (for himself, Mr. MCCARTHY of California, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. 
FLEMING, Mr. ROONEY, and Mr. FRANKS of Arizona) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administra-
tion, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period 
to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 
concerned 
A BILL 
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 
provide members of the Armed Forces and their family 
members equal access to voter registration assistance, 
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 ‘‘Military Voters’ Equal 
Access to Voter Registration Act of 2009’’. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
03:38 Jul 22, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3274.IH
H3274
smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) Members of the Armed Forces and their 
family members (in this section referred to as ‘‘mili-
tary voters’’) who have sought to vote in recent elec-
tions for Federal office have had substantial dif-
ficulty doing so, frequently resulting in the dis-
enfranchisement of such military voters. 
(2) Due to the highly transient nature of mili-
tary service and frequent overseas deployments, mili-
tary voters are constantly on the move between mili-
tary installations in the United States and to and 
from overseas locations. As a result, military voters 
are typically absent from their home voting jurisdic-
tions on election day and, if military voters wish to 
exercise their right to vote, they must do so by ab-
sentee ballot. 
(3) In 1986, Congress enacted the Uniformed 
and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 
U.S.C. 1973ff et seq.) in an attempt to permit mili-
tary voters to register to vote and vote by absentee 
ballot in all elections for Federal office. Neverthe-
less, the absentee voting system, as created under 
such Act, has consistently failed to ensure that mili-
tary voters actually receive their unmarked absentee 
ballots prior to election day. Military voters continue 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
03:38 Jul 22, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3274.IH
H3274
smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
to experience substantial difficulty in registering to 
vote, updating their voting addresses, and obtaining 
absentee ballots prior to election day. 
(4) In 1993, Congress enacted the National 
Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg 
et seq.) to create a national voter registration sys-
tem, as well as to provide citizens with increased op-
portunities to register to vote and receive voting as-
sistance. Such Act, however, failed to ensure that 
military voters have the same access to voter reg-
istration assistance as the civilian population, be-
cause their military service typically takes them out 
of their home voting jurisdictions, where they would 
otherwise be able to receive such assistance, as re-
quired under such Act. 
(5) The Inspector General of the Department of 
Defense has found that military voters do not re-
ceive adequate information and assistance to register 
to vote and request an absentee ballot. In a survey 
following the 2004 election, the Inspector General 
found that only 40 to 50 percent of members of the 
Armed Forces, and a lesser percentage of their de-
pendents, received voting information or assistance 
prior to the election. The Inspector General reached 
a similar conclusion after the 2006 election, finding 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
03:38 Jul 22, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3274.IH
H3274
smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
that less than 40 percent of military voters received 
voting information and assistance. 
(6) Millions of military voters have been 
disenfranchised as a result of the current system’s 
inability to provide them with voting information 
and assistance. A Department of Defense study con-
ducted by the Defense Manpower Data Center found 
that, in the 2006 election for Federal office, only 22 
percent of military voters were able to successfully 
vote, by either casting an absentee ballot or voting 
in person, which represents approximately one-half 
of the percentage of the overall national population 
that voted in such election. A separate study by the 
Election Assistance Commission found that, in such 
election, only a small fraction of military voters were 
able to request an absentee ballot. The Election As-
sistance Commission study further showed that, even 
when military voters were able to request a ballot, 
a significant percentage of the ballots requested 
never reached the military voters who requested 
them, having been sent to outdated addresses from 
which the military voters had since moved. 
(7) Preliminary data from the 2008 Presi-
dential election shows little or no improvement. Ac-
cording to statistics collected from 5 of the 6 States 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
03:38 Jul 22, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3274.IH
H3274
smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS
with the largest number of military voters, only 21.9 
percent of all eligible military voters in those States 
were able to request absentee ballots. Once again, 
many ballots were sent to outdated addresses and 
did not reach the intended military voters. 
(8) The ability of military voters to participate 
in the democratic process would be significantly im-
proved through more robust efforts by the Armed 
Forces to provide such voters with pertinent voting 
information and effective assistance when they need 
it most; namely, when their address changes as a re-
sult of reassignment to a new duty station or over-
seas deployment. The Armed Forces, in so doing, 
would dramatically increase the ability of military 
voters to request and obtain absentee ballots, and 
would also help ensure that local election officials 
have the most current address of military voters in 
order to send absentee ballots to such voters. 
SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF ACTIVE DUTY MILITARY INSTALLA-
TIONS. 
Section 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 
1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (d) as sub-
section (e); and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
03:38 Jul 22, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H3274.IH
H3274
smartinez on DSKB9S0YB1PROD with BILLS