I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1482
To establish a grant program administered by the Federal Election Commis-
sion for the purpose of assisting States to upgrade voting systems to
use more advanced and accurate voting devices and to enhance participa-
tion by military personnel in national elections.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
APRIL 4, 2001
Mr. LANGEVIN (for himself, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mr. FRANK, Mr. MCGOVERN,
Mr. BALDACCI, Mr. HONDA, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, and Mrs. MEEK of
Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on
Veterans’ Affairs, 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 establish a grant program administered by the Federal
Election Commission for the purpose of assisting States
to upgrade voting systems to use more advanced and
accurate voting devices and to enhance participation by
military personnel in national elections.
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 ‘‘Make Every Vote
Count Act’’.
SEC. 2. VOTING MODERNIZATION PROGRAM.
(a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Federal Election
Commission (referred to in this Act as the ‘‘Commission’’)
is authorized to award matching grants to encourage
States and local voting areas to modernize applicable vot-
ing systems used for voting and to enhance voter partici-
pation.
(b) USE OF FUNDS.—
(1) STATE.—Amounts received under this sec-
tion by a State shall be—
(A) disbursed to eligible local voting areas
in accordance with subsection (d) to replace ap-
plicable voting systems used in elections for
Federal office in eligible local voting areas with
advanced voting systems, such as electronic vot-
ing systems; and
(B) from any amounts not disbursed under
subparagraph (A) or amounts received from eli-
gible local voting areas under paragraph (2),
used—
(i) to enhance voter participation
through activities such as improving reg-
istration of voters, expanding training of
election officials, and upgrading other vot-
ing equipment; and
(ii) to reimburse any costs incurred by
the State as a result of the amendments
made under section 3.
(2) ELIGIBLE LOCAL VOTING AREA.—Amounts
received under this section by an eligible local voting
area shall be—
(A) used to replace applicable voting sys-
tems used in elections for Federal office in the
voting area with an advanced voting system (as
determined under paragraph (3)(B)), such as
electronic voting systems;
(B) in an amount not in excess of 33 per-
cent of the amount received, used—
(i) to train election officials and edu-
cate voters in the use of advanced voting
systems implemented under subparagraph
(A); and
(ii) to reimburse any costs incurred by
the voting area as a result of the amend-
ments made under section 3;
(C) to the extent that all applicable voting
systems in the voting area are replaced under
subparagraph (A), for purposes described in
subparagraph (B); and
(D) to the extent any amount is not need-
ed for a use under this paragraph, transferred
to the State for use under paragraph (1)(B).
(3) REPLACEMENT OF SYSTEMS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Applicable voting sys-
tems replaced under paragraph (1) shall only be
replaced with an advanced voting system, as de-
termined under subparagraph (B), that signifi-
cantly lowers error rates in voting procedures
with the intent of eventually replacing all appli-
cable voting systems in the State with a single
advanced voting system.
(B) DETERMINATION OF SYSTEM TO BE
USED.—Not later than 60 days after receiving
a grant under this section, the chief election of-
ficial of the State shall determine the single ad-
vanced voting system to be used to replace the
applicable voting systems in the State under
this subsection.
(c) REQUIREMENT OF MATCHING FUNDS.—A State
that receives a grant under this section shall agree to ex-
pend State or local funds in an amount equal to 20 per-
cent of the amount of the grant for any purpose for which
the grant was awarded.
(d) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission
shall make grants to eligible States in accordance
with this subsection.
(2) AMOUNT
OF
GRANT
AWARDS.—For pur-
poses of making grants under this subsection, the
Commission shall allocate to each eligible State an
amount that bears the same ratio to the total
amount allocated under this section as—
(A) the number of applicable voting sys-
tems in use in the eligible State; bears to
(B) the total number of such systems in
use in all eligible States receiving grants under
this section.
(3) STATES.—
(A) REQUIREMENTS.—Not later than 90
days after a grant is received under this sub-
section, the State election official shall—
(i) notify local election officials of the
grant availability and the requirements of
the grant; and
(ii) expeditiously disburse such pro-
ceeds to eligible local voting areas for use
under this section.
(B) FORMULA.—The State election official
shall disburse to each eligible local voting area
an amount that bears the same ratio to the
total amount the State receives under this sec-
tion as—
(i) the total number of applicable vot-
ing systems in use in the eligible local vot-
ing area; bears to
(ii) the total number of such systems
in use in all local voting areas in the State.
(4) DETERMINATION OF NUMBER OF APPLICA-
BLE VOTING SYSTEMS.—
(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in
subparagraph (B), the number of applicable
voting systems in a State or local voting area
shall be determined in such manner as the
Commission determines reasonable.
(B) PAPER BALLOT.—In the case of an ap-
plicable voting system that is a paper ballot, the
number shall be an amount equal to the num-
ber of registered voters in the State or local
voting area using the paper ballot, as applica-
ble, divided by 200.
(e) OPT-OUT PROVISION.—An eligible State may opt
to not receive any amount under this section if, not later
than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the
State notifies the Commission that the State does not
want to receive a grant under this section.
(f) REPORTS TO COMMISSION.—Each State which re-
ceives a grant under this section shall submit a report to
the Commission not later than 60 days after the end of
the 1-year period which begins on the date the State re-
ceives the grant. The report shall contain a description
of the activities carried out by the State and local voting
areas within the State with the funds provided under the
grant, including a description of the amount expended by
the State to meet the matching requirement under sub-
section (c).
(g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section:
(1) ADVANCED
VOTING
SYSTEM.—The term
‘‘advanced voting system’’ means a system that—
(A) does not allow for overvotes;
(B) significantly reduces undervotes from
voter error (such as by indicating any office on
the ballot for which the voter has not cast a
vote);
(C) provides a record of a ballot cast;
(D) significantly reduces recount error in
comparison to the system being replaced; and
(E) ensures accessibility to voters with dis-
abilities and provides such voters with the op-
portunity for casting a secure, secret, and inde-
pendent ballot.
(2) APPLICABLE
VOTING
SYSTEM.—The term
‘‘applicable voting system’’ means—
(A) a lever machine;
(B) a punchcard system; or
(C) a paper ballot.
(3) ELIGIBLE LOCAL VOTING AREA.—The term
‘‘eligible local voting area’’ means a local voting area
that—
(A) uses an applicable voting system; and
(B) not later than 30 days after the date
the area receives notification of grant avail-
ability under subsection (d)(3)(A), notifies the
State election official of the acceptance of the
grant.
(4) ELIGIBLE
STATE.—The term ‘‘eligible
State’’ means a State that has a local voting area
that uses an applicable voting system.
(5) LEVER
MACHINE.—The term ‘‘lever ma-
chine’’ means a voting device that employs a lever to
cast a vote for a candidate from a list of candidates
posted on a ballot and records the vote by advancing
a counting mechanism.
(6) LOCAL VOTING AREA.—The term ‘‘local vot-
ing area’’ means the unit of local government in a
State for which a local agency is responsible for ad-
ministering elections and the purchase and mainte-
nance of voting equipment, such as a county.
(7) PAPER BALLOT.—The term ‘‘paper ballot’’
means a method of voting that employs a paper
ballot—
(A) that is counted by hand;
(B) containing all choices for the offices in
the election;
(C) on which the voter casts a vote by
marking the ballot; and
(D) the results of which are confidential.
(8) PUNCHCARD SYSTEM.—The term ‘‘punch-
card system’’ means a voting device, such as the
Votomatic machine, that employs a stylus which
punches through the ballot to record a vote.
(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There is
authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2002
$1,000,000,000 to carry out the provisions of this section.
SEC. 3. MILITARY VOTING PROVISIONS.
(a) GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY.—Article VII of the
Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Civil Relief Act of 1940 (50 U.S.C.
590 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the fol-
lowing:
‘‘SEC. 704. (a) For purposes of voting for an office
of the United States or of a State, a person who is absent
from a State in compliance with military or naval orders
shall not, solely by reason of that absence—
‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or
domicile in that State;
‘‘(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or
domicile in any other State; or
‘‘(3) be deemed to have become resident in or
a resident of any other State.
‘‘(b) In this section, the term ‘State’ includes a terri-
tory or possession of the United States, a political subdivi-
sion of a State, territory, or possession, and the District
of Columbia.’’.
(b) STATE RESPONSIBILITY TO GUARANTEE MILI-
TARY VOTING RIGHTS.—
(1) REGISTRATION
AND
BALLOTING.—Section
102 of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absen-
tee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–1) is amended—
(A) by inserting ‘‘(a) ELECTIONS
FOR
FEDERAL
OFFICES.—’’ before ‘‘Each State
shall—’’; and
(B) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(b) ELECTIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL OFFICES.—
Each State shall—
‘‘(1) permit absent uniformed services voters to
use absentee registration procedures and to vote by
absentee ballot in general, special, primary, and run-
off elections for State and local offices; and
‘‘(2) accept and process, with respect to any
election described in paragraph (1), any otherwise
valid voter registration application from an absent
uniformed services voter if the application is received
by the appropriate State election official not less
than 30 days before the election.’’.
(2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The heading
for title I of such Act is amended by striking ‘‘FOR
FEDERAL OFFICE’’.
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