I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 4033 
To require the Election Assistance Commission to establish an American 
Democracy Index to measure and improve the quality of voter access 
to polls and voter services in Federal elections. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
NOVEMBER 5, 2009 
Mr. ISRAEL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on House Administration 
A BILL 
To require the Election Assistance Commission to establish 
an American Democracy Index to measure and improve 
the quality of voter access to polls and voter services 
in Federal 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 ‘‘American Democracy 
Index Act of 2009’’. 
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SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INDEX 
AND RELATED ELECTION DATA COLLECTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle C of title II of the Help 
America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15381 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘SEC. 248. ESTABLISHMENT OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 
INDEX AND RELATED ELECTION DATA COL-
LECTION. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission, in consultation 
with the Board and in accordance with this section, 
shall— 
‘‘(1) develop an American Democracy Index for 
the evaluation of elections for Federal office occur-
ring in 2010 and thereafter; 
‘‘(2) establish and operate a data collection sys-
tem in order to collect and measure election data de-
scribed in subsection (c) to be used in preparing the 
American Democracy Index; and 
‘‘(3) make the American Democracy Index with 
respect to each election for Federal office generally 
available to the public, including through the Inter-
net. 
‘‘(b) AMERICAN DEMOCRACY INDEX.—The American 
Democracy Index is an index that is designed to assist 
States in the administration of elections for Federal office 
by presenting the information collected under the system 
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established under subsection (a)(2) on a State-by-State 
basis in a manner designed to demonstrate administration 
practices that— 
‘‘(1) ensure the right of individuals to vote; 
‘‘(2) improve the quality of voter access to polls 
and the quality of voter services; and 
‘‘(3) secure the accuracy and integrity of elec-
tions. 
‘‘(c) COLLECTION OF DATA.— 
‘‘(1) DATA TO BE COLLECTED.—The Commis-
sion shall, in consultation with the Board, determine 
the data that is required to be collected under this 
section in order to analyze the effectiveness of the 
State administration of elections for Federal office, 
including data required for developing or refining 
the American Democracy Index. 
‘‘(2) DATA SUBMISSION.— 
‘‘(A) STATES
REQUIRED
TO
PROVIDE 
DATA.—Each State shall submit to any grantee 
under subsection (e) the information described 
in paragraph (1) in support of the American 
Democracy Index. 
‘‘(B) DATA SUBMISSION REGULATIONS.— 
Within 60 days after the first meeting of the 
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Board under subsection (d)(2)(B)(i), the Com-
mission shall promulgate regulations for— 
‘‘(i) the enforcement of the data sub-
mission mandate under subparagraph (A); 
and 
‘‘(ii) the standardization of election 
data described in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(C) STATISTICAL ANALYSIS.—The Com-
mission may, in coordination with a State, se-
lect precincts within the State on a sample 
basis from which to draw the information de-
scribed in paragraph (1) in order to form sta-
tistical conclusions with respect to election ad-
ministration in that State. In forming such sta-
tistical conclusions, the Office may append the 
information collected from the samples to other 
information provided by the State that was col-
lected with respect to elections for Federal of-
fice in that State. 
‘‘(D) PAYMENTS TO STATES.—In accord-
ance with such regulations as the Commission 
may promulgate, the Commission shall make 
payments to States to assist the States in meet-
ing the data submission requirements of this 
paragraph. 
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