I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5645
To establish a Commission for the comprehensive study of voting practices
and procedures in Federal, State, and local elections, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
DECEMBER 7, 2000
Ms. KAPTUR introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the
Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
tion of the committee concerned
A BILL
To establish a Commission for the comprehensive study of
voting practices and procedures in Federal, State, and
local elections, 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 ‘‘Commission on the
Comprehensive Study of Voting Practices and Procedures
Act of 2000’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that—
(1) Americans are increasingly concerned about
current voting practices and procedures;
(2) Americans are increasingly concerned about
the speed and timeliness of vote counts;
(3) Americans are increasingly concerned about
the accuracy of vote counts;
(4) Americans are concerned about conflicts in
procedures used to file and count military ballots
and absentee ballots;
(5) Americans are increasingly concerned about
the security of voting procedures;
(6) the increasing use of technology in the
United States calls for a reassessment of the use of
standardized voting technology to assure accuracy in
the administration of Federal elections and an eval-
uation of the most accurate and ‘‘fail-safe’’ tech-
nologies available;
(7) Americans are concerned that the influence
of early predictions of results by the media on the
day of election may affect turnout in various regions
of the Nation; and
(8) there is a need for Congress to review meth-
ods for standardizing voting practices and proce-
dures in order to ensure the integrity of Federal
elections.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.
There is established the Commission on the Com-
prehensive Study of Voting Practices and Procedures (in
this Act referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’).
SEC. 4. DUTIES OF THE COMMISSION.
(a) STUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Commission shall complete a
thorough study of all issues relating to voting practices
and procedures in Federal, State, and local elections, in-
cluding the following:
(1) Voting practices and procedures in Federal,
State, and local government elections.
(2) Voting practices and procedures that rep-
resent the best practices in Federal, State, and local
government elections.
(3) Legislation and regulatory efforts that af-
fect issues of voting practices and procedures.
(4) The implementation of standardized voting
procedures, including standardized technology, for
Federal, State, and local government elections.
(5) The speed and timeliness of vote counts in
Federal, State and local elections, including an as-
sessment of regional variations which may be af-
fected by early media predictions of election results.
(6) The feasibility and advisability of estab-
lishing a uniform poll closing time applicable in all
States.
(7) The accuracy of vote counts in Federal,
State and local elections.
(8) The security of voting procedures in Fed-
eral, State and local elections.
(b) RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Commission shall de-
velop recommendations on the matters studied under sub-
section (a).
(c) REPORTS.—
(1) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 180 days
after the expiration of the period referred to in sub-
section (a), the Commission shall submit a report,
that has been approved by a majority of the mem-
bers of the Commission, to the President and Con-
gress which shall contain a detailed statement of the
findings and conclusions of the Commission, to-
gether with its recommendations for such legislation
and administrative actions as it considers appro-
priate.
(2) INTERIM REPORTS.—The Commission may
submit to the President and Congress any interim
reports that are approved by a majority of the mem-
bers of the Commission.
(3) ADDITIONAL
REPORTS.—The Commission
may, together with the report submitted under para-
graph (1), submit additional reports that contain
any dissenting or minority opinions of the members
of the Commission.
SEC. 5. MEMBERSHIP.
(a) NUMBER AND APPOINTMENT.—The Commission
shall be composed of 5 members of whom—
(1) 1 shall be appointed by the President;
(2) 1 shall be appointed by the majority leader
of the Senate;
(3) 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader
of the Senate;
(4) 1 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives; and
(5) 1 shall be appointed by the minority leader
of the House of Representatives.
(b) DATE OF APPOINTMENT.—The appointments of
the members of the Commission shall be made not later
than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
(c) TERMS.—Each member of the Commission shall
be appointed for the life of the Commission.
(d) VACANCIES.—A vacancy in the Commission shall
not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the same man-
ner in which the original appointment was made.