I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1941
To enforce the guarantees of the first, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments 
to the Constitution of the United States by prohibiting certain devices 
used to deny the right to participate in certain elections. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 1, 2003
Mr. PAUL introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on House Administration 
A BILL 
To enforce the guarantees of the first, fourteenth, and fif-
teenth amendments to the Constitution of the United 
States by prohibiting certain devices used to deny the 
right to participate in certain 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 ‘‘Voter Freedom Act 
of 2003’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress makes the following 
findings:
(1) The rights of eligible citizens to seek elec-
tion to Congress, vote for candidates of their choice 
and associate for the purpose of taking part in elec-
tions, including the right to create and develop new 
political parties, are fundamental to a democracy. 
The rights of citizens to participate in the election 
process for members of Congress are set forth in ar-
ticle I. The United States Supreme Court has held 
that the states are powerless to discriminate against 
a class of candidates for Congress. Cook v. Gralike, 
ll US ll (decision of February 28, 2001). The 
United States Supreme Court has also held that all 
voters must be treated equally. Bush v. Gore, ll 
US ll (decision of December 12, 2000). 
(2) The voters of the various states sometimes 
elect candidates to Congress who are neither nomi-
nees, nor members, of the two major political par-
ties. According to the Clerk of the U.S. House of 
Representatives, voters have on at least 125 occa-
sions elected someone to the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives who was neither a Republican nor a 
Democrat. According to a recent compilation, 
throughout the twentieth century, the percentage of 
voters who have voted for minor party and inde-
pendent candidates for the U.S. House of Represent-
atives has averaged 3.7 percent. On November 7, 
2000, it was 4.2 percent. Clearly, a substantial num-
ber of voters desire to vote for candidates for the 
U.S. House of Representatives who are minor party 
nominees and/or independent candidates. Such vot-
ers have existed in fairly substantial numbers in 
every decade of the twentieth century, and may be 
expected to exist in the twenty-first century. 
(3) Some states have enacted election laws 
which require minor party nominees, or independent 
candidates, for the U.S. House of Representatives, 
to submit petitions signed by more than 10,000 reg-
istered voters within a district. For example, Georgia 
requires such candidates to not only pay a filing fee, 
but to submit a petition signed by 5 percent of the 
number of registered voters in the district. The sig-
natures must be notarized. By contrast, members of 
political parties which have polled 20 percent for 
President of the United States throughout the entire 
nation, or which have polled 20 percent for Governor 
of Georgia, need not submit any petition signatures. 
No candidate for U.S. House of Representatives 
from Georgia has managed to comply with the 5 
percent petition requirement since 1964. North 
Carolina requires an independent candidate for the
U.S. House of Representatives to submit a petition 
signed by 4 percent of the number of registered vot-
ers in the district. By contrast, members of qualified 
political parties need not submit any petitions in 
North Carolina to run for Congress. No independent 
candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives has 
ever qualified for the North Carolina ballot. South 
Carolina requires an independent candidate for the 
U.S. House of Representatives to submit a petition 
signed by 10,000 signatures. By contrast, members 
of qualified political parties need not submit any pe-
tition signatures in order to run for Congress. No 
independent candidate for the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives has ever qualified for the South Caro-
lina ballot. California requires an independent can-
didate for the U.S. House of Representatives to sub-
mit a petition signed by 3 percent of the number of 
registered voters in the district. By contrast, mem-
bers of qualified political parties only need to submit 
40 signatures in order to run for U.S. House of 
Representatives. 
(4) Throughout all U.S. history, there are only 
four individuals who have ever successfully overcome 
a signature requirement greater than 10,000 signa-
tures in order to gain a place on a ballot for U.S.
House of Representatives. They are Frazier Reems, 
an independent member of the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives from Ohio who had to collect 12,920 
valid signatures in the 9th district in 1954 in order 
to run for re-election; Jack Gargan, the Reform 
Party nominee for Florida’s 5th district in 1998, 
who had to collect 12,141 valid signatures; Steven 
Wheeler, an independent candidate in California’s 
22nd district in 1996, who had to collect 10,191 
valid signatures; and Steve Kelly, independent can-
didate for Montana’s At-Large seat in 1994, who 
had to collect 10,186 valid signatures. 
(5) Other states do not require independent 
candidates, or the candidates of unqualified parties, 
to submit large numbers of signatures in order to 
run for the U.S. House of Representatives, and yet 
they do not suffer from a crowded ballot. Florida no 
longer requires any signatures on a petition for any-
one to run for Congress, yet in 2000 there was no 
U.S. House race in Florida with more than 4 can-
didates on the ballot. Florida requires a filing fee in-
stead of a petition for ballot access for everyone. Ha-
waii and Tennessee only require 25 signatures for 
anyone to run for Congress. Washington does not re-
quire any signatures for members of qualified par-
ties to run for public office, and only requires 25 
signatures from other individuals to run for the 
United States House of Representatives. New Jersey 
only requires 100 signatures for any individual to 
run for United States House of Representatives as 
an independent, or 200 signatures to run in a party 
primary. It is clear from the experience of such 
states that no state needs to require as many as 
10,000 or 15,000 signatures for candidates to run 
for the House in order to keep the ballot 
uncluttered. 
(6) Some states have enacted laws which re-
quire new political parties, or independent can-
didates, to file a substantial number of petitions as 
much as ten months or more before a general elec-
tion. Illinois requires independent candidates for 
Congress to file a petition in December of the year 
before the general election. Such petitions must be 
signed by 5 percent of the last vote cast for the seat 
they are seeking. Although members of qualified 
parties must also submit petitions by the same early 
date, members of qualified parties only need one-
tenth as many signatures. For mid-term election 
years, Ohio requires new political parties to submit 
a petition equal to 1 percent of the last vote cast,
by January. In presidential election years, Ohio re-
quires such a petition by November of the year be-
fore the election. California requires a new political 
party to have registered members equal to 1 percent 
of the last vote cast by October of the year before 
an election. Mississippi requires independent can-
didates for Congress to file a petition by January of 
an election year. 
(7) Some states print partisan ballot labels on 
the general election ballot for some candidates for 
Congress, yet refuse to print such labels for other 
candidates for Congress. Virginia prints party labels 
on the ballot if the candidate is the nominee of a 
party which polled 10 percent of the statewide vote 
at a previous election. Other candidates must be 
labelled ‘‘independent’’, whether they are the nomi-
nees of a minor or new party or whether they really 
are independents. Louisiana prints party labels for 
candidates who are members of a party that has reg-
istration membership of 5 percent, or which polled 
5 percent for president at the last election. Other 
candidates may not have any partisan label printed 
on the ballot next to their names, not even the term 
‘‘independent’’.
(8) The establishment of fair and uniform na-
tional standards for access to the ballot in elections 
for the U.S. House of Representatives would remove 
barriers to the participation of citizens in the elec-
toral process and thereby facilitate such participa-
tion and maximize the rights identified in this sub-
section. 
(9) The Congress has authority, under the pro-
visions of the Constitution of the United States in 
sections 4 and 8 of article I, to protect and promote 
the exercise of the rights identified in this sub-
section. 
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to establish fair and uniform standards reg-
ulating access to the ballot by eligible citizens who 
desire to seek election to the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives and political parties, bodies and groups 
which desire to take part in elections to the U.S. 
House of Representatives; and 
(2) to maximize the participation of eligible citi-
zens in elections for Federal office. 
SEC. 3. BALLOT ACCESS RIGHTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—An individual shall have the right 
to be placed as a candidate on, and to have such individ-
ual’s political party, body, or group affiliation in connec-
tion with such candidacy placed on, a ballot or similar vot-
ing materials to be used in a Congressional election, if—
(1) such individual presents a petition stating 
in substance that its signers desire such individual’s 
name and political party, body or group affiliation, 
if any, to be placed on the ballot or other similar 
voting materials to be used in the election with re-
spect to which such rights are to be exercised; 
(2) such petition has at least 1,000 signatures 
of persons who are registered to vote in the district, 
or, if the State in which the district is located does 
not provide for voter registration, such petition must 
bear the signatures of at least 1,000 persons who 
are eligible to vote in that State and that district; 
(3) with respect to an election the date of which 
was fixed 345 or more days in advance, such peti-
tion was circulated during a period beginning on the 
345th day and ending on the 75th day before the 
date of the election; and 
(4) with respect to an election the date of which 
was fixed less than 345 days in advance, such peti-
tion was circulated during a period established by 
the State holding the election, or, if no such period 
was established, during a period beginning on the 
day after the date the election was scheduled and
ending on the thirtieth day before the date of the 
election. 
(b) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Subsection (a) shall not 
apply with respect to any State that provides by law for 
greater ballot access rights than the ballot access rights 
provided for under such subsection. 
SEC. 4. RULEMAKING. 
The Attorney General shall make rules to carry out 
this Act. 
SEC. 5. GENERAL DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Congressional election’’ means a 
general or special election for the office of Rep-
resentative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis-
sioner to, the Congress; 
(2) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State of the 
United States, the District of Columbia, the Com-
monwealth of Puerto Rico, and any other territory 
or possession of the United States; 
(3) the term ‘‘individual’’ means an individual 
who has the qualifications required by law of a per-
son who holds the office for which such individual 
seeks to be a candidate; 
(4) the term ‘‘petition’’ includes a petition 
which conforms to section 3(a)(1) and upon which
signers’ addresses and/or printed names are required 
to be placed; 
(5) the term ‘‘signer’’ means a person whose 
signature appears on a petition and who can be 
identified as a person qualified to vote for an indi-
vidual for whom the petition is circulated, and in-
cludes a person who requests another to sign a peti-
tion on his or her behalf at the time when, and at 
the place where, the request is made; 
(6) the term ‘‘signature’’ includes the incom-
plete name of a signer, the name of a signer con-
taining abbreviations such as first or middle initial, 
and the name of a signer preceded or followed by ti-
tles such as ‘‘Mr.’’, ‘‘Ms.’’, ‘‘Dr.’’, ‘‘Jr.’’, or ‘‘III’’; 
and 
(7) the term ‘‘address’’ means the address 
which a signer uses for purposes of registration and 
voting.
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