IB 
Union Calendar No. 359 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 281 
[Report No. 110–581] 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters 
to vote by mail in Federal elections. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 5, 2007 
Mrs. DAVIS of California (for herself, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. LARSEN of 
Washington, Mr. SCHIFF, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. HOOLEY, Ms. WOOLSEY, and 
Mr. MCDERMOTT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on House Administration 
APRIL 14, 2008 
Additional sponsors: Mr. FILNER, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. HOLT, Mr. BACA, Ms. 
ESHOO, Ms. KILPATRICK, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. 
CARSON, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, Mr. STARK, Mr. KIND, Mr. WYNN, 
Mr. ANDREWS, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. HARE, 
Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. JACKSON of Illi-
nois, Mr. FARR, Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California, Mr. WU, Mr. 
MCNERNEY, Mr. ABERCROMBIE, Ms. CLARKE, Ms. BERKLEY, Ms. LINDA 
T. SA´NCHEZ of California, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 
CUMMINGS, Mr. BECERRA, Mr. HONDA, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. 
SPACE, Mr. LEVIN, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mr. KAGEN, Mr. LOEBSACK, 
Ms. MATSUI, Mr. WALZ of Minnesota, Mr. HINCHEY, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. 
BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. COSTA, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. 
WILSON of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Ms. SUTTON, Mr. CLAY, Mrs. MALONEY 
of New York, Mr. MCINTYRE, Mr. PRICE of North Carolina, Mr. BER-
MAN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. RUSH, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, 
Mr. ORTIZ, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. MITCHELL, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. 
COURTNEY, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, Mr. BERRY, Mr. MIL-
LER of North Carolina, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BISHOP of New 
York, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. PALLONE, Mr. KILDEE, Mr. 
HINOJOSA, Mr. PETERSON of Minnesota, Mr. BOSWELL, Ms. WATSON, 
Mr. INSLEE, and Mr. CARDOZA 
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APRIL 14, 2008 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed 
[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 
[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on January 5, 2007] 
A BILL 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow 
all eligible voters to vote by mail 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 ‘‘Universal Right to Vote 
by Mail Act of 2008’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) An inequity of voting rights exists in the 
United States because voters in some States have the 
universal right to vote by mail while voters in other 
States do not. 
(2) Many voters often have work, family, or 
other commitments that make getting to polls on the 
date of an election difficult or impossible. 
(3) Allowing voters to vote by mail can lead to 
increased voter participation. 
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(4) Voting by mail is more convenient for many 
voters. 
(5) Voting by mail gives voters more time to con-
sider their choices. 
(6) Studies show that an overwhelming majority 
of voters prefer voting by mail as an alternative to 
going to the polls. 
(7) No evidence exists suggesting the potential for 
fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the poten-
tial for fraud by any other method of voting. 
(8) 28 States currently allow universal absentee 
voting, which permits any voter to request a mail-in 
ballot without providing a reason for the request. 
SEC. 3. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL 
IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the Help 
America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 
amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 
section: 
‘‘SEC. 303A. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 
MAIL. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli-
gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 
State may not impose any additional conditions or require-
ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 
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in such election by mail, except as required under sub-
section (b) and except to the extent that the State imposes 
a deadline for requesting the ballot and related voting mate-
rials from the appropriate State or local election official 
and for returning the ballot to the appropriate State or 
local election official. 
‘‘(b) REQUIRING SIGNATURE VERIFICATION.—A State 
may not accept and process an absentee ballot submitted 
by any individual with respect to an election for Federal 
office unless the State verifies the identification of the indi-
vidual by comparing the individual’s signature on the ab-
sentee ballot with the individual’s signature on the official 
list of registered voters in the State, in accordance with such 
procedures as the State may adopt. 
‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A State shall be required to 
comply with the requirements of this section with respect 
to the regularly scheduled general elections for Federal office 
held in November 2010 and each succeeding election for 
Federal office.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING
TO EN-
FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) 
is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 
303A’’. 
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