IB 
Union Calendar No. 115 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1604 
[Report No. 111–211] 
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 
MARCH 19, 2009 
Mrs. DAVIS of California (for herself, Mr. THOMPSON of California, Mr. 
HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. FARR, Mr. WILSON of Ohio, Ms. NORTON, Mr. 
LOEBSACK, Mr. YARMUTH, Mr. FILNER, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, 
Ms. SUTTON, Ms. WATSON, Mr. WALZ, Mr. HINCHEY, Mrs. CAPPS, Ms. 
PINGREE of Maine, Mr. ISRAEL, Mr. HOLT, Ms. WOOLSEY, Mr. AL 
GREEN
of Texas, Mr. MASSA, Mr. MURPHY
of Connecticut, Mr. 
GRIJALVA, Mr. CARNAHAN, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, Mr. 
MCGOVERN, Mr. STARK, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BRALEY of Iowa, Mr. 
BOUCHER, Mr. BISHOP of New York, Mr. BERRY, and Mr. CARDOZA) in-
troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
House Administration 
JULY 16, 2009 
Additional sponsors: Mrs. MALONEY, Mr. MICHAUD, Mr. WU, Mr. ELLISON, 
Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, Mr. PETERSON, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. ROTHMAN of 
New Jersey, Mr. SESTAK, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. HIGGINS, Mr. ARCURI, 
Mr. CLAY, Mr. COURTNEY, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. HARE, 
Mr. GRAYSON, and Mr. GUTIERREZ 
JULY 16, 2009 
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 March 19, 2009] 
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A BILL 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow 
all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections. 
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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 2009’’. 
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. Under cur-
rent State laws, many of these voters are not per-
mitted to vote by mail. 
(3) 28 States currently allow universal absentee 
voting (also known as ‘‘no-excuse’’ absentee voting), 
which permits any voter to request a mail-in ballot 
without providing a reason for the request, and no 
State which has implemented no-excuse absentee vot-
ing has switched back. 
(4) Voting by mail gives voters more time to con-
sider their choices, which is especially important as 
many ballots contain greater numbers of questions 
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about complex issues than in the past due to the ex-
panded use of the initiative and referendum process 
in many States. 
(5) Allowing all voters the option to vote by mail 
can lead to increased voter participation. 
(6) Allowing all voters the option to vote by mail 
can reduce waiting times for those voters who choose 
to vote at the polls. 
(7) Voting by mail is preferable to many voters 
as an alternative to going to the polls. Voting by mail 
has become increasingly popular with voters who 
want to be certain that they are able to vote no mat-
ter what comes up on Election Day. 
(8) 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. 
(9) Many of the reasons which voters in many 
States are required to provide in order to vote by 
mail require the revelation of personal information 
about health, travel plans, or religious activities, 
which violate voters’ privacy while doing nothing to 
prevent voter fraud. 
(10) State laws which require voters to obtain a 
notary signature to vote by mail only add cost and 
inconvenience to voters without increasing security. 
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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 
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.— 
‘‘(1) RECORD
OF
SIGNATURE
REQUIRED
FOR 
PROVISION OF BALLOT.—A State may not provide an 
absentee ballot to an individual for an election for 
Federal office unless the individual’s signature is in-
cluded on the official list of registered voters in the 
State or some other official record of the State con-
nected to such list. 
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‘‘(2) VERIFICATION REQUIRED FOR ACCEPTANCE 
AND PROCESSING OF SUBMITTED BALLOT.—A State 
may not accept and process an absentee ballot sub-
mitted by any individual for an election for Federal 
office unless the State verifies the identification of the 
individual by comparing the individual’s signature 
on the absentee ballot with the individual’s signature 
on the official list or other official record referred to 
in paragraph (1), in accordance with such procedures 
as the State may adopt. 
‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-
tion shall be construed to affect the authority of States to 
conduct elections for Federal office through the use of polling 
places at which individuals cast ballots on the date of the 
election. 
‘‘(d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A State shall be required to 
comply with the requirements of this section with respect 
to elections for Federal office held in years beginning with 
2012.’’. 
(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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(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents for 
such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 
to section 303 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 303A. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. 
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Union Calendar No. 115 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 1604 
[Report No. 111–211] 
A BILL 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to 
allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal 
elections. 
JULY 16, 2009 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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22:30 Jul 16, 2009
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