131 
(1) by redesignating sections 306 and 307 as 
sections 308 and 309; and 
(2) by inserting after section 305 the following 
new sections: 
‘‘SEC. 306. EARLY VOTING. 
‘‘(a) REQUIRING VOTING PRIOR TO DATE OF ELEC-
TION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall allow indi-
viduals to vote in an election for Federal office dur-
ing an early voting period which occurs prior to the 
date of the election, in the same manner as voting 
is allowed on such date. 
‘‘(2) LENGTH
OF
PERIOD.—The early voting 
period required under this subsection with respect to 
an election shall consist of a period of consecutive 
days (including weekends) which begins on the 15th 
day before the date of the election (or, at the option 
of the State, on a day prior to the 15th day before 
the date of the election) and ends on the date of the 
election. 
‘‘(b) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING REQUIREMENTS.— 
Each polling place which allows voting during an early vot-
ing period under subsection (a) shall— 
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132 
‘‘(1) allow such voting for no less than 4 hours 
on each day, except that the polling place may allow 
such voting for fewer than 4 hours on Sundays; and 
‘‘(2) have uniform hours each day for which 
such voting occurs. 
‘‘(c) LOCATION OF POLLING PLACES NEAR PUBLIC 
TRANSPORTATION.—To the greatest extent practicable, a 
State shall ensure that each polling place which allows vot-
ing during an early voting period under subsection (a) is 
located within walking distance of a stop on a public trans-
portation route. 
‘‘(d) STANDARDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall issue 
standards for the administration of voting prior to 
the day scheduled for a Federal election. Such 
standards shall include the nondiscriminatory geo-
graphic placement of polling places at which such 
voting occurs. 
‘‘(2) DEVIATION.—The standards described in 
paragraph (1) shall permit States, upon providing 
adequate public notice, to deviate from any require-
ment in the case of unforeseen circumstances such 
as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or a change 
in voter turnout. 
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133 
‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 
with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 2016. 
‘‘SEC. 307. 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 ma-
terials 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 sub-
mitted by any individual with respect to 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 of registered voters in the State, in accord-
ance with such procedures as the State may adopt. 
‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 
with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 
2016.’’. 
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134 
(b) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT
RELATING
TO 
ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS-
SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (52 
U.S.C. 21101(b)), as amended by section 201(b), is 
amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 
(3); 
(2) by striking the period at the end of para-
graph (4) and inserting a semicolon; and 
(3) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraphs: 
‘‘(5) in the case of the recommendations with 
respect to section 306, June 30, 2015; and 
‘‘(6) in the case of the recommendations with 
respect to section 307, June 30, 2015.’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
of such Act is amended— 
(1) by redesignating the items relating to sec-
tions 306 and 307 as relating to sections 308 and 
309; and 
(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-
tion 305 the following new items: 
‘‘Sec. 306. Early voting. 
‘‘Sec. 307. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. 
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135 
TITLE IX—ABSENT UNIFORMED 
SERVICES 
VOTERS 
AND 
OVERSEAS VOTERS 
SEC. 901. EXTENDING GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY FOR 
VOTING PURPOSES TO FAMILY MEMBERS OF 
ABSENT MILITARY PERSONNEL. 
Section 705 of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act 
(50 U.S.C. App. 595) is amended— 
(1) in the heading, by striking ‘‘SPOUSES’’ and 
inserting ‘‘FAMILY MEMBERS’’; and 
(2) by amending subsection (b) to read as fol-
lows: 
‘‘(b) FAMILY MEMBERS.—For the purposes of voting 
for in any election for any Federal office (as defined in 
section 301 of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 
(52 U.S.C. 30101)) or any State or local office, a spouse, 
domestic partner, or dependent of a person who is absent 
from a State in compliance with military or naval orders 
shall not, solely by reason of that person’s absence and 
without regard to whether or not such family member is 
accompanying that person— 
‘‘(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or 
domicile in that State, without regard to whether or 
not the person intends to return to that State; 
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136 
‘‘(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or 
domicile in any other State; or 
‘‘(3) be deemed to have become a resident in or 
a resident of any other State.’’. 
SEC. 902. PRE-ELECTION REPORTS ON AVAILABILITY AND 
TRANSMISSION OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 
Section 102(c) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citi-
zens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20302(c)) is amend-
ed to read as follows: 
‘‘(c) REPORTS
ON AVAILABILITY, TRANSMISSION, 
AND RECEIPT OF ABSENTEE BALLOTS.— 
‘‘(1) PRE-ELECTION
REPORT
ON
ABSENTEE 
BALLOT AVAILABILITY.—Not later than 55 days be-
fore any regularly scheduled general election for 
Federal office, each State shall submit a report to 
the Attorney General, the Election Assistance Com-
mission (hereafter in this subsection referred to as 
the ‘Commission’), and the Presidential Designee, 
and make that report publicly available that same 
day, certifying that absentee ballots for the election 
are or will be available for transmission to absent 
uniformed services voters and overseas voters by not 
later than 45 days before the election. The report 
shall be in a form prescribed jointly by the Attorney 
General and the Commission and shall require the 
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137 
State to certify specific information about ballot 
availability from each unit of local government which 
will administer the election. 
‘‘(2) PRE-ELECTION
REPORT
ON
ABSENTEE 
BALLOT TRANSMISSION.—Not later than 43 days be-
fore any regularly scheduled general election for 
Federal office, each State shall submit a report to 
the Attorney General, the Commission, and the 
Presidential Designee, and make that report publicly 
available that same day, certifying whether all ab-
sentee ballots have been transmitted by not later 
than 45 days before the election to all qualified ab-
sent uniformed services and overseas voters whose 
requests were received at least 45 days before the 
election. The report shall be in a form prescribed 
jointly by the Attorney General and the Commission, 
and shall require the State to certify specific infor-
mation about ballot transmission, including the total 
numbers of ballot requests received and ballots 
transmitted, from each unit of local government 
which will administer the election. 
‘‘(3) POST-ELECTION REPORT ON NUMBER OF 
ABSENTEE
BALLOTS
TRANSMITTED
AND
RE-
CEIVED.—Not later than 90 days after the date of 
each regularly scheduled general election for Federal 
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138 
office, each State and unit of local government 
which administered the election shall (through the 
State, in the case of a unit of local government) sub-
mit a report to the Attorney General, the Commis-
sion, and the Presidential Designee on the combined 
number of absentee ballots transmitted to absent 
uniformed services voters and overseas voters for the 
election and the combined number of such ballots 
which were returned by such voters and cast in the 
election, and shall make such report available to the 
general public that same day.’’. 
SEC. 903. ENFORCEMENT. 
(a) AVAILABILITY OF CIVIL PENALTIES AND PRI-
VATE RIGHTS OF ACTION.—Section 105 of the Uniformed 
and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 
20307) is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 105. ENFORCEMENT. 
‘‘(a) ACTION BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may 
bring civil action in an appropriate district court for 
such declaratory or injunctive relief as may be nec-
essary to carry out this title. 
‘‘(2) PENALTY.—In a civil action brought under 
paragraph (1), if the court finds that the State vio-
lated any provision of this title, it may, to vindicate 
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139 
the public interest, assess a civil penalty against the 
State— 
‘‘(A) in an amount not to exceed $110,000 
for each such violation, in the case of a first 
violation; or 
‘‘(B) in an amount not to exceed $220,000 
for each such violation, for any subsequent vio-
lation. 
‘‘(3) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 
December 31 of each year, the Attorney General 
shall submit to Congress an annual report on any 
civil action brought under paragraph (1) during the 
preceding year. 
‘‘(b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.—A person who is 
aggrieved by a State’s violation of this title may bring a 
civil action in an appropriate district court for such declar-
atory or injunctive relief as may be necessary to carry out 
this title. 
‘‘(c) STATE AS ONLY NECESSARY DEFENDANT.—In 
any action brought under this section, the only necessary 
party defendant is the State, and it shall not be a defense 
to any such action that a local election official or a unit 
of local government is not named as a defendant, notwith-
standing that a State has exercised the authority described 
in section 576 of the Military and Overseas Voter Em-
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140 
powerment Act to delegate to another jurisdiction in the 
State any duty or responsibility which is the subject of 
an action brought under this section.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply with respect to violations alleged 
to have occurred on or after the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
SEC. 904. REVISIONS TO 45-DAY ABSENTEE BALLOT TRANS-
MISSION RULE. 
(a) REPEAL OF WAIVER AUTHORITY.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 102 of the Uni-
formed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 
(52 U.S.C. 20302) is amended by striking sub-
section (g). 
(2) 
CONFORMING
AMENDMENT.—Section 
102(a)(8)(A) 
of 
such 
Act 
(52 
U.S.C. 
20302(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘except as 
provided in subsection (g),’’. 
(b) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN CASE 
OF FAILURE TO MEET REQUIREMENT.—Section 102 of 
such Act (52 U.S.C. 20302), as amended by subsection 
(a), is amended by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
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141 
‘‘(g) REQUIRING USE OF EXPRESS DELIVERY IN 
CASE
OF FAILURE TO TRANSMIT BALLOTS WITHIN 
DEADLINES.— 
‘‘(1) TRANSMISSION OF BALLOT BY EXPRESS 
DELIVERY.—If a State fails to meet the requirement 
of subsection (a)(8)(A) to transmit a validly re-
quested absentee ballot to an absent uniformed serv-
ices voter or overseas voter not later than 45 days 
before the election (in the case in which the request 
is received at least 45 days before the election)— 
‘‘(A) the State shall transmit the ballot to 
the voter by express delivery; or 
‘‘(B) in the case of a voter who has des-
ignated that absentee ballots be transmitted 
electronically in accordance with subsection 
(f)(1), the State shall transmit the ballot to the 
voter electronically. 
‘‘(2) SPECIAL RULE FOR TRANSMISSION FEWER 
THAN 40 DAYS BEFORE THE ELECTION.—If, in car-
rying out paragraph (1), a State transmits an ab-
sentee ballot to an absent uniformed services voter 
or overseas voter fewer than 40 days before the elec-
tion, the State shall enable the ballot to be returned 
by the voter by express delivery, except that in the 
case of an absentee ballot of an absent uniformed 
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services voter for a regularly scheduled general elec-
tion for Federal office, the State may satisfy the re-
quirement of this paragraph by notifying the voter 
of the procedures for the collection and delivery of 
such ballots under section 103A.’’. 
(c) CLARIFICATION
OF
TREATMENT
OF
WEEK-
ENDS.—Section 102(a)(8)(A) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 
20302(a)(8)(A)) is amended by striking ‘‘the election;’’ 
and inserting the following: ‘‘the election (or, if the 45th 
day preceding the election is a weekend or legal public hol-
iday, not later than the most recent weekday which pre-
cedes such 45th day and which is not a legal public holi-
day, but only if the request is received by at least such 
most recent weekday);’’. 
SEC. 905. USE OF SINGLE ABSENTEE BALLOT APPLICATION 
FOR SUBSEQUENT ELECTIONS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 104 of the Uniformed and 
Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20306) 
is amended to read as follows: 
‘‘SEC. 104. USE OF SINGLE APPLICATION FOR SUBSEQUENT 
ELECTIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If a State accepts and processes 
an official post card form (prescribed under section 101) 
submitted by an absent uniformed services voter or over-
seas voter for simultaneous voter registration and absen-
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143 
tee ballot application (in accordance with section 
102(a)(4)) and the voter requests that the application be 
considered an application for an absentee ballot for each 
subsequent election for Federal office held in the State 
through the next regularly scheduled general election for 
Federal office (including any runoff elections which may 
occur as a result of the outcome of such general election), 
the State shall provide an absentee ballot to the voter for 
each such subsequent election. 
‘‘(b) EXCEPTION FOR VOTERS CHANGING REGISTRA-
TION.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to a 
voter registered to vote in a State for any election held 
after the voter notifies the State that the voter no longer 
wishes to be registered to vote in the State or after the 
State determines that the voter has registered to vote in 
another State or is otherwise no longer eligible to vote in 
the State. 
‘‘(c) PROHIBITION OF REFUSAL OF APPLICATION ON 
GROUNDS
OF EARLY SUBMISSION.—A State may not 
refuse to accept or to process, with respect to any election 
for Federal office, any otherwise valid voter registration 
application or absentee ballot application (including the 
postcard form prescribed under section 101) submitted by 
an absent uniformed services voter or overseas voter on 
the grounds that the voter submitted the application be-
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144 
fore the first date on which the State otherwise accepts 
or processes such applications for that election which are 
submitted by absentee voters who are not members of the 
uniformed services or overseas citizens.’’. 
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 
subsection (a) shall apply with respect to voter registration 
and absentee ballot applications which are submitted to 
a State or local election official on or after the date of 
the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 906. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by this title shall apply with 
respect to elections occurring on or after January 1, 2016. 
TITLE X—POLL WORKER 
RECRUITMENT AND TRAINING 
SEC. 1001. LEAVE TO SERVE AS A POLL WORKER FOR FED-
ERAL EMPLOYEES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Subchapter II of chapter 63 of 
title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 
end the following: 
‘‘§ 6329. Absence in connection with serving as a poll 
worker 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—An employee in or under an Ex-
ecutive agency is entitled to leave, without loss of or reduc-
tion in pay, leave to which otherwise entitled, credit for 
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time or service, or performance or efficiency rating, not 
to exceed 6 days in a leave year, in order— 
‘‘(1) to provide election administration assist-
ance to a State or unit of local government at a poll-
ing place on the date of any election for public of-
fice; or 
‘‘(2) to receive any training without which such 
employee would be ineligible to provide such assist-
ance. 
‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—The Director of the Office of 
Personnel Management may prescribe regulations for the 
administration of this section, including regulations set-
ting forth the terms and conditions of the election admin-
istration assistance an employee may provide for purposes 
of subsection (a).’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for chapter 63 of title 5, United States Code, is amended 
by inserting after the item relating to section 6328 the 
following: 
‘‘6329. Absence in connection with serving as a poll worker.’’. 
SEC. 1002. GRANTS TO STATES FOR POLL WORKER RE-
CRUITMENT AND TRAINING. 
(a) GRANTS
BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS-
SION.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 
Commission (hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Commis-
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sion’’) shall make a grant to each eligible State for 
recruiting and training individuals to serve as non-
partisan poll workers on dates of elections for public 
office. 
(2) USE OF COMMISSION MATERIALS.—In car-
rying out activities with a grant provided under this 
section, the recipient of the grant shall use the man-
ual prepared by the Commission on successful prac-
tices for poll worker recruiting, training and reten-
tion as an interactive training tool, and shall develop 
training programs with the participation and input 
of experts in adult learning. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR ELIGIBILITY.— 
(1) APPLICATION.—Each State that desires to 
receive a payment under this section shall submit an 
application for the payment to the Commission at 
such time and in such manner and containing such 
information as the Commission shall require. 
(2) CONTENTS OF APPLICATION.—Each appli-
cation submitted under paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) describe the activities for which assist-
ance under this section is sought; 
(B) provide assurances that the funds pro-
vided under this section will be used to supple-
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147 
ment and not supplant other funds used to 
carry out the activities; 
(C) provide assurances that the State will 
furnish the Commission with information on the 
number of individuals who served as non-
partisan poll workers after recruitment and 
training with the funds provided under this sec-
tion; and 
(D) provide such additional information 
and certifications as the Commission deter-
mines to be essential to ensure compliance with 
the requirements of this section. 
(c) AMOUNT OF GRANT.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The amount of a grant 
made to a State under this section shall be equal to 
the product of— 
(A) the aggregate amount made available 
for grants to States under this section; and 
(B) the voting age population percentage 
for the State. 
(2) VOTING AGE POPULATION PERCENTAGE DE-
FINED.—In paragraph (1), the ‘‘voting age popu-
lation percentage’’ for a State is the quotient of— 
(A) the voting age population of the State 
(as determined on the basis of the most recent 
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