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 ‘‘Help Our Service 
Members and Citizens Abroad Vote Act’’. 
SEC. 2. 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 
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General and the Commission and shall require the 
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 
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each regularly scheduled general election for Federal 
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. 3. 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 
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such Act (52 U.S.C. 20302), as amended by subsection 
(a), is amended by inserting after subsection (f) the fol-
lowing new subsection: 
‘‘(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-
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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 
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. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 
The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 
respect to elections occurring on or after January 1, 2018. 
Æ 
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