I 
113TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1280 
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to increase the 
penalties imposed for intimidating, threatening, or coercing any person 
from engaging in voter registration activities or for procuring, submitting, 
or casting false voter registration applications or ballots, to require 
election officials to transmit voter registration cards and absentee ballots 
to voters in elections for Federal office through the use of the automated 
tagging and tracing services provided by the United States Postal Serv-
ice, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 20, 2013 
Mr. OLSON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on House Administration 
A BILL 
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 
increase the penalties imposed for intimidating, threat-
ening, or coercing any person from engaging in voter 
registration activities or for procuring, submitting, or 
casting false voter registration applications or ballots, 
to require election officials to transmit voter registration 
cards and absentee ballots to voters in elections for Fed-
eral office through the use of the automated tagging 
and tracing services provided by the United States Postal 
Service, and for other purposes. 
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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 ‘‘Voter Fraud Preven-
tion Act’’. 
SEC. 2. INCREASE IN PENALTIES FOR CRIMINAL ACTIVI-
TIES INVOLVING VOTER REGISTRATION AND 
VOTING. 
(a) INCREASE IN LENGTH OF TERM OF IMPRISON-
MENT.—Section 12 of the National Voter Registration Act 
of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–10) is amended in the matter 
following paragraph (2) by striking ‘‘5 years’’ and insert-
ing ‘‘10 years’’. 
(b) PROHIBITION FROM VOTING IN SUBSEQUENT 
ELECTIONS.—Section 12 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1973gg– 
10) is amended in the matter following paragraph (2) by 
striking the period at the end and inserting the following: 
‘‘and, in the case of an individual, shall not be permitted 
to cast a ballot in any subsequent election for Federal of-
fice.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply with respect to violations occurring 
on or after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 3. REQUIRING USE OF AUTOMATED TAGGING AND 
TRACING SERVICES FOR VOTER REGISTRA-
TION CARDS AND ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 
(a) VOTER REGISTRATION CARDS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(a) of the National 
Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg– 
6(a)) is amended— 
(A) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of para-
graph (5); 
(B) by striking the period at the end of 
paragraph (6) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 
(C) by adding at the end the following new 
paragraph: 
‘‘(7) in transmitting voter registration cards to 
individuals who are registered to vote— 
‘‘(A) ensure that any tray or sack con-
taining such cards is tagged with Tag 191 or 
some other similar tagging device used by the 
United States Postal Service to provide greater 
visibility to containers of such cards, and 
‘‘(B) use IMb Tracing or other similar 
tracking methods made available by the United 
States Postal Service to provide real-time track-
ing information for such cards.’’. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 
by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to elec-
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tions for Federal office held on or after January 1, 
2014. 
(b) ABSENTEE BALLOTS.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer-
ica Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is 
amended— 
(A) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 
as sections 305 and 306; and 
(B) by inserting after section 303 the fol-
lowing new section: 
‘‘SEC. 304. USE OF AUTOMATED TAGGING AND TRACING 
SERVICES FOR ABSENTEE BALLOTS. 
‘‘(a) REQUIRING USE OF AUTOMATED TAGGING AND 
TRACING.—In transmitting blank absentee ballots to indi-
viduals who are eligible to vote by absentee ballot in an 
election for Federal office, the appropriate State election 
official shall— 
‘‘(1) ensure that any tray or sack containing 
such ballots is tagged with Tag 191 or some other 
similar tagging device used by the United States 
Postal Service to provide greater visibility to con-
tainers of such ballots; and 
‘‘(2) use IMb Tracing or other similar tracking 
methods made available by the United States Postal 
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