I
107TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 1170
To protect voting rights, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 22, 2001
Mr. CONYERS (for himself, Mr. BONIOR, Mr. FROST, Mr. DOOLEY of Cali-
fornia, Ms. WATERS, Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr.
REYES, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. BERMAN, Mr. SCOTT, Mr. WATT of North
Carolina, Ms. LOFGREN, Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas, Mr. WEXLER, Ms.
BALDWIN, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. OWENS, Mr. TOWNS, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia,
Mr. PAYNE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. JEFFERSON, Mrs. CLAYTON, Mr. BISHOP,
Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. HASTINGS of
Florida, Mr. HILLIARD, Ms. MCKINNEY, Mrs. MEEK of Florida, Mr.
RUSH, Mr. WYNN, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. JACKSON of Illi-
nois, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Ms. CARSON
of Indiana, Mrs.
CHRISTENSEN, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. FORD, Ms.
KILPATRICK, Ms. LEE, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Mrs. JONES of Ohio,
Mr. CLAY, Mr. STARK, Mr. LAFALCE, Mr. KLECZKA, Ms. SLAUGHTER,
Ms. PELOSI, Mr. ANDREWS, Ms. DELAURO, Mr. OLVER, Mr. DEUTSCH,
Mr. FILNER, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. BLAGOJEVICH,
Mr. KUCINICH, Mrs. MCCARTHY of New York, Mr. MCGOVERN, Ms.
SANCHEZ, Mr. RODRIGUEZ, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Ms. BERKLEY,
Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. CROWLEY, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. HOEFFEL, Mr. HOLT,
Mr. UDALL of Colorado, Mr. BACA, and Ms. MCCOLLUM) introduced the
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and
in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to
be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider-
ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee
concerned
A BILL
To protect voting rights, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; TABLE OF CONTENTS.
(a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the
‘‘Equal Protection of Voting Rights Act of 2001’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of
this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents.
Sec. 2. Findings.
TITLE I—REQUIREMENTS FOR EQUAL PROTECTION OF VOTING
RIGHTS
Sec. 101. Requirements for equal protection of voting rights.
‘‘SUBPART 4—REQUIREMENTS FOR EQUAL PROTECTION OF VOTING RIGHTS
‘‘CHAPTER A—VOTING RIGHTS IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS
‘‘Sec. 531. Requirements for protection of voting rights.
‘‘Sec. 532. Requiring States to meet requirements.
‘‘Sec. 533. Reimbursement for costs of meeting requirements.
‘‘Sec. 534. Responsibilities of Attorney General.
‘‘Sec. 535. Technical specifications and guidelines.
‘‘CHAPTER B—VOTING RIGHTS IN STATE AND LOCAL ELECTIONS
‘‘Sec. 541. Equal protection of voting rights for State and local elections.
‘‘Sec. 542. Reimbursement for costs of carrying out activities.
‘‘Sec. 543. Responsibilities of Attorney General.
‘‘Sec. 544. Technical specifications and guidelines.
‘‘CHAPTER C—DEFINITIONS
‘‘Sec. 551. Definitions.
TITLE II—EARLY BIRD AND GOOD CITIZEN GRANT PROGRAM
Sec. 201. Early bird and good citizen grant program.
‘‘SUBPART 5—EARLY BIRD AND GOOD CITIZEN GRANT PROGRAM
‘‘Sec. 571. Establishment of Early Bird and Good Citizen grant program.
‘‘Sec. 572. Authorized activities.
‘‘Sec. 573. General policies and criteria for the approval of applications of
States and localities; requirements of State plans.
‘‘Sec. 574. Submission of applications of States and localities.
‘‘Sec. 575. Approval of applications of States and localities.
‘‘Sec. 576. Federal matching funds.
‘‘Sec. 577. Audits and examinations of States and localities.
‘‘Sec. 578. Reports to Congress and the Attorney General.
‘‘Sec. 579. Nondiscrimination.
‘‘Sec. 580. Definitions of State and locality.
‘‘Sec. 581. Authorization of appropriations.
TITLE III—COMMISSION ON VOTING RIGHTS AND PROCEDURES
Sec. 301. Establishment.
Sec. 302. Membership of the Commission.
Sec. 303. Duties of the Commission.
Sec. 304. Powers of the Commission.
Sec. 305. Commission personnel matters.
Sec. 306. Termination of the Commission.
Sec. 307. Authorization of appropriations for the Commission.
TITLE IV—ANTITRUST EXEMPTION
Sec. 401. Antitrust exemption for cooperative activities relating to compliance
of voting systems with requirements.
Sec. 402. Antitrust laws defined.
TITLE V—MISCELLANEOUS
Sec. 501. Relationship to other laws.
Sec. 502. Severability.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The right to vote is a fundamental and in-
controvertible right under the Constitution.
(2) The United States Supreme Court held in
Bush v. Gore that a lack of uniform and nondiscrim-
inatory standards with respect to Presidential elec-
tions violates the Equal Protection Clause of the
14th amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
(3) There is overwhelming evidence that dis-
parate procedures and antiquated machinery are po-
tentially resulting in the disenfranchisement of mil-
lions of voters.
(4) There is overwhelming evidence that dis-
parate procedures and antiquated machinery have a
disproportionate racial impact.
(5) Congress has authority under section 4 of
article I of the Constitution of the United States,
section 5 of the 14th amendment to the Constitution
of the United States, and section 2 of the 15th
amendment to the Constitution of the United States
to enact legislation to address the equal protection
and other constitutional violations that may be
caused by outdated voting systems.
(6) Congress should encourage and enable every
eligible American to vote by reaffirming that the
right to vote is a fundamental right under the Con-
stitution.
(7) Congress should encourage and enable every
eligible American to vote by reaffirming that the
United States is a democratic Government ‘‘of the
people, by the people, and for the people’’ where
every vote counts.
(8) Congress should encourage and enable every
eligible American to vote by eliminating procedural,
physical, and technological obstacles to voting.
the timing of payments, the submission of claims by
States, and the review of such claims by the Attorney Gen-
eral.
‘‘(c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General
such sums as may be necessary for making payments
under this section.
‘‘SEC. 534. RESPONSIBILITIES OF ATTORNEY GENERAL.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall be
responsible for carrying out this chapter, in accordance
with such regulations as the Attorney General may issue.
‘‘(b) ENFORCEMENT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may
bring a civil action in an appropriate district court
for such relief (including declaratory or injunctive
relief) as may be necessary to carry out this chapter.
‘‘(2) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—The rem-
edies established by this subsection are in addition
to all other rights and remedies provided by law.
‘‘(c) ACTION THROUGH ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GEN-
ERAL FOR CIVIL RIGHTS.—The Attorney General shall
issue regulations pursuant to this section, and shall other-
wise carry out this chapter, through the Assistant Attor-
ney General for the Civil Rights Division.