I 
110TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7147 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit State election 
officials from accepting a challenge to an individual’s eligibility to register 
to vote in an election for Federal office or to vote in an election for 
Federal office in a jurisdiction on the grounds that the individual resides 
in a household in the jurisdiction which is subject to foreclosure pro-
ceedings or that the jurisdiction was adversely affected by a hurricane 
or other major disaster, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 26, 2008 
Mr. JACKSON of Illinois (for himself, Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania, Mr. SCOTT 
of Virginia, Mr. WATT, Mr. CONYERS, Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California, 
Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. GONZALEZ, Mr. DAVIS of Alabama, Mrs. DAVIS of 
California, Ms. LEE, and Mr. NADLER) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 
A BILL 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit 
State election officials from accepting a challenge to an 
individual’s eligibility to register to vote in an election 
for Federal office or to vote in an election for Federal 
office in a jurisdiction on the grounds that the individual 
resides in a household in the jurisdiction which is subject 
to foreclosure proceedings or that the jurisdiction was 
adversely affected by a hurricane or other major disaster, 
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. PROHIBITING ACCEPTANCE OF CHALLENGES 
TO ELIGIBILITY TO REGISTER OR VOTE IN 
FEDERAL ELECTIONS NOT BASED ON GOOD 
CAUSE OR BASED ON RESIDENCE IN PROP-
ERTY 
SUBJECT 
TO 
FORECLOSURE 
PRO-
CEEDINGS OR IN AREA DAMAGED BY HURRI-
CANE OR OTHER MAJOR DISASTER. 
(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. PROHIBITING ACCEPTANCE OF CHALLENGES 
TO ELIGIBILITY TO REGISTER OR ELIGI-
BILITY TO VOTE IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS NOT 
BASED ON GOOD CAUSE. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A State or local election official 
may not accept a challenge to an individual’s eligibility 
to register to vote in an election for Federal office in a 
jurisdiction or to vote in an election for Federal office in 
a jurisdiction which is not based on good cause. 
‘‘(b) CHALLENGES BASED ON CERTAIN GROUNDS 
NOT CONSIDERED GOOD CAUSE.—For purposes of sub-
section (a), a challenge to an individual’s eligibility to reg-
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ister to vote in an election for Federal office in a jurisdic-
tion or to vote in an election for Federal office in a juris-
diction is not based on good cause if the challenge is based 
on any of the following grounds: 
‘‘(1) The individual resides in a household in 
the jurisdiction which is subject to foreclosure pro-
ceedings. 
‘‘(2) The jurisdiction is included in a geo-
graphic area which was adversely affected by a hur-
ricane or other major disaster declared by the Presi-
dent under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 
U.S.C. 5170). 
‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 
with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for 
Federal office held in November 2008 and each subse-
quent election for Federal office.’’. 
(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’’. 
(c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 
of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended by in-
serting after the item relating to section 303 the following 
new item: 
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‘‘Sec. 303A. Prohibiting acceptance of challenges to eligibility to register or eli-
gibility to vote in Federal elections not based on good cause.’’. 
Æ 
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