Dropbox Access Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 776 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide secured drop boxes for voted absentee ballots in an election for Federal office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 3, 2021 Ms. SCANLON (for herself, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, and Ms. ESCOBAR) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide secured drop boxes for voted absentee ballots in an election for Federal office, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Dropbox Access Act’’. 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:39 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H776.IH H776 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 776 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATES TO PROVIDE SECURED DROP 1 BOXES FOR VOTED ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN 2 ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE. 3 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Subtitle A of title III of the 4 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) 5 is amended— 6 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 7 sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 8 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 9 new section: 10 ‘‘SEC. 304. USE OF SECURED DROP BOXES FOR VOTED AB- 11 SENTEE BALLOTS. 12 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING USE OF DROP BOXES.—In each 13 county in the State, each State shall provide in-person, 14 secured, and clearly labeled drop boxes at which individ- 15 uals may, at any time during the period described in sub- 16 section (b), drop off voted absentee ballots in an election 17 for Federal office. 18 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM PERIOD FOR AVAILABILITY OF DROP 19 BOXES.—The period described in this subsection is, with 20 respect to an election, the period which begins 45 days 21 before the date of the election and which ends at the time 22 the polls close for the election in the county involved. 23 ‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:39 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H776.IH H776 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 776 IH ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall ensure 1 that the drop boxes provided under this section are 2 accessible for use— 3 ‘‘(A) by individuals with disabilities, as de- 4 termined in consultation with the protection 5 and advocacy systems (as defined in section 102 6 of the Developmental Disabilities Assistance 7 and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 8 15002)) of the State; and 9 ‘‘(B) by individuals with limited proficiency 10 in the English language. 11 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF ACCESSIBILITY FOR 12 INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES.—For purposes of 13 this subsection, drop boxes shall be considered to be 14 accessible for use by individuals with disabilities if 15 the drop boxes meet such criteria as the Attorney 16 General may establish for such purposes. 17 ‘‘(3) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—If a State pro- 18 vides a drop box under this section on the grounds 19 of or inside a building or facility which serves as a 20 polling place for an election during the period de- 21 scribed in subsection (b), nothing in this subsection 22 may be construed to waive any requirements regard- 23 ing the accessibility of such polling place for the use 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:39 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H776.IH H776 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 776 IH of individuals with disabilities or individuals with 1 limited proficiency in the English language. 2 ‘‘(d) NUMBER OF DROP BOXES.— 3 ‘‘(1) FORMULA FOR DETERMINATION OF NUM- 4 BER.—The number of drop boxes provided under 5 this section in a county with respect to an election 6 shall be determined as follows: 7 ‘‘(A) In the case of a county in which the 8 number of individuals who are residents of the 9 county and who are registered to vote in the 10 election is equal to or greater than 20,000, the 11 number of drop boxes shall be a number equal 12 to or greater than the number of such individ- 13 uals divided by 20,000 (rounded to the nearest 14 whole number). 15 ‘‘(B) In the case of any other county, the 16 number of drop boxes shall be equal to or 17 greater than one. 18 ‘‘(2) TIMING.—For purposes of this subsection, 19 the number of individuals who reside in a county 20 and who are registered to vote in the election shall 21 be determined as of the 90th day before the date of 22 the election. 23 ‘‘(e) LOCATION OF DROP BOXES.—The State shall 24 determine the location of drop boxes provided under this 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:39 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H776.IH H776 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 776 IH section in a county on the basis of criteria which ensure 1 that the drop boxes are— 2 ‘‘(1) available to all voters on a non-discrimina- 3 tory basis; 4 ‘‘(2) accessible to voters with disabilities (in ac- 5 cordance with subsection (c)); 6 ‘‘(3) accessible by public transportation to the 7 greatest extent possible; 8 ‘‘(4) available during all hours of the day; and 9 ‘‘(5) sufficiently available in all communities in 10 the county, including rural communities and on 11 Tribal lands within the county (subject to subsection 12 (f)). 13 ‘‘(f) RULES FOR DROP BOXES ON TRIBAL LANDS.— 14 In making a determination of the number and location of 15 drop boxes provided under this section on Tribal lands in 16 a county, the appropriate State and local election officials 17 shall— 18 ‘‘(1) consult with Tribal leaders prior to making 19 the determination; and 20 ‘‘(2) take into account criteria such as the 21 availability of direct-to-door residential mail delivery, 22 the distance and time necessary to travel to the drop 23 box locations (including in inclement weather), 24 modes of transportation available, conditions of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:39 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H776.IH H776 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 776 IH roads, and the availability (if any) of public trans- 1 portation. 2 ‘‘(g) POSTING OF INFORMATION.—On or adjacent to 3 each drop box provided under this section, the State shall 4 post information on the requirements that voted absentee 5 ballots must meet in order to be counted and tabulated 6 in the election. 7 ‘‘(h) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 8 with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for 9 Federal office held in November 2022 and each succeeding 10 election for Federal office.’’. 11 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 12 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act 13 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ‘‘and 14 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 304’’. 15 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 16 of such Act is amended— 17 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec- 18 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 19 306, respectively; and 20 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 21 tion 303 the following new item: 22 ‘‘Sec. 304. Use of secured drop boxes for voted absentee ballots.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:39 Feb 23, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H776.IH H776 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS