Count the Vote Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1513 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to enhance enforcement of the Act, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2019 Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas 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 enhance enforcement of the Act, 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 ‘‘Count the Vote Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ENHANCEMENT OF ENFORCEMENT OF HELP AMER- 5 ICA VOTE ACT OF 2002. 6 (a) COMPLAINTS; AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT 7 OF ACTION.—Section 401 of the Help America Vote Act 8 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1513.IH H1513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1513 IH (1) by striking ‘‘The Attorney General’’ and in- 1 serting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General’’; 2 and 3 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 4 sections: 5 ‘‘(b) FILING OF COMPLAINTS BY AGGRIEVED PER- 6 SONS.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A person who is aggrieved 8 by a violation of title III which has occurred, is oc- 9 curring, or is about to occur may file a written, 10 signed, notarized complaint with the Attorney Gen- 11 eral describing the violation and requesting the At- 12 torney General to take appropriate action under this 13 section. The Attorney General shall immediately pro- 14 vide a copy of a complaint filed under the previous 15 sentence to the entity responsible for administering 16 the State-based administrative complaint procedures 17 described in section 402(a) for the State involved. 18 ‘‘(2) RESPONSE BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The 19 Attorney General shall respond to each complaint 20 filed under paragraph (1), in accordance with proce- 21 dures established by the Attorney General that re- 22 quire responses and determinations to be made with- 23 in the same (or shorter) deadlines which apply to a 24 State under the State-based administrative com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1513.IH H1513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1513 IH plaint procedures described in section 402(a)(2). 1 The Attorney General shall immediately provide a 2 copy of the response made under the previous sen- 3 tence to the entity responsible for administering the 4 State-based administrative complaint procedures de- 5 scribed in section 402(a) for the State involved. 6 ‘‘(c) AVAILABILITY OF PRIVATE RIGHT OF AC- 7 TION.—Any person who is authorized to file a complaint 8 under subsection (b)(1) (including any individual who 9 seeks to enforce the individual’s right to a voter-verified 10 paper ballot, the right to have the voter-verified paper bal- 11 lot counted in accordance with this Act, or any other right 12 under title III) may file an action under section 1979 of 13 the Revised Statutes of the United States (42 U.S.C. 14 1983) to enforce the uniform and nondiscriminatory elec- 15 tion technology and administration requirements under 16 subtitle A of title III. 17 ‘‘(d) NO EFFECT ON STATE PROCEDURES.—Nothing 18 in this section may be construed to affect the availability 19 of the State-based administrative complaint procedures re- 20 quired under section 402 to any person filing a complaint 21 under this subsection.’’. 22 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 23 this Act shall apply with respect to violations occurring 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1513.IH H1513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1513 IH with respect to elections for Federal office held in 2020 1 or any succeeding year. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:31 Mar 16, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1513.IH H1513 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS