Ballot Fairness Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1681 To require States to impose the same ballot access rules on all candidates in a general congressional election held in the State without regard to whether or not the candidates are nominees of a political party, and to require States to use a ballot for a general congressional election that requires a specific vote for a candidate for the office involved. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 12, 2019 Mr. AMASH introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To require States to impose the same ballot access rules on all candidates in a general congressional election held in the State without regard to whether or not the can- didates are nominees of a political party, and to require States to use a ballot for a general congressional election that requires a specific vote for a candidate for the office involved. 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 ‘‘Ballot Fairness Act’’. 4 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1681.IH H1681 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1681 IH SEC. 2. BALLOT FAIRNESS REQUIREMENTS FOR GENERAL 1 CONGRESSIONAL ELECTIONS. 2 (a) REQUIRING EQUIVALENT BALLOT ACCESS 3 RULES FOR ALL CANDIDATES IN GENERAL ELECTION.— 4 A State shall impose the same requirements for appearing 5 on the ballot in a general congressional election held in 6 the State on all candidates in the election, without regard 7 to whether or not a candidate is the nominee of a political 8 party. 9 (b) REQUIRING USE OF BALLOTS THAT REQUIRE 10 SPECIFIC VOTES FOR CANDIDATE.—For the election of 11 a candidate in a general congressional election held in a 12 State, the State shall use a ballot that requires a specific 13 vote for that candidate for the office involved and that 14 does not permit the casting of a single vote for all can- 15 didates of the same political party for multiple elections. 16 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the following defini- 17 tions apply: 18 (1) The term ‘‘general congressional election’’ 19 means a general election for the office of Senator or 20 Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commis- 21 sioner to, the Congress. 22 (2) The term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 23 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 24 of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1681.IH H1681 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1681 IH States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 1 Northern Mariana Islands. 2 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply with 3 respect to the regularly scheduled general congressional 4 election held in November 2020 and each succeeding gen- 5 eral congressional election. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:47 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1681.IH H1681 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS