A bill to amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for a national Federal write-in absentee ballot for domestic use.

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1397 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for a national Federal write-in absentee ballot for domestic use. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 9, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. KING, Mr. BROWN, Mr. UDALL, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WYDEN, and Mr. BENNET) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide for a national Federal write-in absentee ballot for domes- tic use. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BALLOT FOR 3 DOMESTIC USE. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer- 6 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081) is amended 7 by adding at the end the following new subtitle: 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:11 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1397 IS ‘‘Subtitle C—Additional 1 Requirements 2 ‘‘SEC. 321. USE OF NATIONAL FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSEN- 3 TEE BALLOT FOR DOMESTIC USE. 4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall permit qualified 5 individuals to use the national Federal write-in absentee 6 ballot prescribed by the Election Assistance Commission 7 under section 298 to cast a vote in any election for Federal 8 office. 9 ‘‘(b) QUALIFIED INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this 10 section: 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 12 graph (2), the term ‘qualified individual’ means any 13 individual who is otherwise qualified to vote in a 14 Federal election in a State and who— 15 ‘‘(A) resides in an area of a State with re- 16 spect to which an emergency has been declared 17 by the Governor of the State (with respect to 18 any portion of the State) due to a natural dis- 19 aster, including severe weather; 20 ‘‘(B) expects to be absent from such indi- 21 vidual’s jurisdiction on the day of the election 22 for Federal office due to professional or volun- 23 teer service in response to a natural disaster or 24 emergency as so declared; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1397 IS ‘‘(C) expects to be hospitalized on the day 1 of the election for Federal office; or 2 ‘‘(D)(i) has requested an absentee ballot 3 from the State or jurisdiction where such indi- 4 vidual is registered to vote; and 5 ‘‘(ii) has not received such absentee ballot 6 before a date on which such individual can re- 7 turn such ballot in time to be counted in the 8 election. 9 ‘‘(2) COORDINATION WITH FEDERAL WRITE-IN 10 BALLOT FOR ABSENT UNIFORMED SERVICES AND 11 OVERSEAS VOTERS.—The term ‘qualified individual’ 12 shall not include an individual who— 13 ‘‘(A) is an absent uniformed services voter 14 (as defined in section 107(1) of the Uniformed 15 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 16 U.S.C. 20310(1))) or an overseas voter (as de- 17 fined in section 107(5) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 18 20310(5))); and 19 ‘‘(B) who is entitled to vote using the Fed- 20 eral write-in absentee ballot developed under 21 section 103 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20303). 22 ‘‘(c) SUBMISSION AND PROCESSING.— 23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as otherwise pro- 24 vided in this section, a national Federal write-in ab- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:20 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1397 IS sentee ballot to which this section applies shall be 1 submitted and processed in the manner provided by 2 law for absentee ballots in the State involved. 3 ‘‘(2) DEADLINE.—An otherwise eligible national 4 Federal write-in absentee ballot to which this section 5 applies shall be counted if postmarked or signed be- 6 fore the close of the polls on election day and re- 7 ceived by the appropriate State election official on or 8 before the day on which final vote totals are required 9 by law to be submitted to the State for an official 10 canvass of the election. 11 ‘‘(d) SPECIAL RULES.—The following rules shall 12 apply with respect to national Federal write-in absentee 13 ballots to which this section applies: 14 ‘‘(1) In completing the ballot, the voter may 15 designate a candidate by writing in the name of the 16 candidate or by writing in the name of a political 17 party (in which case the ballot shall be counted for 18 the candidate of that political party). 19 ‘‘(2) In the case of the offices of President and 20 Vice President, a vote for a named candidate or a 21 vote by writing in the name of a political party shall 22 be counted as a vote for the electors supporting the 23 candidate involved. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1397 IS ‘‘(3) Any abbreviation, misspelling, or other 1 minor variation in the form of the name of a can- 2 didate or a political party shall be disregarded in de- 3 termining the validity of the ballot. 4 ‘‘(e) PROHIBITING REFUSAL TO ACCEPT BALLOT 5 FOR FAILURE TO MEET CERTAIN REQUIREMENTS.—A 6 State shall not refuse to accept and process any otherwise 7 valid Federal write-in absentee ballot submitted in any 8 manner by a qualified individual solely on the basis of the 9 following: 10 ‘‘(1) Notarization requirements. 11 ‘‘(2) Restrictions on paper type, including 12 weight and size. 13 ‘‘(3) Restrictions on envelope type, including 14 weight and size. 15 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re- 16 quired to comply with the requirements of this section on 17 and after January 1, 2020.’’. 18 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 19 (A) Section 401 of the Help America Vote 20 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by 21 striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 22 subtitle C’’. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1397 IS (B) The table of contents for such Act is 1 amended by inserting after the item relating to 2 section 312 the following: 3 ‘‘Subtitle C—Additional Requirements ‘‘Sec. 321. Use of national Federal write-in absentee ballot for domestic use.’’. (b) FORM OF NATIONAL FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSEN- 4 TEE BALLOT.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Help America 6 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20921) is amended by 7 adding at the end the following new subtitle: 8 ‘‘Subtitle E—National Federal 9 Write-In Absentee Ballot for Do- 10 mestic Use 11 ‘‘SEC. 297. NATIONAL FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BAL- 12 LOT FOR DOMESTIC USE. 13 ‘‘(a) FORM OF BALLOT.— 14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall pre- 15 scribe a national Federal write-in absentee ballot 16 (including a secrecy envelope and mailing envelope 17 for such ballot) for use in elections for Federal office 18 by qualified individuals (as defined in section 19 321(b)). 20 ‘‘(2) EMERGENCY DESIGNATION.—The ballot 21 prescribed under paragraph (1) shall contain an af- 22 firmation, signed by the person submitting the bal- 23 lot, that— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1397 IS ‘‘(A) such individual is a qualified indi- 1 vidual (as defined in section 321(b)); 2 ‘‘(B) such individual has not and will not 3 cast another ballot with respect to the election 4 for which the national Federal write-in absentee 5 ballot is cast; and 6 ‘‘(C) acknowledging that a material 7 misstatement of fact in completing the ballot 8 may constitute grounds for conviction of per- 9 jury. 10 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY.—The Commission shall make 11 the Federal write-in absentee ballot available on the Inter- 12 net in a printable format.’’. 13 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 14 (A) Section 202 of the Help America Vote 15 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20922) is amended by 16 redesignating paragraphs (5) and (6) as para- 17 graphs (6) and (7), respectively, and by insert- 18 ing after paragraph (4) the following new para- 19 graph: 20 ‘‘(5) carrying out the duties described in sub- 21 title E;’’. 22 (B) The table of contents for such Act is 23 amended by inserting after the item related to 24 section 296 the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1397 IS ‘‘Subtitle E—National Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot for Domestic Use ‘‘Sec. 297. National Federal write-in absentee ballot for domestic use.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:37 May 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1397.IS S1397 SSpencer on DSKBBXCHB2PROD with BILLS