To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit a State from counting a ballot cast in an election for Federal office which is received by the State after the date of the election.

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8189 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit a State from counting a ballot cast in an election for Federal office which is received by the State after the date of the election. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SEPTEMBER 8, 2020 Mr. GOHMERT 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 a State from counting a ballot cast in an election for Federal office which is received by the State after the date of the election. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. PROHIBITING COUNTING BALLOTS RECEIVED 3 AFTER DATE OF ELECTION. 4 (a) PROHIBITION.—Title III of the Help America 5 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended 6 by inserting after section 303 the following new section: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8189.IH H8189 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8189 IH ‘‘SEC. 303A. PROHIBITING COUNTING OF BALLOTS RE- 1 CEIVED AFTER DATE OF ELECTION. 2 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—A State may not count a ballot 3 cast in an election for Federal office which is received by 4 the State after the date of the election. For purposes of 5 this subsection, a ballot shall be considered to be received 6 by the State after the date of the election if the ballot 7 is not received by the appropriate State or local election 8 official prior to 12:01 a.m. on the day after the date of 9 the election. 10 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION FOR ABSENT UNIFORMED SERV- 11 ICES VOTERS AND OVERSEAS CITIZENS.—Subsection (a) 12 does not apply with respect to any individual who is enti- 13 tled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and 14 Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20301 15 et seq.). 16 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 17 with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for 18 Federal office held in November 2020 and each succeeding 19 election for Federal office.’’. 20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 21 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 22 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 23 303A’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8189.IH H8189 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8189 IH (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 1 of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 2 to section 303 the following new item: 3 ‘‘Sec. 303A. Prohibiting counting of ballots received after date of election.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:10 Sep 09, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8189.IH H8189 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS