Verifiable, Orderly, and Timely Election Results Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4707 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to provide Federal standards for mail-in ballots and reporting of election results with respect to elec- tions for Federal office. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES SEPTEMBER 24, 2020 Mr. SCOTT of Florida 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 Federal standards for mail-in ballots and reporting of election results with respect to elections for Federal of- fice. 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 ‘‘Verifiable, Orderly, 4 and Timely Election Results Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR MAIL-IN BALLOTS. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 7 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.) is amended— 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4707 IS (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 1 sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 2 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 3 new section: 4 ‘‘SEC. 304. FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR MAIL-IN BALLOTS. 5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—When otherwise permitted by 6 State law, any vote-by-mail system used in an election for 7 Federal office must be designed and implemented to en- 8 sure a secure, uniform, and timely system to cast a mail- 9 in ballot in accordance with this section. 10 ‘‘(b) REQUESTS.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Requests for a mail-in bal- 12 lot under such system may be submitted electroni- 13 cally or by postal mail using a standardized form ap- 14 proved for such requests by the chief State election 15 official. 16 ‘‘(2) REQUEST.—The form for such requests 17 must enable an election official who receives the re- 18 quest to confirm— 19 ‘‘(A) the identity of the individual submit- 20 ting the request; 21 ‘‘(B) that the individual is validly reg- 22 istered to vote in the jurisdiction where the re- 23 quest is submitted; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4707 IS ‘‘(C) that the individual continues to reside 1 at the physical address where the individual is 2 registered to vote (if different than the mailing 3 address where the ballot is requested to be 4 sent). 5 ‘‘(3) DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION.—Such re- 6 quest must be submitted by an individual and re- 7 ceived by the office of the State or local election su- 8 pervisor not later than 21 days before the date of 9 the election for Federal office. 10 ‘‘(4) MAILING OF BALLOTS.—Upon receipt of 11 such a request, the State or local election supervisor 12 shall fulfill the request by mailing a mail-in ballot to 13 the individual within 3 days. 14 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATE OR LOCAL ELEC- 15 TION OFFICIALS.—The office of the State or local election 16 supervisor shall— 17 ‘‘(1) record the total number of mail-in ballots 18 sent to voters pursuant to this section; and 19 ‘‘(2) include a notation on the voter rolls main- 20 tained by the office and provided to the individual 21 polling locations, which identifies that a voter has 22 received a mail-in ballot and the date that mail-in 23 ballot was sent to the voter. 24 ‘‘(d) BALLOT REQUIREMENTS.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4707 IS ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—To be considered validly 1 cast and eligible to be counted in an election for 2 Federal office, a mail-in ballot must— 3 ‘‘(A) be marked using blue or black ink, 4 and properly designate the individual’s vote for 5 each candidate; 6 ‘‘(B) be signed by the individual using the 7 same signature the individual used to register 8 to vote; 9 ‘‘(C) be dated; 10 ‘‘(D) be received by the appropriate elec- 11 tion official no later than the time polls close on 12 the date of the election; 13 ‘‘(E) include an attestation, signed by the 14 individual, that the individual submitting the 15 mail-in ballot is— 16 ‘‘(i) the individual to whom the ballot 17 was mailed; 18 ‘‘(ii) registered to vote in the jurisdic- 19 tion where the ballot is being submitted; 20 and 21 ‘‘(iii) submitting the mail-in ballot in 22 lieu of casting a ballot in-person, and will 23 not attempt to cast a ballot in-person after 24 submitting the mail-in ballot. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4707 IS ‘‘(2) RETURN OF BALLOTS IN-PERSON.—An in- 1 dividual may choose to return a mail-in ballot in-per- 2 son to the polling place where the individual is reg- 3 istered to vote in lieu of returning the ballot by mail. 4 ‘‘(e) OPTION TO VOTE IN-PERSON.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—An individual who receives 6 a mail-in ballot with respect to an election for Fed- 7 eral office may instead vote in-person in such elec- 8 tion if the individual turns in the blank or incom- 9 plete mail-in ballot received by the individual to the 10 polling location where the individual plans to vote in- 11 person. 12 ‘‘(2) PROVISIONAL BALLOT.—If the individual 13 attempts to vote in-person but does not bring their 14 blank or incomplete mail-in ballot to the polling loca- 15 tion, the individual shall be directed to complete a 16 provisional ballot. 17 ‘‘(f) PERSONS PERMITTED TO POSSESS MAIL-IN 18 BALLOTS.— 19 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—It shall be unlawful for any 20 person to possess or return a mail-in ballot com- 21 pleted by another person, except as provided in this 22 subsection. 23 ‘‘(2) IMMEDIATE FAMILY MEMBER.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4707 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A person may possess 1 or return a mail-in ballot completed by an im- 2 mediate family member, provided that the per- 3 son does not possess more than two such com- 4 pleted mail-in ballots other than his or her own. 5 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF IMMEDIATE FAMILY 6 MEMBER.—In this paragraph, the term ‘imme- 7 diate family member’ means the spouse, child, 8 parent, grandparent, or sibling of the person. 9 ‘‘(3) CAREGIVER.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A caregiver may pos- 11 sess or return a mail-in ballot completed by a 12 person under the supervision or care of the 13 caregiver, provided that the caregiver does not 14 possess more than two such completed mail-in 15 ballots other than his or her own. 16 ‘‘(B) DEFINITION OF CAREGIVER.—In this 17 paragraph, the term ‘caregiver’ means an indi- 18 vidual who has the responsibility for the care of 19 an older individual, either voluntarily, by con- 20 tract, by receipt of payment for care, or as a re- 21 sult of the operation of law and means an indi- 22 vidual who provides (on behalf of such indi- 23 vidual or of a public or private agency, organi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4707 IS zation, or institution) compensated or uncom- 1 pensated care to an older individual. 2 ‘‘(4) INCIDENTAL POSSESSION EXCEPTED.— 3 The prohibition under paragraph (1) shall not apply 4 to the incidental possession of mail-in ballots by a 5 postal worker or election official acting within the 6 scope of his or her official capacity. 7 ‘‘(5) PENALTY.—Any person who violates this 8 subsection shall be fined under title 18, United 9 States Code, or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or 10 both. 11 ‘‘(g) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 12 with respect to elections for Federal office held after the 13 date of the enactment of this section.’’. 14 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 15 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 16 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 17 304’’. 18 SEC. 3. FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR REPORTING ELECTION 19 RESULTS. 20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 21 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.), as amended 22 by section 2(a), is amended— 23 (1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as 24 sections 306 and 307, respectively; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4707 IS (2) by inserting after section 304 the following 1 new section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 305. FEDERAL STANDARDS FOR REPORTING ELEC- 3 TION RESULTS. 4 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The chief State election official 5 shall ensure that ballots validly cast in an election for Fed- 6 eral office are able to be counted and reported in a timely 7 manner as follows: 8 ‘‘(1) Mail-in ballots received prior to the date of 9 the election shall be counted beginning at the time 10 polls open on the date of the election. 11 ‘‘(2) One hour after polls close on the date of 12 the election, each voting precinct shall report to the 13 chief State election official the following: 14 ‘‘(A) The total number of mail-in ballots 15 received by the voting precinct. 16 ‘‘(B) The total number of ballots cast in- 17 person in the voting precinct. 18 ‘‘(C) Of the ballots reported under sub- 19 paragraphs (A) and (B), the number of such 20 ballots that have been counted and the number 21 of such ballots that remain to be counted. 22 ‘‘(3) All ballots validly cast in an election for 23 Federal office shall be counted and reported within 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4707 IS 24 hours after the conclusion of voting on the date 1 of the election. 2 ‘‘(b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 3 with respect to elections for Federal office held after the 4 date of the enactment of this section.’’. 5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 6 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 7 21111), as amended by section 2(b), is amended by strik- 8 ing ‘‘and 304’’ and inserting ‘‘304, and 305’’. 9 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:03 Oct 15, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4707.IS S4707 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS