Count Every Vote Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8492 To amend title 3, United States Code, to extend the date provided for the meeting of electors of the President and Vice President in the States and the date provided for the joint session of Congress held for the counting of electoral votes, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 1, 2020 Mr. PRICE of North Carolina introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend title 3, United States Code, to extend the date provided for the meeting of electors of the President and Vice President in the States and the date provided for the joint session of Congress held for the counting of electoral votes, 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 Every Vote Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8492.IH H8492 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8492 IH SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF DATES PROVIDED FOR MEETING OF 1 ELECTORS AND JOINT SESSION OF CON- 2 GRESS FOR COUNTING ELECTORAL VOTES. 3 (a) MEETING OF ELECTORS IN STATES.—Section 7 4 of title 3, United States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘the 5 first Monday after the second Wednesday in December 6 next following their appointment’’ and inserting the fol- 7 lowing: ‘‘the first day (or, if such day is a Sunday, the 8 second day) occurring after the January 1 that next fol- 9 lows their appointment’’. 10 (b) ENSURING TIMELY DELIVERY OF CERTIFICATES 11 AND VOTES BY STATES.— 12 (1) CERTIFICATE OF APPOINTED ELECTORS.— 13 Section 6 of such title is amended by striking ‘‘com- 14 municate by registered mail under the seal of the 15 State to the Archivist of the United States’’ and in- 16 serting the following: ‘‘communicate to the Archivist 17 of the United States, by the most expeditious meth- 18 od available (including overnight delivery or a secure 19 form of electronic transmission) to ensure receipt 20 not later than the second day that follows the date 21 described in section 7,’’. 22 (2) DISPOSITION OF CERTIFICATES BY ELEC- 23 TORS.—Section 11 of such title is amended— 24 (A) by striking ‘‘by registered mail’’ each 25 place it appears; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8492.IH H8492 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8492 IH (B) by striking ‘‘The electors shall dis- 1 pose’’ and inserting ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The 2 electors shall dispose’’; and 3 (C) by adding at the end the following new 4 subsection: 5 ‘‘(b) METHOD OF DELIVERY AND TRANSMISSION.— 6 The electors shall carry out the delivery and transmission 7 requirements of this section by the most expeditious meth- 8 od available (including overnight delivery or a secure form 9 of electronic transmission) to ensure receipt of the certifi- 10 cates and lists by the President of the Senate and the Ar- 11 chivist of the United States not later than the second day 12 that follows the date described in section 7.’’. 13 (3) FINAL DEADLINE FOR DELIVERY.—Section 14 12 of such title is amended— 15 (A) by striking ‘‘the fourth Wednesday in 16 December’’ and inserting ‘‘the second day that 17 follows the date described in section 7’’; and 18 (B) by striking ‘‘transmit same by reg- 19 istered mail to the President of the Senate at 20 the seat of government’’ and inserting the fol- 21 lowing: ‘‘transmit such certificate and list to the 22 President of the Senate at the seat of govern- 23 ment by such method as may be necessary (in- 24 cluding overnight delivery or a secure form of 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8492.IH H8492 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8492 IH electronic transmission) to ensure that such cer- 1 tificate and list is received by the President of 2 the Senate or the Archivist of the United States 3 not later than the second day that follows the 4 date described in section 7’’. 5 (4) DEMAND ON DISTRICT COURT JUDGE.— 6 Section 13 of such title is amended— 7 (A) by striking ‘‘the fourth Wednesday in 8 December’’ and inserting ‘‘the second day that 9 follows the date described in section 7’’; 10 (B) by striking ‘‘send a special messenger 11 to’’ and inserting ‘‘immediately notify’’; and 12 (C) by striking ‘‘shall forthwith transmit 13 that list by the hand of the messenger to the 14 seat of government’’ and inserting ‘‘shall take 15 such action as may be necessary (including 16 overnight delivery or a secure form of electronic 17 transmission) to ensure that such certificate 18 and list is received by the President of the Sen- 19 ate not later than 24 hours after receipt of the 20 Archivist’s notice’’. 21 (c) JOINT SESSION FOR COUNTING ELECTORAL 22 VOTES.—The first sentence of section 15 of such title is 23 amended by striking ‘‘the sixth day of January succeeding 24 every meeting of the electors’’ and inserting the following: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8492.IH H8492 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8492 IH ‘‘the second day (or, if such day is a Sunday, the third 1 day) that follows the deadline for the receipt of certificates 2 and votes by the President of the Senate or the Archivist 3 of the United States under section 12’’. 4 SEC. 3. EXTENSION OF SAFE HARBOR PERIOD FOR RESO- 5 LUTION OF CONTROVERSY OR CONTEST RE- 6 GARDING APPOINTMENT OF ELECTORS. 7 Section 5 of title 3, United States Code, is amended 8 by striking ‘‘six days’’ each place it appears and inserting 9 ‘‘3 days’’. 10 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 11 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 12 respect to the Presidential election held in November 2020 13 and each succeeding Presidential election. 14 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:17 Oct 29, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8492.IH H8492 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS