Dropbox Access Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8754 To require States to provide a minimum number of in-person, secured drop boxes in each county in the State at which individuals may drop off voted absentee ballots in elections for Federal office, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 16, 2020 Ms. SCANLON (for herself, Ms. ESCOBAR, and Ms. GARCIA of Texas) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To require States to provide a minimum number of in- person, secured drop boxes in each county in the State at which individuals may drop off voted absentee ballots in elections for Federal office, 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 ‘‘Dropbox Access Act 4 of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:33 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8754.IH H8754 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8754 IH SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATES TO PROVIDE SECURED DROP 1 BOXES FOR VOTED ABSENTEE BALLOTS IN 2 ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE. 3 (a) REQUIREMENT.—The Help America Vote Act of 4 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.) is amended— 5 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 6 sections 305 and 306; and 7 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 8 new section: 9 ‘‘SEC. 304. USE OF SECURED DROP BOXES FOR VOTED AB- 10 SENTEE BALLOTS. 11 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING USE OF DROP BOXES.—In each 12 county in the State, each State shall provide in-person, 13 secured drop boxes at which individuals may, at any time 14 during the period described in subsection (b), drop off 15 voted absentee ballots in an election for Federal office. 16 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM PERIOD FOR AVAILABILITY OF DROP 17 BOXES.—The period described in this subsection is, with 18 respect to an election, the period which begins 45 days 19 before the date of the election and which ends at the time 20 the polls close for the election in the county involved. 21 ‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS- 22 ABILITIES.—Each State shall ensure that the drop boxes 23 provided under this section are accessible for use by indi- 24 viduals with disabilities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:33 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8754.IH H8754 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8754 IH ‘‘(d) DETERMINATION OF NUMBER AND LOCATION 1 OF DROP BOXES.—In determining the number and loca- 2 tion of drop boxes provided under this section, the State 3 shall meet the following requirements: 4 ‘‘(1) The number of drop boxes provided by a 5 State in a county shall be a number equal to or 6 greater than the voting age population of the county 7 divided by 15,000 (rounded to the nearest whole 8 number). 9 ‘‘(2) The number and location of drop boxes 10 within particular areas of the county shall be deter- 11 mined by applying such factors as will provide the 12 maximum accessibility to the drop boxes for the 13 greatest number of voters in the county, without re- 14 gard to race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sex- 15 ual orientation, gender identity, age, or disability 16 status. 17 ‘‘(3) The drop boxes shall be placed at locations 18 which are convenient for use by individuals who use 19 public transportation. 20 ‘‘(4) The State shall ensure that drop boxes 21 provided in a county are located in urban, suburban, 22 and rural communities (if any) within the county 23 and on Tribal lands (if any) within the county, 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:33 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8754.IH H8754 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8754 IH based on the density of the population in such com- 1 munities.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 3 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 4 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 5 304’’. 6 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 7 of such Act is amended— 8 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec- 9 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 10 306; and 11 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 12 tion 303 the following new item: 13 ‘‘Sec. 304. Use of secured drop boxes for voted absentee ballots.’’. (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 14 this section shall apply with respect to elections held dur- 15 ing 2021 or any succeeding year. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:33 Nov 26, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8754.IH H8754 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS