[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 278 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 278

To guarantee the right of all active duty military personnel, merchant 
  mariners, and their dependents to vote in Federal, State, and local 
                               elections.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 5, 1997

     Mr. Gramm (for himself, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Sessions, and Mr. 
  Coverdell) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To guarantee the right of all active duty military personnel, merchant 
  mariners, and their dependents to vote in Federal, State, and local 
                               elections.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Military Voting Rights Act of 
1997''.

SEC. 2. GUARANTEE OF RESIDENCY.

    Article VII of the Soldiers' and Sailors' Civil Relief Act of 1940 
(50 U.S.C. 700 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``Sec. 704. (a) For purposes of voting for an office of the United 
States or of a State, a person who is absent from a State in compliance 
with military or naval orders shall not, solely by reason of that 
absence--
            ``(1) be deemed to have lost a residence or domicile in 
        that State;
            ``(2) be deemed to have acquired a residence or domicile in 
        any other State; or
            ``(3) be deemed to have become resident in or a resident of 
        any other State.
    ``(b) In this section, the term `State' includes a territory or 
possession of the United States, a political subdivision of a State, 
territory, or possession, and the District of Columbia.''.

SEC. 3. STATE RESPONSIBILITY TO GUARANTEE MILITARY VOTING RIGHTS.

    (a) Registration and Balloting.--Section 102 of the Uniformed and 
Overseas Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff-1) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a) Elections for Federal Offices.--'' 
        before ``Each State shall--''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Elections for State and Local Offices.--Each State shall--
            ``(1) permit absent uniformed services voters to use 
        absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot 
        in general, special, primary, and runoff elections for State 
        and local offices; and
            ``(2) accept and process, with respect to any election 
        described in paragraph (1), any otherwise valid voter 
        registration application from an absent uniformed services 
        voter if the application is received by the appropriate State 
        election official not less than 30 days before the election.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--The heading for title I of such Act is 
amended by striking out ``FOR FEDERAL OFFICE''.
                                 <all>