[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1559 Introduced in House (IH)]







                                    


107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1559

  To require that general Federal elections be held over the 48-hour 
  period that begins with the first Saturday in November, to prohibit 
States from preventing citizens who are registered to vote from voting 
  in Federal elections and from carrying out certain law enforcement 
   activities which have the effect of intimidating individuals from 
                    voting, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 24, 2001

 Mr. Hilliard (for himself, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mrs. Jones of 
  Ohio, Mr. Filner, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Wynn, Mr. Davis of Illinois, Ms. 
Jackson-Lee of Texas, Ms. Lee, Ms. McKinney, Mrs. Christensen, and Mr. 
Jackson of Illinois) introduced the following bill; which was referred 
   to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the 
Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined 
 by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as 
        fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To require that general Federal elections be held over the 48-hour 
  period that begins with the first Saturday in November, to prohibit 
States from preventing citizens who are registered to vote from voting 
  in Federal elections and from carrying out certain law enforcement 
   activities which have the effect of intimidating individuals from 
                    voting, and for other purposes.

    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 ``National Voter Anti-Intimidation and 
Anti-Fraud Election Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. HOLDING GENERAL ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE OVER THE 48-HOUR 
              PERIOD BEGINNING WITH THE FIRST SATURDAY IN NOVEMBER.

    (a) Election for President and Vice President.--Section 1 of title 
3, United States Code, is amended by striking ``on the Tuesday next 
after the first Monday in November'' and inserting ``on the first 
Saturday in November and the next day''.
    (b) Election of Senators and Members of the House of 
Representatives.--Section 25 of the Revised Statutes (2 U.S.C. 7) is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``The Tuesday next after the 1st Monday in 
        November'' and inserting ``The first Saturday in November and 
        the next day''; and
            (2) by striking ``is established as the day'' and inserting 
        ``are established as the days''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to elections occurring after January 2002.

SEC. 3. PROHIBITING STATES FROM PREVENTING REGISTERED CITIZENS FROM 
              VOTING IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.

    No State may prohibit any individual from voting in an election for 
Federal office if the individual--
            (1) is a citizen of the United States;
            (2) is registered to vote with respect to the election in 
        the jurisdiction for which the individual seeks to cast a 
        ballot; and
            (3) is not incarcerated for the entire period during which 
        polls for the election are open in the State.

SEC. 4. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIVITIES AS INTERFERENCE 
              WITH ELECTION.

    Section 595 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whoever'' and inserting ``(a) Whoever'';
            (2) by striking ``This section'' and inserting ``(c) This 
        section''; and
            (3) by inserting after the first paragraph the following:
    ``(b) For purposes of subsection (a), if a law enforcement officer 
of a State or local government carries out any of the following 
activities on the date of an election for Federal office, the officer 
shall be considered to be using official authority for the purpose of 
interfering with the nomination or election of a candidate described in 
such subsection:
            ``(1) Attendance at any polling place for any reason other 
        than voting, responding to a request from an official 
        conducting the election at the polling place, or responding to 
        a threat of violence or harm directed at any person or property 
        at the polling place.
            ``(2) The arrest of any individual on the grounds that the 
        individual has any outstanding misdemeanor warrants.
            ``(3) The establishment of any traffic roadblock unless a 
        felony has been committed within the previous 24 hours (or is 
        in the process of being committed) and the roadblock is 
        necessary to prevent the alleged felon from escaping.''.

SEC. 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    Except as otherwise provided, this Act and the amendments made by 
this Act shall apply with respect to elections occurring after the date 
of the enactment of this Act.
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