[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3576 Introduced in House (IH)]

  1st Session
                                H. R. 3576

To provide that American Samoa hold a primary election when more than 2 
eligible individuals file for candidacy to be elected to the office of 
  Delegate representing American Samoa in the United States House of 
    Representatives, and to provide that active duty members of the 
military be able to fully participate in Federal elections in American 
                                 Samoa.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 20, 2001

 Mr. Faleomavaega introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                       the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide that American Samoa hold a primary election when more than 2 
eligible individuals file for candidacy to be elected to the office of 
  Delegate representing American Samoa in the United States House of 
    Representatives, and to provide that active duty members of the 
military be able to fully pariticipate in Federal elections in American 
                                 Samoa.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) It is in the national interest that all citizens, 
        including active-duty service members, be allowed to vote in 
        Federal elections.
            (2) Since 1977, active-duty service members serving 
        overseas or on the United States mainland have been excluded 
        from fully participating and voting in both general and runoff 
        Federal elections in American Samoa due to several factors, 
        including local law that requires active duty military members 
        to register in person, limited air and mail service between the 
        U.S. mainland and American Samoa, and delays in the preparation 
        of new ballots in the case of runoff elections.
            (3) American Samoa law requiring uniformed service voters 
        to register to vote in person is contrary to the Uniformed and 
        Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff et 
        seq.).
            (4) The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act 
        has been in effect for over 15 years, and American Samoa has 
        not addressed this discrepancy between Federal and territorial 
        law, despite notice that the discrepancy exists.
            (5) It is necessary to take additional action to ensure 
        that the votes of uniformed voters are counted in Federal 
        elections conducted in American Samoa and that active duty 
        service members (including reservists called to active duty) do 
        not need to appear in person to register to vote.
            (6) It is necessary to state that the Uniformed and 
        Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act supersedes American Samoa 
        law and American Samoa must comply with this Federal law.
            (7) It is also in the national interest that, to the extent 
        possible, Members of the United States House of Representatives 
        and non-voting Delegates be elected in the first week of 
        November in even-numbered years.
            (8) Since 1980, when the first election for the 
        Congressional Delegate from American Samoa was held, there have 
        been several general elections at which there was no final 
        resolution of who was elected as the Delegate for the next 
        Congress, and run-off elections were required.
            (9) When the outcome of the Delegate election is not 
        resolved until a runoff election is held, a final determination 
        of who the Delegate will be is not made known until late 
        November.
            (10) A delayed outcome may place a newly elected Delegate 
        in a more junior position to other Members of Congress elected 
        on the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November in an 
        election year.
            (11) When more than 2 candidates file to run for election 
        for the office of Delegate, holding a primary election to 
        reduce the number of candidates to 2 will greatly increase the 
        likelihood that the general election will produce a candidate 
        who receives a majority of the votes cast.

SEC. 2. PRIMARY ELECTION REQUIRED.

    Section 2(a) of the Act entitled ``An Act to provide that the 
Territory of American Samoa be represented by a nonvoting Delegate to 
the United States House of Representatives, and for other purposes'', 
approved October 31, 1978 (48 U.S.C. 1732(a)) is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(1)'' after ``(a)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new paragraphs:
    ``(2) In any general election year when 3 or more eligible 
individuals file by the first Tuesday of July as candidates for the 
office of Delegate, a primary election shall be held on the first 
Tuesday of August of that general election year. If the primary 
election results in 1 candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the 
votes cast, then that candidate shall be the only candidate on the 
ballot for the general election for Delegate that year. If the primary 
election results in no candidate receiving more than 50 percent of the 
votes cast, then the 2 candidates receiving the most votes cast shall 
be on the ballot for the general election year. If there is a tie for 
the 2 candidates receiving the most votes, the names of the 2 
candidates shall be listed on the ballot for that general election 
year.
    ``(3) Candidates for the office of Delegate to the United States 
House of Representatives must file their candidacy not later than the 
first Tuesday of July each year that a general election referred to in 
paragraph (1) is scheduled to be held.''.

SEC. 3. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.

    Section 4 of the Act entitled ``An Act to provide that the 
Territory of American Samoa be represented by a nonvoting Delegate to 
the United States House of Representatives, and for other purposes'', 
approved October 31, 1978 (48 U.S.C. 1734), is amended by inserting 
``in a general Federal election'' after ``ties between candidates''.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on January 1, 
2003.
                                 <all>