[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1835 Introduced in House (IH)]






109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1835

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters 
                 to vote by mail in Federal elections.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 26, 2005

   Mrs. Davis of California introduced the following bill; which was 
           referred to the Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters 
                 to vote by mail in Federal 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 ``Universal Right to Vote by Mail Act 
of 2005''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) An inequity of voting rights exists in the United 
        States because voters in some States have the universal right 
        to vote by mail while voters in other States do not.
            (2) Many voters often have work, family, or other 
        commitments that make getting to polls on the date of an 
        election difficult or impossible.
            (3) Allowing voters to vote by mail can lead to increased 
        voter participation.
            (4) Voting by mail is more convenient for many voters.
            (5) Voting by mail gives voters more time to consider their 
        choices.
            (6) Studies show that an overwhelming majority of voters 
        prefer voting by mail as an alternative to going to the polls.
            (7) No evidence exists suggesting the potential for fraud 
        in absentee balloting is greater than the potential for fraud 
        by any other method of voting.
            (8) 25 States currently allow universal absentee voting, 
        which permits any voter to request a mail-in ballot without 
        providing a reason for the request.

SEC. 3. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL IN FEDERAL 
              ELECTIONS.

    (a) In General.--Subtitle A of title III of the Help America Vote 
Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is amended by inserting after 
section 303 the following new section:

``SEC. 303A. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL.

    ``(a) In General.--If an individual in a State is eligible to cast 
a vote in an election for Federal office, the State may not impose any 
additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of the 
individual to cast the vote in such election by mail, except to the 
extent that the State imposes a deadline for requesting the ballot and 
related voting materials from the appropriate State or local election 
official and for returning the ballot to the appropriate State or local 
election official.
    ``(b) Effective Date.--A State shall be required to comply with the 
requirements of subsection (a) with respect to elections for Federal 
office held in years beginning with 2006.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment Relating to Enforcement.--Section 401 of 
such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amended by striking ``and 303'' and 
inserting ``303, and 303A''.
    (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of contents for such Act is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the 
following new item:

``Sec. 303A. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.''.
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