[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3600 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3600

   To enforce the guarantees of the first, fourteenth, and fifteenth 
  amendments to the Constitution of the United States by prohibiting 
   certain devices used to deny the right to participate in certain 
                               elections.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 19, 2007

   Mr. Paul introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To enforce the guarantees of the first, fourteenth, and fifteenth 
  amendments to the Constitution of the United States by prohibiting 
   certain devices used to deny the right to participate in certain 
                               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 ``Voter Freedom Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. BALLOT ACCESS RIGHTS.

    (a) In General.--An individual shall have the right to be placed as 
a candidate on, and to have such individual's political party, body, or 
group affiliation in connection with such candidacy placed on, a ballot 
or similar voting materials to be used in a Congressional election, 
if--
            (1) such individual presents a petition stating in 
        substance that its signers desire such individual's name and 
        political party, body or group affiliation, if any, to be 
        placed on the ballot or other similar voting materials to be 
        used in the election with respect to which such rights are to 
        be exercised;
            (2) such petition has at least 1,000 signatures of persons 
        who are registered to vote in the district, or, if the State in 
        which the district is located does not provide for voter 
        registration, such petition must bear the signatures of at 
        least 1,000 persons who are eligible to vote in that State and 
        that district;
            (3) with respect to an election the date of which was fixed 
        345 or more days in advance, such petition was circulated 
        during a period beginning on the 345th day and ending on the 
        75th day before the date of the election; and
            (4) with respect to an election the date of which was fixed 
        less than 345 days in advance, such petition was circulated 
        during a period established by the State holding the election, 
        or, if no such period was established, during a period 
        beginning on the day after the date the election was scheduled 
        and ending on the thirtieth day before the date of the 
        election.
    (b) Savings Provision.--Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect 
to any State that provides by law for greater ballot access rights than 
the ballot access rights provided for under such subsection.

SEC. 3. RULEMAKING.

    The Attorney General shall make rules to carry out this Act.

SEC. 4. GENERAL DEFINITIONS.

    As used in this Act--
            (1) the term ``Congressional election'' means a general or 
        special election for the office of Representative in, or 
        Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress;
            (2) the term ``State'' means a State of the United States, 
        the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and 
        any other territory or possession of the United States;
            (3) the term ``individual'' means an individual who has the 
        qualifications required by law of a person who holds the office 
        for which such individual seeks to be a candidate;
            (4) the term ``petition'' includes a petition which 
        conforms to section 2(a)(1) and upon which signers' addresses 
        and/or printed names are required to be placed;
            (5) the term ``signer'' means a person whose signature 
        appears on a petition and who can be identified as a person 
        qualified to vote for an individual for whom the petition is 
        circulated, and includes a person who requests another to sign 
        a petition on his or her behalf at the time when, and at the 
        place where, the request is made;
            (6) the term ``signature'' includes the incomplete name of 
        a signer, the name of a signer containing abbreviations such as 
        first or middle initial, and the name of a signer preceded or 
        followed by titles such as ``Mr.'', ``Ms.'', ``Dr.'', ``Jr.'', 
        or ``III''; and
            (7) the term ``address'' means the address which a signer 
        uses for purposes of registration and voting.
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