110 HR 3600 IH: Voter Freedom Act of U.S. House of Representatives 2007-09-19 text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.

I 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3600 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Voter Freedom Act of 2007.

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.

3.

Rulemaking

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

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.