I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 529
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish deadlines for
States to count the ballots cast in elections for Federal office and
to certify the results of such elections, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. P
FLUGER(for himself, Mr. BABIN, and Ms. TENNEY) 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 establish
deadlines for States to count the ballots cast in elections
for Federal office and to certify the results of such
elections, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring American 4
Confidence in Elections Act’’ or the ‘‘RACE Act’’. 5
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•HR 529 IH
SEC. 2. DEADLINE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CERTI-1
FYING RESULTS IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 2
(a) D
EADLINES.—Title III of the Help America Vote 3
Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20181 et seq.), as amended by 4
section 2(a) of the COCOA Act of 2024, is amended— 5
(1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as 6
sections 306 and 307; and 7
(2) by inserting after section 304 the following 8
new section: 9
‘‘SEC. 305. DEADLINE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CERTI-10
FYING RESULTS. 11
‘‘(a) D
EADLINES.— 12
‘‘(1) C
OUNTING BALLOTS.—A State shall finish 13
counting the ballots cast in an election for Federal 14
office held in the State not later than 10 o’clock 15
p.m. on the date of the election. 16
‘‘(2) C
ERTIFYING RESULTS.—A State shall cer-17
tify the results of an election for Federal office held 18
in the State not later than 48 hours after the date 19
of the election. 20
‘‘(b) E
XCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply if 21
the failure of a State to meet a deadline under such sub-22
section is attributable to— 23
‘‘(1) a bona fide emergency, including a major 24
disaster (as defined in section 102 of the Robert T. 25
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•HR 529 IH
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 1
Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)); or 2
‘‘(2) technical difficulties, including malfunc-3
tioning election equipment or software.’’. 4
(b) C
ONFORMINGAMENDMENTRELATING TOEXIST-5
INGENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—Section 401 of such 6
Act (52 U.S.C. 21111), as amended by section 2(b) of the 7
COCOA Act of 2024, is amended by striking ‘‘and 304’’ 8
and inserting ‘‘304, and 305’’. 9
(c) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 10
of such Act, as amended by section 2(c) of the COCOA 11
Act of 2024, is amended— 12
(1) by redesignating the items relating to sec-13
tions 305 and 306 as relating to section 306 and 14
307; and 15
(2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-16
tion 304 the following: 17
‘‘Sec. 305. Deadline for counting ballots and certifying results.’’.
(d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—This Act and the amend-18
ments made by this Act shall apply with respect to elec-19
tions held after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20
Æ
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