| 1 | 1 | | I |
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| 2 | 2 | | 119THCONGRESS |
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| 3 | 3 | | 1 |
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| 4 | 4 | | STSESSION H. R. 529 |
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| 5 | 5 | | To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish deadlines for |
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| 6 | 6 | | States to count the ballots cast in elections for Federal office and |
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| 7 | 7 | | to certify the results of such elections, and for other purposes. |
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| 8 | 8 | | IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
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| 9 | 9 | | JANUARY16, 2025 |
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| 10 | 10 | | Mr. P |
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| 11 | 11 | | FLUGER(for himself, Mr. BABIN, and Ms. TENNEY) introduced the |
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| 12 | 12 | | following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration |
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| 13 | 13 | | A BILL |
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| 14 | 14 | | To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish |
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| 15 | 15 | | deadlines for States to count the ballots cast in elections |
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| 16 | 16 | | for Federal office and to certify the results of such |
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| 17 | 17 | | elections, and for other purposes. |
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| 18 | 18 | | Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1 |
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| 19 | 19 | | tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 |
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| 20 | 20 | | SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 |
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| 21 | 21 | | This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring American 4 |
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| 22 | 22 | | Confidence in Elections Act’’ or the ‘‘RACE Act’’. 5 |
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| 23 | 23 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 Feb 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H529.IH H529 |
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| 24 | 24 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2 |
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| 25 | 25 | | •HR 529 IH |
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| 26 | 26 | | SEC. 2. DEADLINE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CERTI-1 |
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| 27 | 27 | | FYING RESULTS IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 2 |
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| 28 | 28 | | (a) D |
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| 29 | 29 | | EADLINES.—Title III of the Help America Vote 3 |
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| 30 | 30 | | Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20181 et seq.), as amended by 4 |
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| 31 | 31 | | section 2(a) of the COCOA Act of 2024, is amended— 5 |
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| 32 | 32 | | (1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as 6 |
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| 33 | 33 | | sections 306 and 307; and 7 |
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| 34 | 34 | | (2) by inserting after section 304 the following 8 |
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| 35 | 35 | | new section: 9 |
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| 36 | 36 | | ‘‘SEC. 305. DEADLINE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CERTI-10 |
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| 37 | 37 | | FYING RESULTS. 11 |
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| 38 | 38 | | ‘‘(a) D |
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| 39 | 39 | | EADLINES.— 12 |
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| 40 | 40 | | ‘‘(1) C |
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| 41 | 41 | | OUNTING BALLOTS.—A State shall finish 13 |
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| 42 | 42 | | counting the ballots cast in an election for Federal 14 |
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| 43 | 43 | | office held in the State not later than 10 o’clock 15 |
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| 44 | 44 | | p.m. on the date of the election. 16 |
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| 45 | 45 | | ‘‘(2) C |
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| 46 | 46 | | ERTIFYING RESULTS.—A State shall cer-17 |
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| 47 | 47 | | tify the results of an election for Federal office held 18 |
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| 48 | 48 | | in the State not later than 48 hours after the date 19 |
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| 49 | 49 | | of the election. 20 |
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| 50 | 50 | | ‘‘(b) E |
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| 51 | 51 | | XCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply if 21 |
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| 52 | 52 | | the failure of a State to meet a deadline under such sub-22 |
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| 53 | 53 | | section is attributable to— 23 |
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| 54 | 54 | | ‘‘(1) a bona fide emergency, including a major 24 |
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| 55 | 55 | | disaster (as defined in section 102 of the Robert T. 25 |
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| 57 | 57 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3 |
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| 58 | 58 | | •HR 529 IH |
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| 59 | 59 | | Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 1 |
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| 60 | 60 | | Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)); or 2 |
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| 61 | 61 | | ‘‘(2) technical difficulties, including malfunc-3 |
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| 62 | 62 | | tioning election equipment or software.’’. 4 |
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| 63 | 63 | | (b) C |
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| 64 | 64 | | ONFORMINGAMENDMENTRELATING TOEXIST-5 |
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| 65 | 65 | | INGENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—Section 401 of such 6 |
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| 66 | 66 | | Act (52 U.S.C. 21111), as amended by section 2(b) of the 7 |
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| 67 | 67 | | COCOA Act of 2024, is amended by striking ‘‘and 304’’ 8 |
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| 68 | 68 | | and inserting ‘‘304, and 305’’. 9 |
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| 69 | 69 | | (c) C |
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| 70 | 70 | | LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 10 |
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| 71 | 71 | | of such Act, as amended by section 2(c) of the COCOA 11 |
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| 72 | 72 | | Act of 2024, is amended— 12 |
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| 73 | 73 | | (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec-13 |
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| 74 | 74 | | tions 305 and 306 as relating to section 306 and 14 |
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| 75 | 75 | | 307; and 15 |
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| 76 | 76 | | (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-16 |
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| 77 | 77 | | tion 304 the following: 17 |
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| 78 | 78 | | ‘‘Sec. 305. Deadline for counting ballots and certifying results.’’. |
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| 79 | 79 | | (d) EFFECTIVEDATE.—This Act and the amend-18 |
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| 80 | 80 | | ments made by this Act shall apply with respect to elec-19 |
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| 81 | 81 | | tions held after the date of the enactment of this Act. 20 |
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| 82 | 82 | | Æ |
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| 83 | 83 | | VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:27 Feb 12, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H529.IH H529 |
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| 84 | 84 | | kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB |
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