Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB738 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	I
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION H. R. 738
5	5	To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters
6	6	to vote by mail in Federal elections.
7	7	IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
8	8	JANUARY24, 2025
9	9	Ms. S
10	10	ALINAS(for herself, Ms. NORTON, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. VARGAS, Mrs.
11	11	D
12	12	INGELL, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Ms. TLAIB, and Mr.
13	13	P
14	14	OCAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
15	15	mittee on House Administration
16	16	A BILL
17	17	To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow
18	18	all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections.
19	19	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
20	20	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
21	21	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
22	22	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Universal Right To 4
23	23	Vote by Mail Act of 2025’’. 5
24	24	SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
25	25	Congress finds the following: 7
26	26	(1) An inequity of voting rights exists in the 8
27	27	United States because voters in some States have 9
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30	30	•HR 738 IH
31	31	the universal right to vote by mail while voters in 1
32	32	other States do not. 2
33	33	(2) Many voters often have work, family, or 3
34	34	other commitments that make getting to polls on the 4
35	35	date of an election difficult or impossible. Under 5
36	36	current State laws, many of these voters are not per-6
37	37	mitted to vote by mail. 7
38	38	(3) 36 States and the District of Columbia cur-8
39	39	rently allow universal absentee voting (also known as 9
40	40	‘‘no-excuse’’ absentee voting), which permits any 10
41	41	voter to request a mail-in ballot without providing a 11
42	42	reason for the request, and no State which has im-12
43	43	plemented no-excuse absentee voting has switched 13
44	44	back. 14
45	45	(4) Voting by mail gives voters more time to 15
46	46	consider their choices, which is especially important 16
47	47	as many ballots contain greater numbers of ques-17
48	48	tions about complex issues than in the past due to 18
49	49	the expanded use of the initiative and referendum 19
50	50	process in many States. 20
51	51	(5) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 21
52	52	mail can lead to increased voter participation. 22
53	53	(6) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 23
54	54	mail can reduce waiting times for those voters who 24
55	55	choose to vote at the polls. 25
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59	59	(7) Voting by mail is preferable to many voters 1
60	60	as an alternative to going to the polls. Voting by 2
61	61	mail has become increasingly popular with voters 3
62	62	who want to be certain that they are able to vote no 4
63	63	matter what comes up on Election Day. 5
64	64	(8) No evidence exists suggesting the potential 6
65	65	for fraud in absentee balloting is greater than the 7
66	66	potential for fraud by any other method of voting. 8
67	67	(9) Many of the reasons which voters in many 9
68	68	States are required to provide in order to vote by 10
69	69	mail require the revelation of personal information 11
70	70	about health, travel plans, or religious activities, 12
71	71	which violate voters’ privacy while doing nothing to 13
72	72	prevent voter fraud. 14
73	73	(10) State laws which require voters to obtain 15
74	74	a notary signature to vote by mail only add cost and 16
75	75	inconvenience to voters without increasing security. 17
76	76	SEC. 3. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL 18
77	77	IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 19
78	78	(a) I
79	79	NGENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the Help 20
80	80	America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is 21
81	81	amended by inserting after section 303 the following new 22
82	82	section: 23
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86	86	‘‘SEC. 303A. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 1
87	87	MAIL. 2
88	88	‘‘(a) I
89	89	NGENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli-3
90	90	gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 4
91	91	State may not impose any additional conditions or require-5
92	92	ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 6
93	93	in such election by mail, except to the extent that the 7
94	94	State imposes a deadline for requesting the ballot and re-8
95	95	lated voting materials from the appropriate State or local 9
96	96	election official and for returning the ballot to the appro-10
97	97	priate State or local election official. 11
98	98	‘‘(b) N
99	99	OTICE ANDOPPORTUNITYTOCUREDISCREP-12
100	100	ANCY ORDEFECT.— 13
101	101	‘‘(1) N
102	102	OTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO CURE DIS -14
103	103	CREPANCY IN SIGNATURES .—If an individual sub-15
104	104	mits a mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot and the 16
105	105	appropriate State or local election official determines 17
106	106	that a discrepancy exists between the signature on 18
107	107	such ballot and the signature of such individual on 19
108	108	the official list of registered voters in the State or 20
109	109	other official record or document used by the State 21
110	110	to verify the signatures of voters, such election offi-22
111	111	cial, prior to making a final determination as to the 23
112	112	validity of such ballot, shall— 24
113	113	‘‘(A) as soon as practical, but not later 25
114	114	than the next business day after such deter-26
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118	118	mination is made, make a good faith effort to 1
119	119	notify the individual by mail, telephone, and (if 2
120	120	available) text message and electronic mail 3
121	121	that— 4
122	122	‘‘(i) a discrepancy exists between the 5
123	123	signature on such ballot and the signature 6
124	124	of the individual on the official list of reg-7
125	125	istered voters in the State or other official 8
126	126	record or document used by the State to 9
127	127	verify the signatures of voters; and 10
128	128	‘‘(ii) if such discrepancy is not cured 11
129	129	prior to the expiration of the third day fol-12
130	130	lowing the State’s deadline for receiving 13
131	131	mail-in ballots or absentee ballots, such 14
132	132	ballot will not be counted; and 15
133	133	‘‘(B) cure such discrepancy and count the 16
134	134	ballot if, prior to the expiration of the third day 17
135	135	following the State’s deadline for receiving mail- 18
136	136	in ballots or absentee ballots, the individual pro-19
137	137	vides the official with information to cure such 20
138	138	discrepancy, either in person, by telephone, or 21
139	139	by electronic methods. 22
140	140	‘‘(2) N
141	141	OTICE AND OPPORTUNITY TO CURE MISS -23
142	142	ING SIGNATURE OR OTHER DEFECT .—If an indi-24
143	143	vidual submits a mail-in ballot or an absentee ballot 25
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147	147	without a signature or submits a mail-in ballot or an 1
148	148	absentee ballot with another defect which, if left 2
149	149	uncured, would cause the ballot to not be counted, 3
150	150	the appropriate State or local election official, prior 4
151	151	to making a final determination as to the validity of 5
152	152	the ballot, shall— 6
153	153	‘‘(A) as soon as practical, but not later 7
154	154	than the next business day after such deter-8
155	155	mination is made, make a good faith effort to 9
156	156	notify the individual by mail, telephone, and (if 10
157	157	available) text message and electronic mail 11
158	158	that— 12
159	159	‘‘(i) the ballot did not include a signa-13
160	160	ture or has some other defect; and 14
161	161	‘‘(ii) if the individual does not provide 15
162	162	the missing signature or cure the other de-16
163	163	fect prior to the expiration of the third day 17
164	164	following the State’s deadline for receiving 18
165	165	mail-in ballots or absentee ballots, such 19
166	166	ballot will not be counted; and 20
167	167	‘‘(B) count the ballot if, prior to the expi-21
168	168	ration of the third day following the State’s 22
169	169	deadline for receiving mail-in ballots or absen-23
170	170	tee ballots, the individual provides the official 24
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174	174	with the missing signature on a form proscribed 1
175	175	by the State or cures the other defect. 2
176	176	This paragraph does not apply with respect to a de-3
177	177	fect consisting of the failure of a ballot to meet the 4
178	178	applicable deadline for the acceptance of the ballot 5
179	179	under State law. 6
180	180	‘‘(c) R
181	181	ULE OFCONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec-7
182	182	tion shall be construed to affect the authority of States 8
183	183	to conduct elections for Federal office through the use of 9
184	184	polling places at which individuals cast ballots on the date 10
185	185	of the election. 11
186	186	‘‘(d) E
187	187	FFECTIVEDATE.—A State shall be required 12
188	188	to comply with the requirements of this section with re-13
189	189	spect to elections for Federal office held in years beginning 14
190	190	with 2026.’’. 15
191	191	(b) C
192	192	ONFORMINGAMENDMENT RELATING TOEN-16
193	193	FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 17
194	194	is amended by striking ‘‘and 304’’ and inserting ‘‘303A, 18
195	195	and 304’’. 19
196	196	(c) C
197	197	LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of contents 20
198	198	for such Act is amended by inserting after the item relat-21
199	199	ing to section 303 the following new item: 22
200	200	‘‘Sec. 303A. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’.
201	201	Æ
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