Armed Forces Voting Rights Protection Act of 2001

Armed Forces Voting Rights Protection Act of 2001 - Amends the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to: (1) require that every vote cast by an absentee or overseas member of the armed forces is counted; and (2) prohibit the disqualification of such a ballot for failures beyond the member's control (including absence of a postmark), if the ballot otherwise meets timely submission requirements. Sets forth criminal penalties for violation of this Act.

[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 738 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 738

To amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to protect the voting rights of 
                      members of the Armed Forces.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 6, 2001

  Mr. Smith of New Hampshire introduced the following bill; which was 
  read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to protect the voting rights of 
                      members of the Armed Forces.

    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 ``Armed Forces Voting Rights 
Protection Act of 2001''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to clarify the voting rights of members of the Armed 
        Forces; and
            (2) to ensure that every vote cast by a member of the Armed 
        Forces is counted.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF VOTING RIGHTS OF MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES.

    (a) In General.--Section 16 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is 
amended to read as follows:
    ``Sec. 16. (a) No person shall disqualify, refuse to count, or 
otherwise negate the absentee or overseas vote of a member of the Armed 
Forces of the United States who is qualified to vote in a State on the 
basis that the ballot in question failed to comply with the law of such 
State, or the law of a local subdivision thereof--
            ``(1) if such failure resulted from circumstances beyond 
        the control of the member, including the absence of a postmark; 
        or
            ``(2) in the case of any other failure, if--
                    ``(A) the application for the ballot was received 
                by the appropriate State election official not less 
                than 30 days before the election, or such lesser period 
                specified by State law;
                    ``(B) the ballot was duly returned by the member 
                and received before the certification of the election 
                results; and
                    ``(C) there is no clear and convincing evidence of 
                fraud in the preparation or casting of the ballot by 
                the member.
    ``(b) For purposes of subsection (a)(2)(C), clear and convincing 
evidence of fraud shall consist of actual evidence of fraud, and may 
not consist solely of the lack of a witness signature, address, 
postmark, or other identifying information in the absence of actual 
evidence of fraud.
    ``(c) Whoever shall violate subsection (a), or conspire to violate 
subsection (a), shall be fined not more than $5,000, imprisoned not 
more than five years, or both.
    ``(d) The Attorney General may prescribe such regulations as the 
Attorney General considers appropriate to carry out the provisions of 
this section.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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