Vote by Mail Tracking Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 7265 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 7265

 To amend title 39, United States Code, to require mail-in ballots to 
    use the Postal Service barcode service, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 27, 2026

  Mr. Mfume (for himself, Mr. Sessions, Mr. Garcia of California, Mr. 
Fitzpatrick, Mr. Min, Mr. Bacon, Ms. Norton, Mr. Ciscomani, Mr. Lynch, 
   Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Evans of Pennsylvania, Ms. 
Craig, Ms. Tlaib, Ms. Budzinski, Mr. Deluzio, Ms. Lee of Pennsylvania, 
 Mr. Mullin, Mrs. Sykes, Ms. Ansari, Ms. Simon, Mr. Scott of Virginia, 
Mr. Bishop, Mr. Frost, Mr. Subramanyam, and Mr. Latimer) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and 
                           Government Reform

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title 39, United States Code, to require mail-in ballots to 
    use the Postal Service barcode service, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Vote by Mail Tracking Act''.

SEC. 2. MAIL-IN BALLOTS AND POSTAL SERVICE BARCODE SERVICE.

    (a) In General.--Title 39, United States Code, is amended by 
inserting after chapter 30 the following new chapter:

                      ``CHAPTER 31--ELECTION MAIL

``Sec.
``3101. Trackable election mail.
``Sec. 3101. Trackable election mail
    ``(a) In General.--No entity of government shall furnish a ballot 
envelope for the purpose of being carried or delivered by mail unless 
such envelope--
            ``(1) contains a Postal Service barcode (or successive 
        service or marking) that enables tracking of each individual 
        ballot consistent with parameters that the Postal Service may 
        promulgate by regulation;
            ``(2) satisfies requirements for ballot envelope design 
        that the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation;
            ``(3) satisfies requirements for machineable letters that 
        the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation; and
            ``(4) includes the Official Election Mail Logo (or any 
        successor label that the Postal Service may establish for 
        ballots).
    ``(b) Application.--Subsection (a) does not apply to a Federal 
write-in absentee ballot under section 103 of the Uniformed and 
Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20303).
    ``(c) Information.--Not later than June 1 of each calendar year, 
the Postmaster General shall provide, to the entities described in the 
matter preceding paragraph (1) of subsection (a), the information 
necessary to comply with the requirements of this subsection, including 
how to access Postal Service tools to assist in generating the barcode 
or successive marking required by subsection (a)(1).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of chapters for part IV of title 
39, United States Code, is amended by adding after the item relating to 
chapter 30 the following:

``31. Election Mail.........................................    3101''.
    (c) Application.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply 
to any election for Federal office occurring in 2026 and any succeeding 
year.
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