Sec. 1623. Voting materials postage
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Subtitle A of title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( 52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq. ), as amended by section 1031(a), section 1101(a), section 1611(a), section 1621(a), and section 1622(a), is amended— by redesignating sections 309 and 310 as sections 310 and 311; and by inserting after section 308 the following new section: The appropriate State or local election official shall provide a self-sealing return envelope with— any voter registration application form transmitted to a registrant by mail; any application for an absentee ballot transmitted to an applicant by mail; and any blank absentee ballot transmitted to a voter by mail.
Consistent with regulations of the United States Postal Service, the State or the unit of local government responsible for the administration of the election involved shall prepay the postage on any envelope provided under subsection (a). Nothing in this section may be construed to affect the treatment of any ballot or balloting materials transmitted to an individual who is entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act ( 52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq. ).
This section shall take effect on the date that is 90 days after the date of the enactment of this section, except that— State and local jurisdictions shall make arrangements with the United States Postal Service to pay for all postage costs that such jurisdictions would be required to pay under this section if this section took effect on the date of enactment; and States shall take all reasonable efforts to provide self-sealing return envelopes as provided in this section. .
The table of contents of such Act, as amended by section 1031(c), section 1101(c), section 1611(c), and section 1621(b), is amended— by redesignating the items relating to sections 309 and 310 as relating to sections 310 and 311; and by inserting after the item relating to section 308 the following new item: Sec. 309. Prepayment of postage on return envelopes for voting materials. . Chapter 34 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding after section 3406 the following:
Any voter registration application, absentee ballot application, or absentee ballot with respect to any election for Federal office shall be carried in accordance with the service standards established for first-class mail, regardless of the class of postage prepaid. In the case of any election mail carried by the Postal Service that consists of a ballot, the Postal Service shall indicate on the ballot envelope, using a postmark or otherwise— the fact that the ballot was carried by the Postal Service; and the date on which the ballot was mailed.
During the 120-day period which ends on the date of an election for Federal office, the Postal Service may not carry out any new operational change that would restrict the prompt and reliable delivery of voting materials with respect to the election, including voter registration applications, absentee ballot applications, and absentee ballots. This paragraph applies to operational changes which include removing or eliminating any mail collection box without immediately replacing it, and removing, decommissioning, or any other form of stopping the operation of mail sorting machines, other than for routine maintenance.
The Postal Service shall appoint an Election Mail Coordinator in every Postal Area and District to facilitate relevant information sharing with State, territorial, local, and tribal election officials in regards to the mailing of voter registration applications, absentee ballot applications, and absentee ballots. As used in this section— the term absentee ballot means any ballot transmitted by a voter by mail in an election for Federal office, but does not include any ballot covered by section 3406; and the term election for Federal office means a general, special, primary, or runoff election for the office of President or Vice President, or of Senator or Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, the Congress.
Nothing in this section may be construed to affect the treatment of any ballot or balloting materials transmitted to an individual who is entitled to vote by absentee ballot under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act ( 52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq. ). . Section 3001 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: Any ballot sent within the United States for an election for Federal office is nonmailable and shall not be carried or delivered by mail unless the ballot is mailed in an envelope that— contains a Postal Service barcode (or successive service or marking) that enables tracking of each individual ballot; satisfies requirements for ballot envelope design that the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation; satisfies requirements for machineable letters that the Postal Service may promulgate by regulation; and includes the Official Election Mail Logo (or any successor label that the Postal Service may establish for ballots). .
The amendment made by subsection
(a)shall apply to any election for Federal office occurring after the date of enactment of this Act. The table of sections for chapter 34 of such title is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 3406 the following: 3407. Voting materials; restrictions on operational changes prior to elections. .
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