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ELEC-010 — Mail-In Voting Reliability and Election Mail Standards Act

A BILL

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish minimum reliability, notice, cure, tracking, transparency, and custody standards for mail and absentee ballots in elections for Federal office, to amend title 39, United States Code, to establish election-mail service standards, 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 "Mail-In Voting Reliability and Election Mail Standards Act."

SEC. 2. PURPOSES.

The purposes of this Act are—

  1. to protect eligible voters from avoidable disenfranchisement caused by unreliable mail-ballot delivery, opaque rejection practices, curable technical defects, or late notice;
  2. to strengthen public confidence in lawful mail and absentee voting by requiring transparent custody, tracking, rejection, cure, and canvass procedures;
  3. to preserve State choice over whether and how broadly to offer mail or absentee voting, while establishing minimum standards when such voting is made available in elections for Federal office;
  4. to ensure that postal operations support, and do not secretly condition or veto, lawful State-created mail-ballot channels, including any State-law receipt window for ballots cast by election day; and
  5. to preserve election security, voter authentication, ballot custody, and timely finality through clear and auditable rules.

TITLE I — MAIL AND ABSENTEE BALLOT RELIABILITY STANDARDS

SEC. 101. HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT AMENDMENTS.

The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended by adding at the end the following new title:

TITLE XI — MAIL AND ABSENTEE BALLOT RELIABILITY

SEC. 1101. DEFINITIONS.

In this title:

  1. Commission means the Election Assistance Commission.
  2. Covered mail ballot means an absentee ballot, mail ballot, vote-by-mail ballot, or other ballot for an election for Federal office that is provided to a voter for return by mail or other authorized remote return method.
  3. Covered State means a State that permits any voter to cast a covered mail ballot in an election for Federal office.
  4. Curable defect means a missing signature, signature mismatch, missing or incomplete date, missing secrecy envelope, identification-number mismatch, witness or attestation defect, envelope defect, or comparable error that can be corrected without changing the voter's selections and without permitting a person who is not an eligible voter to cast a ballot.
  5. Election mail has the meaning given by regulations or guidance of the Postal Service, except that the term shall include any covered mail ballot and any ballot application, ballot request, cure notice, election-official notice, or election-administration communication sent through the mails in connection with an election for Federal office.
  6. State has the meaning given the term in section 901.

SEC. 1102. STATE MAIL-BALLOT RELIABILITY REQUIREMENTS.

(a) Minimum standards.

A covered State shall, for each election for Federal office in which covered mail ballots are available—

  1. publish clear request, mailing, return, receipt, cure, preprocessing, canvass, and counting deadlines, including the treatment of ballots postmarked by election day but received afterward if such ballots are countable under State law;
  2. set ballot-request and outbound-mailing deadlines that account for Postal Service delivery standards, jurisdiction-specific mailing advisories, and local processing needs;
  3. provide a voter-facing method for tracking, at minimum, ballot request, outbound mailing, receipt, acceptance, rejection, and cure status;
  4. apply uniform statewide standards for signature review, identification-number review, or other voter-authentication review used for covered mail ballots;
  5. give prompt notice and a meaningful cure opportunity for each curable defect when voter eligibility and ballot timeliness can still be established;
  6. prohibit rejection for an immaterial paperwork defect when voter eligibility, ballot timeliness, and ballot authenticity are otherwise established;
  7. provide a reasonable nonpostal return option after the Postal Service's recommended mailing date when mail return is no longer reasonably reliable;
  8. publish plain-language instructions, including accessibility and language-access information required by law;
  9. publish aggregate post-election rejection data by category, including late receipt, signature or identity defect, envelope defect, missing documentation, and uncured defect;
  10. maintain written chain-of-custody, reconciliation, and retention procedures for covered mail ballots; and
  11. maintain a contingency plan for postal disruption, severe weather, disaster, cyber incident, printing or vendor failure, administrative backlog, or comparable emergency.

(b) Drop boxes and nonpostal return.

If a covered State authorizes ballot drop boxes or other nonpostal return locations for covered mail ballots, the State shall maintain uniform written rules for location, public notice, collection frequency, seal logs, chain of custody, reconciliation, and dual-control or comparable pickup safeguards.

(c) State flexibility preserved.

Nothing in this title requires a State to offer no-excuse mail voting, all-mail elections, permanent mail-voter status, automatic mail-ballot distribution, or ballot drop boxes.

(d) More protective State law.

Nothing in this title preempts a State law or procedure that provides greater access, longer cure periods, broader notice, more secure custody, stronger voter privacy, or more protective ballot-tracking procedures, unless the State law or procedure conflicts with a specific requirement of this title.

SEC. 1103. POSTAL ADVISORY ALIGNMENT.

(a) State use of advisory dates.

Each covered State shall consider Postal Service jurisdiction-specific mailing advisories when setting ballot-request, outbound-mailing, public-notice, and nonpostal-return procedures for covered mail ballots.

(b) Advisory dates not disqualification dates.

A Postal Service mailing advisory may not be treated as a legal deadline for voter eligibility, ballot validity, or ballot rejection unless a State law independently establishes such a deadline consistent with this title and other applicable law.

SEC. 1104. FEDERAL DATA-CONDITION LIMITATION.

A Federal agency, including the Postal Service, may not refuse, delay, condition, or degrade otherwise lawful election-mail service for covered mail ballots because a State or local election authority declines to submit a voter manifest, citizenship list, barcode file, ballot-envelope identifier, voter-registration database, or comparable voter-data file, unless Congress has expressly authorized that condition by statute and provided voter-protective procedures.

SEC. 1105. COMMISSION GUIDANCE; NO DISCRETIONARY APPROVAL.

(a) Guidance.

Not later than 180 days after enactment of this title, the Commission, in consultation with the Postal Service, State and local election officials, disability-rights organizations, language-access experts, and election-security experts, shall issue voluntary guidance and model forms for implementing this title.

(b) No discretionary approval.

The Commission may not approve, disapprove, delay, condition, or supervise a State's mail-ballot policy except as expressly provided by this title or another Act of Congress.

SEC. 1106. ENFORCEMENT.

(a) Civil action by Attorney General.

The Attorney General may bring a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief to enforce this title.

(b) Civil action by aggrieved voter.

An aggrieved voter whose covered mail ballot is rejected without the notice or cure opportunity required by this title may bring a civil action for declaratory or injunctive relief.

(c) Timing.

A court hearing an action under this section shall expedite proceedings to the greatest extent practicable when relief is sought before an election, canvass, certification, or cure deadline.

(d) No damages.

This section does not create a damages remedy against a State, political subdivision, election official, postal official, or election worker.

TITLE II — ELECTION MAIL STANDARDS

SEC. 201. ELECTION MAIL SERVICE STANDARDS.

Chapter 36 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

§ 3697. Election mail service standards

(a) Election mail standards.—The Postal Service shall maintain written operational standards for election mail, including standards for tracking, postmarking, processing, facility all-clear procedures, delivery-performance monitoring, escalation channels for election officials, and public communication during Federal election periods.

(b) Jurisdiction-specific mailing advisories.—For each regularly scheduled general election for Federal office, the Postal Service shall publish jurisdiction-specific recommended mailing dates for covered mail ballots, ballot applications, and cure materials not later than 60 days before the election.

(c) Election official escalation channel.—The Postal Service shall maintain a dedicated election-mail escalation channel for State and local election officials during each Federal election period.

(d) Operational-change notice.—During the 120-day period preceding a regularly scheduled general election for Federal office, the Postal Service may not implement an operational change that foreseeably degrades election-mail performance unless the Postal Service provides public notice, notice to affected State election officials, and a mitigation plan.

(e) No unauthorized voter-data condition.—The Postal Service may not refuse, delay, condition, or degrade otherwise lawful election-mail service because a State or local election authority declines to submit a voter manifest, citizenship list, barcode file, ballot-envelope identifier, voter-registration database, or comparable voter-data file, unless Congress has expressly authorized that condition by statute and provided voter-protective procedures.

(f) Annual report.—Not later than 180 days after each regularly scheduled general election for Federal office, the Postal Service shall submit to Congress and make public a report on election-mail performance, including delivery-performance data to the extent measurable, postmarking compliance, escalation requests, all-clear compliance, extraordinary measures, and material operational issues.

SEC. 202. CLERICAL AMENDMENT.

The table of sections for chapter 36 of title 39, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following:

  1. Election mail service standards.

TITLE III — AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS

SEC. 301. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act and the amendments made by this Act.

Budgetary Impact Statement

Budget authority may be required for EAC guidance, State implementation support, voter-facing tracking, cure notices, election-mail reporting, and Postal Service operational compliance; no dollar estimate is assigned pending source-backed cost data.

Note: Preliminary ARRP assessment only; not a CBO, OMB, agency, or legislative-counsel score.

Drafting Notes

  • This draft amends existing law rather than creating a wholly freestanding regime.
  • Title I places mail-ballot reliability standards in HAVA because the proposal concerns minimum administration standards for elections for Federal office.
  • Title II places election-mail operational standards in title 39 because USPS delivery, postmarking, tracking, all-clear procedures, and election-official escalation belong in postal law.
  • The draft does not require States to offer no-excuse mail voting or all-mail elections; it applies when a State chooses to make covered mail ballots available for elections for Federal office.
  • The draft treats USPS mailing dates as advisories for planning and notice, not as independent ballot-disqualification deadlines.
  • After Watson v. Republican National Committee, 609 U.S. ___ (2026), the draft does not need to create a federal rule making post-Election-Day receipt lawful; it instead requires clear publication, reliable postal handling, and uniform administration of any State-law receipt window.
  • The data-condition rule is designed to prevent USPS or another Federal actor from making lawful ballot delivery depend on State submission of voter manifests, citizenship lists, barcode files, or comparable voter-data systems absent clear congressional authorization and voter-protective procedures.
  • The enforcement section is limited to declaratory and injunctive relief and does not create damages liability.

Source Notes