Fed Elections Race Act Pfluger
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JANUARY 10, 2025
H. R. ll
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish deadlines for
States to count the ballots cast in elections for Federal office and
to certify the results of such elections, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Mr. PFLUGER introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on llllllllllllll
A BILL
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish
deadlines for States to count the ballots cast in elections
for Federal office and to certify the results of such
elections, and for other purposes.
1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring American
5 Confidence in Elections Act’’ or the ‘‘RACE Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEADLINE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CERTI-
2 FYING RESULTS IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.
3 (a) DEADLINES.—Title III of the Help America Vote
4 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20181 et seq.), as amended by
5 section 2(a) of the COCOA Act of 2024, is amended—
6 (1) by redesignating sections 305 and 306 as
7 sections 306 and 307; and
8 (2) by inserting after section 304 the following
9 new section:
10 ‘‘SEC. 305. DEADLINE FOR COUNTING BALLOTS AND CERTI-
11 FYING RESULTS.
12 ‘‘(a) DEADLINES.—
13 ‘‘(1) COUNTING BALLOTS.—A State shall finish
14 counting the ballots cast in an election for Federal
15 office held in the State not later than 10 o’clock
16 p.m. on the date of the election.
17 ‘‘(2) CERTIFYING RESULTS.—A State shall cer-
18 tify the results of an election for Federal office held
19 in the State not later than 48 hours after the date
20 of the election.
21 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTIONS.—Subsection (a) does not apply if
22 the failure of a State to meet a deadline under such sub-
23 section is attributable to—
24 ‘‘(1) a bona fide emergency, including a major
25 disaster (as defined in section 102 of the Robert T.
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1 Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance
2 Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)); or
3 ‘‘(2) technical difficulties, including malfunc-
4 tioning election equipment or software.’’.
5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EXIST-
6 ING ENFORCEMENT PROVISIONS.—Section 401 of such
7 Act (52 U.S.C. 21111), as amended by section 2(b) of the
8 COCOA Act of 2024, is amended by striking ‘‘and 304’’
9 and inserting ‘‘304, and 305’’.
10 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents
11 of such Act, as amended by section 2(c) of the COCOA
12 Act of 2024, is amended—
13 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec-
14 tions 305 and 306 as relating to section 306 and
15 307; and
16 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-
17 tion 304 the following:
‘‘Sec. 305. Deadline for counting ballots and certifying results.’’.
18 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This Act and the amend-
19 ments made by this Act shall apply with respect to elec-
20 tions held after the date of the enactment of this Act.
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