The "Ensuring Multi-Party Democracy In America" Act

[The Deacon]

First order of business for a (let's all hope) Democratic Congress:

Be It Known - That the Right to Vote is a Constitutional Right and that attempts to suppress this Constitutional Right are the gravest threat to National Security in the history of our Republic,
Be It Resolved This Day in Congress -

Article I: No person shall be deprived of the Right to Vote except by Due Process of Law as provided by State Statute. Not withstanding other provisions of this Act, no person of the United States shall be deprived of the Right to Vote for the commission of any misdemeanor, nor accusation of any felony, but only upon proof of conviction of a felony if so provided by State Statute. There shall be no "good faith" leniency provided or implied in this Article - removal of any person without actual proof shall be a Violation. Proof shall consist of, at a minimum, a registered copy of the alleged felony conviction PLUS at least two forms of proof that the person deprived of the Right to Vote is the person mentioned in the felony documents - at least one of these forms of proof must be either fingerprints or "DNA fingerprints" and the copy of the felony conviction must be the original felony conviction - computer files alone are insufficient. Any person improperly deprived of the Right to Vote under this Article shall entail a Fine or Imposition upon the State depriving said person of the Right to Vote a sum of NOT LESS THAN $150,000.00 (ONE HUNDRED, FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) and NOT MORE THAN $450,000.00 (FOUR HUNDRED, FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) per infraction per day until said person is returned to the Voters' Rolls. This period, for purposes of this Act, shall be from the time said person is removed from the Rolls until said person is returned to Rolls, regardless of any elections which may have taken place in the interim or when the voter discovered the improper removal. There shall be no Maximum Amount under this Article & Congress shall impose a complete hold on ALL Federal Monies due the State until the calculated fine is paid, nor shall any Federal officeholder from the State be seated until the fine is paid in full.

Article II: No person shall be deprived of the Right to Vote due to any defect in identification, except that said identification requirements as provided by State Statute shall not impose a cost or undue burden to a voter. Any identification requirements to vote shall be provided Free of ANY Cost to voters, regardless of their ability to pay, and without burden. Should photographic identification be required by State Statute such identification shall be made available to the voter at a time and place of convenience to the voter. For the purposes of this Act "undue burden" shall mean that more than one hour of the voter's time is required to obtain any identification required by State Statute. This will be construed to include any time spent traveling to a location to obtain said identification - any trip of more than one hour will be punishable under this Act. This time limit shall not impact any identification the voter might use which has additional uses and for which the voter may voluntarily apply - i.e., time limit would not apply to driver's licenses, but WOULD apply to identification cards for non-drivers. Furthermore, as United States Citizens in these days are required to work many and diverse hours, any identification requirements imposed by State Statute must be available to voters on a 24 hour, seven day a week basis, not withstanding that no attempt to meet these guidelines shall require of the voter any special purchase or equipment (i.e., a computer or access to any computer network.) Minimum requirements to meet this provision would be for identification offices to be open for understood "Regular Business Hours" PLUS being open at 5:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. at least 1/3 of working days PLUS being open 11:00 p.m. until 8:00 a.m. at least 1/3 of working days PLUS being open at least 1/2 of all Saturdays & Sundays in any given month. Any violation of this Article by State Statute shall entail a Fine or Imposition upon the Offending State. The Fine shall be calculated at NOT LESS THAN $1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) and NOT MORE THAN $5,000,000.00 (FIVE MILLION DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) per Law or State Statute found to be not in compliance. Calculation shall further be that an Additional Fine, equal to the First, shall be owed on the Anniversary of Passage of the Offending Statute every year the Offending Statute is not repealed. There shall be no Maximum Amount under this Article, and Congress shall impose a hold on ALL Federal monies owed to the State until the Fine is paid in full, nor shall any Federal Officeholder of the State be allowed to be seated until the Fine is paid in full.

Article III - All States shall provide a Method of Voting with which the voter may affirm his choices are properly recorded and which will provide an independent means for vote tallies to be physically inspected and counted. Should the State decide to use electronic machines to record votes, they MUST have a "paper trail" which can be accessed at any time. Violation of this Article shall entail a Fine of NOT LESS THAN $150,000.00 (ONE HUNDRED, FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) per machine per election and NOT MORE THAN $450,000.00 (FOUR HUNDRED, FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) per machine per election. There shall be no Maximum Amount under this Article, and Congress shall impose a hold on ALL Federal monies owed to the State until the Fine is paid in full, nor shall any Federal Officeholder of the State be allowed to be seated until the Fine is paid in full.

Article IV - Not withstanding any other State Statutes, any State Statutes which might affect this Act must be published in a conspicuous place in the media for 120 days until they may take effect. Minimum requirements of this Article are construed to mean that an advertisement would be required on the front page of any newspaper, the first page of any magazine where advertisements are printed, advertisements in Prime Time on all commercial broadcast channels, or Drive Time advertisements on major radio stations. In any event, at least two of the aforementioned media outlets must be employed, and all methods summed together must be capable of reaching no fewer than 2/3 of the voting age population in the State and cover, geographically, at least 3/4 of the State. Any violation of this Article shall immediately void the aforementioned State Statute and entail a liability to the Offending State of NOT LESS THAN $1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) and NOT MORE THAN $5,000,000.00 (FIVE MILLION DOLLARS IN U.S. CURRENCY) per State Statute found to be in violation. There shall be no Maximum Amount under this Article, and Congress shall impose a hold on ALL Federal monies owed to the State until the Fine is paid in full, nor shall any Federal Officeholder of the State be seated until the Fine is paid in full.

Article V - It shall be the Burden of the State attempting to impose restrictions on voting that said restrictions do not violate this Act.

Article VI - Upon contesting any violation under this Act, the Contesting State shall post bond equal to the Maximum Fine on each count. Should the State prove to be in violation of this Act after contesting it and chose to appeal this decision, the Congress shall also collect an imposition of interest on the Fine owed to be equal to the Prime Federal Interest Rate plus 0.5% or a rate equal to a 3% annual percentage rate, whichever is greater.

Article VII - Any person falsely attempting to deprive a person of their Right to Vote under Article I or Article II shall be guilty of a Felony, punishable by NOT LESS THAN Six (6) Months in a Federal Penitentiary at Hard Labor and NOT MORE THAN Five (5) Years in a Federal Penitentiary at Hard Labor per violation. This Article shall be construed as to apply to challenges at the polls for insufficient cause, or to State Officials who purge groups of voters without due regard. Sufficient cause would be construed as to be documentary evidence in the possession of challengers at time of the challenge. "Due regard" would be the matching of evidence of felony conviction with specifics of identification at time of removal. No removal shall take place within six months before a Federal election, nor shall any voter be removed without allowing the voter to challenge the removal. Officials must make a reasonable attempt to contact the voter - which must include both a registered letter and publication in a Statewide media for no fewer than 30 (THIRTY) consecutive days.

Article VIII - Should it be determined that a deliberate attempt was made to alter the results of an election by any of the means laid out in this Act, the election in all affected precincts shall be Null and Void, requiring a Special Election under Federal Oversight. For the purposes of this Act "Deliberate Attempt" shall be construed as the cumulative effect of proscribed tactics disenfranchising a number of voters greater than or equal to the difference in votes between the winner of an election and the second place finisher of an election.

Article IX - Any State found in violation of this Act will be required to submit all Election Statutes to the U.S. Department of Justice for an opinion before being enacted for a period of not less than Five Years. Opinions by the U.S. Department of Justice does not preclude prosecution under this Act at any time.

Article X - The burden of proving a voter ineligible will always be placed on the State. Should the State fail in any of the specifics of proof as provided in this Act, the voter is eligible. No voter can be rendered ineligible by reason of conviction of a felony less than six (6) months before a Federal election, except that when the conviction for aforesaid felony occurred within seven (7) months of the Federal election. Violation of this Article shall be a Felony by the Election Official, punishable by NOT LESS THAN six (6) months in a Federal Penitentiary at hard labor and NOT MORE THAN five (5) years in a Federal Penitentiary at hard labor.

Article XI - The United States Supreme Court shall not have the power to halt, at any time, a legitimately requested recount of election results. Any attempt by any Justice of the Supreme Court to do so shall constitute an impeachable offense. Upon conviction said Justice will be removed from the Court and will relinquish any and all retirement benefits. Further, no Supreme Court decision affecting a legitimately requested recount of election results may be considered or cited in any lower Court.