Legislation that would allow all eligible Americans to vote by mail in presidential and congressional elections was approved Wednesday by a House committee, along with a handful of other measures on voting and election practices.

By a 4-2 party-line vote, the Committee on House Administration approved a bill (HR 1604) that would authorize mail balloting in all federal elections.

The legislation would take effect for the 2012 elections.

The measure generally would prohibit states from imposing special conditions or requirements on eligibility to vote by mail except in regard to deadlines for requesting and returning the ballot.

But the committee adopted, by voice vote, an amendment by Kevin McCarthy , R-Calif., that would allow states to require that a voter’s signature be on file before a mail ballot is issued and that the signature on a returned ballot match the one on record before the vote is counted. Bill sponsor Susan A. Davis , D-Calif., voiced support for the proposal.

Even though his amendment was adopted, McCarthy called the underlying bill a “solution in search of a problem.”

The panel rejected, by voice vote, an amendment offered by Gregg Harper , R‑Miss., that would have provided a waiver for states that lack funding to cover any increased costs attributable to compliance with the bill.

Absentee Ballots

The committee also approved a bill (HR 2510) directing the Election Assistance Commission to reimburse states for costs associated with establishing an absentee ballot tracking program for federal elections. The bill, approved by voice vote, would not require states to establish such a program.

The measure would allow reimbursement for programs that provide information on whether the ballot was received and counted, either online or by toll-free number.

Davis, who also sponsored this bill, said it was modeled on a California law.

In addition, the committee gave voice vote approval to another Davis-sponsored measure (HR 512) that would prohibit certain state election administration officials from actively participating in campaigns.

The bill would prohibit a chief state election administration official from taking active part in political management or in a political campaign with respect to any election for federal office over which the official has supervisory authority.