Vote at Home Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 237 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections, to amend the National Voter Reg- istration Act of 1993 to provide for automatic voter registration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 11, 2021 Mr. BLUMENAUER (for himself, Mr. DEFAZIO, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. NOR- TON, Mr. POCAN, Mr. LIEU, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. COOPER, Mr. SCHRADER, Ms. BONAMICI, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. SWALWELL, and Ms. CHU) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee con- cerned A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow all eligible voters to vote by mail in Federal elections, to amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to provide for automatic voter registration, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 237 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vote at Home Act of 2 2021’’. 3 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4 Congress finds the following: 5 (1) An inequity of voting rights exists in the 6 United States because voters in some States have 7 the universal right to vote by mail while voters in 8 other States do not. 9 (2) Many voters often have work, family, or 10 other commitments that make getting to polls and 11 waiting in line on the date of an election difficult or 12 impossible. Many citizens with disabilities are phys- 13 ically unable to vote due to long lines, inadequate 14 parking, no curb cuts, steep ramps, and large 15 crowds. In 2012, 30 percent of voters with disabil- 16 ities had difficulty voting, and in 2016, nearly two- 17 thirds of the 137 polling places inspected on Elec- 18 tion Day had at least one impediment to people with 19 disabilities. Under current State laws, many of these 20 voters are not permitted to vote by mail. 21 (3) In 2020, despite a global pandemic, the 22 general election saw record high turnout as a result 23 of increased vote by mail options, which allowed vot- 24 ers to cast a ballot and stay safe at the same time. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 237 IH (4) 34 States and the District of Columbia cur- 1 rently allow universal absentee voting (also known as 2 ‘‘no-excuse’’ absentee voting), which permits any 3 voter to request a mail-in ballot without providing a 4 reason for the request. No State which has imple- 5 mented no-excuse absentee voting has repealed it. 6 (5) 5 States currently hold elections entirely by 7 mail. At least 22 States currently allow some elec- 8 tions to be conducted by mail, especially in large and 9 rural jurisdictions where voting by mail is especially 10 convenient. Polling stations in rural jurisdictions 11 tend to have higher costs per voter, smaller staffs, 12 and limited resources. Transportation is often a cru- 13 cial barrier for rural voters. 14 (6) In 2020, in order to provide greater accessi- 15 bility and to protect the public health, 30 States 16 adopted or changed their laws for the general elec- 17 tion to allow voters to cast their ballots from home. 18 These changes included removing strict excuse re- 19 quirements or allowing COVID-19 concerns to be a 20 valid excuse to vote absentee, allowing ballot drop 21 boxes, offering prepaid postage on election mail and 22 proactively sending all active registered voters appli- 23 cations to request an absentee ballot, with some even 24 skipping that step and sending the actual ballots. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:18 Feb 09, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 237 IH (7) Voting by mail gives voters more time to 1 consider their choices, which is especially important 2 as many ballots contain greater numbers of ques- 3 tions about complex issues than in the past due to 4 the expanded use of the initiative and referendum 5 process in many States. 6 (8) Voting by mail is cost effective. After the 7 State of Oregon adopted vote by mail for all voters 8 in 1996, the cost to administer an election in the 9 State dropped by nearly 30 percent over the next 10 few elections, from $3.07 per voter to $2.21 per 11 voter. After Colorado implemented all-mail balloting 12 in 2013, voting administration costs decreased by an 13 average of 40 percent. The cost of conducting vote- 14 by-mail elections is generally one-third to one-half 15 less than conducting polling place elections. Voting 16 by mail also saves a substantial amount by getting 17 rid of the temporary labor costs of hiring poll work- 18 ers. In addition to that cost, many jurisdictions have 19 been facing difficulty in obtaining sufficient numbers 20 of poll workers. 21 (9) Allowing all voters the option to vote by 22 mail can reduce waiting times for those voters who 23 choose to vote at the polls. In 2016, voters in Ari- 24 zona reported waiting in line from 1 to 5 hours to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 237 IH vote; in New York, voters reported that stations ran 1 out of ballots and did not have staff during all of 2 the hours scheduled for voting. 3 (10) Voting by mail is preferable to many vot- 4 ers as an alternative to going to the polls. In 2018, 5 25.3 percent of ballots in the United States were 6 cast by mail, up from 10 percent in 2000. Voting by 7 mail has become increasingly popular with voters 8 who want to be certain that they are able to vote no 9 matter what comes up on Election Day, as it re- 10 duces the physical obstacles and eases the time con- 11 straints connected with the act of voting. 12 (11) Despite attempts to claim that voting by 13 mail is susceptible to fraud, it is not. Strategies such 14 as the tracking systems for ballots and Postal Serv- 15 ice cooperation in preventing ballots from being de- 16 livered to names not recognized as receiving mail at 17 an address nearly eliminate the potential for fraud 18 in vote by mail elections. Evidence of undue influ- 19 ence or voter coercion after vote-by-mail implementa- 20 tion in Oregon has been nonexistent to minimal. 21 (12) Many of the reasons which voters in many 22 States are required to provide in order to vote by 23 mail require the revelation of personal information 24 about health, travel plans, or religious activities, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 237 IH which violate voters’ privacy while doing nothing to 1 prevent voter fraud. 2 (13) State laws which require voters to obtain 3 a notary signature to vote by mail only add cost and 4 inconvenience to voters without increasing security. 5 (14) Many voters choose to cast ballots early 6 when they have the option (over 50 percent in Ari- 7 zona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Geor- 8 gia, Hawaii, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North 9 Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and 10 Washington). More than 40 percent of voters in the 11 2016 election cast their ballot before Election Day. 12 In Oregon, 7 years after vote-by-mail election imple- 13 mentation, over 80 percent of voters favored the 14 vote-by-mail system. 15 (15) Vote-by-mail typically increases turnout in 16 all elections, but can be particularly effective in in- 17 creasing voter participation in special elections and 18 primary elections. Oregon, Washington, and Colo- 19 rado, 3 of the 5 States with entirely vote by mail 20 systems, continue to have consistently high voter 21 turnout rates. In the 2016 Presidential election, 22 while the percentage of registered voters who cast a 23 ballot nationally was 68.1 percent, Oregon’s was 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 237 IH 80.3 percent, Washington’s was 78.76 percent, and 1 Colorado’s was 74.3 percent. 2 (16) A crucial component of a modern voting 3 system is making it easy, affordable, and accessible 4 to register to vote. Twenty states and the District of 5 Columbia have enacted automatic voter registration 6 policies, with Oregon and California becoming the 7 first to automatically register their citizens to vote 8 when they apply for a driver’s license. Automatic, 9 permanent voter registration has the potential to in- 10 crease participation, protect election integrity, and 11 reduce registration costs. 12 SEC. 3. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY MAIL 13 IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS. 14 (a) VOTING BY MAIL IN FEDERAL ELECTIONS.— 15 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the 16 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 17 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 303 18 the following new section: 19 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PROMOTING ABILITY OF VOTERS TO VOTE BY 20 MAIL. 21 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—If an individual in a State is eli- 22 gible to cast a vote in an election for Federal office, the 23 State may not impose any additional conditions or require- 24 ments on the eligibility of the individual to cast the vote 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 237 IH in such election by mail, except to the extent that the 1 State imposes a deadline for requesting the ballot and re- 2 lated voting materials from the appropriate State or local 3 election official and for returning the ballot to the appro- 4 priate State or local election official. 5 ‘‘(b) PROVISION OF BALLOT MATERIALS.—Not later 6 than 2 weeks before the date of any election for Federal 7 office, each State shall mail ballots to individuals who are 8 registered to vote in such election. 9 ‘‘(c) ACCESSIBILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS- 10 ABILITIES.—All ballots provided under this section shall 11 be accessible to individuals with disabilities in a manner 12 that provides the same opportunity for access and partici- 13 pation (including for privacy and independence) as for 14 other voters. 15 ‘‘(d) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 16 tion shall be construed to affect the authority of States 17 to conduct elections for Federal office through the use of 18 polling places at which individuals cast ballots. 19 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—A State shall be required 20 to comply with the requirements of this section with re- 21 spect to elections for Federal office held in years beginning 22 with 2022.’’. 23 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO 24 ENFORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 237 IH U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ 1 and inserting ‘‘303, and 303A’’. 2 (3) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 3 tents for such Act is amended by inserting after the 4 item relating to section 303 the following new item: 5 ‘‘Sec. 303A. Promoting ability of voters to vote by mail.’’. (b) FREE POSTAGE FOR VOTING BY MAIL.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 34 of title 39, 7 United States Code, is amended by adding at the 8 end the following: 9 ‘‘§ 3407. Ballots provided for voting in Federal elec- 10 tions 11 ‘‘Blank ballots mailed pursuant to section 303A(b) 12 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 which are mailed 13 by a State or local election official (individually or in bulk) 14 to a voter, and voted ballots which are mailed by a voter 15 to an election official, shall be carried expeditiously and 16 free of postage.’’. 17 (2) TECHNICAL AND CONFORMING AMEND- 18 MENTS.— 19 (A) TABLE OF SECTIONS.—The table of 20 sections for chapter 34 of title 39, United 21 States Code, is amended by adding at the end 22 the following: 23 ‘‘3407. Ballots provided for voting in Federal elections.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 237 IH (B) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIA- 1 TIONS.—Section 2401(c) of title 39, United 2 States Code, is amended by striking ‘‘3403 3 through 3406’’ and inserting ‘‘3403 through 4 3407’’. 5 SEC. 4. AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION THROUGH 6 STATE MOTOR VEHICLE AUTHORITIES. 7 (a) AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION.—Section 5 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 9 20504) is amended to read as follows: 10 ‘‘SEC. 5. VOTER REGISTRATION THROUGH MOTOR VEHICLE 11 AUTHORITY. 12 ‘‘(a) SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION FOR VOTER REG- 13 ISTRATION AND APPLICATION FOR MOTOR VEHICLE 14 DRIVER’S LICENSE.— 15 ‘‘(1) TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION TO ELEC- 16 TION OFFICIALS.—Each State’s motor vehicle au- 17 thority, upon receiving any of the identifying infor- 18 mation described in paragraph (2) with respect to 19 any applicable individual, shall securely transmit the 20 identifying information to the appropriate State elec- 21 tion official. 22 ‘‘(2) IDENTIFYING INFORMATION DESCRIBED.— 23 The identifying information described in this para- 24 graph with respect to any individual is as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:35 Feb 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H237.IH H237 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 237 IH ‘‘(A) The individual’s legal name. 1 ‘‘(B) The individual’s age. 2 ‘‘(C) The individual’s residence. 3 ‘‘(D) The individual’s citizenship status. 4 ‘‘(E) The individual’s electronic signature. 5 ‘‘(b) DUTIES OF OFFICIALS RECEIVING INFORMA- 6 TION.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Upon receiving the identi- 8 fying information with respect to an applicable indi- 9 vidual under subsection (a), the appropriate State 10 election official shall determine— 11 ‘‘(A) whether such individual is eligible to 12 vote in an election for Federal office; and 13 ‘‘(B) whether such individual is currently 14 registered to vote in elections for Federal office 15 at the address provided in such identifying in- 16 formation. 17 ‘‘(2) NOTIFICATION TO INDIVIDUALS.— 18 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE UNREGISTERED INDIVID- 19 UALS.—In the case of an applicable individual 20 who is eligible to v [Text truncated for display. 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