Expanding Access to Early Voting Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 640 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow individuals to vote in an election for Federal office during an early voting period which occurs prior to the date of the election, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 1, 2021 Mr. BROWN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to allow individuals to vote in an election for Federal office during an early voting period which occurs prior to the date of the election, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanding Access to 4 Early Voting Act of 2021’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:06 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H640.IH H640 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 640 IH SEC. 2. EARLY VOTING. 1 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 2 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) 3 is amended— 4 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 5 sections 305 and 306; and 6 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 7 new section: 8 ‘‘SEC. 304. EARLY VOTING. 9 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING VOTING PRIOR TO DATE OF ELEC- 10 TION.— 11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall allow indi- 12 viduals to vote in an election for Federal office dur- 13 ing an early voting period which occurs prior to the 14 date of the election, in the same manner as voting 15 is allowed on such date. 16 ‘‘(2) LENGTH OF PERIOD.—The early voting 17 period required under this subsection with respect to 18 an election shall consist of a period of consecutive 19 days (including weekends) which begins on the 15th 20 day before the date of the election (or, at the option 21 of the State, on a day prior to the 15th day before 22 the date of the election) and ends on the date of the 23 election. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:06 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H640.IH H640 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 640 IH ‘‘(b) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING REQUIREMENTS.— 1 Each polling place which allows voting during an early vot- 2 ing period under subsection (a) shall— 3 ‘‘(1) allow such voting for no less than 10 hours 4 on each day; 5 ‘‘(2) have uniform hours each day for which 6 such voting occurs; and 7 ‘‘(3) allow such voting to be held for some pe- 8 riod of time prior to 9:00 a.m (local time) and some 9 period of time after 5:00 p.m. (local time). 10 ‘‘(c) LOCATION OF POLLING PLACES.— 11 ‘‘(1) PROXIMITY TO PUBLIC TRANSPOR- 12 TATION.—To the greatest extent practicable, a State 13 shall ensure that each polling place which allows vot- 14 ing during an early voting period under subsection 15 (a) is located within walking distance of a stop on 16 a public transportation route. 17 ‘‘(2) AVAILABILITY IN RURAL AREAS.—The 18 State shall ensure that polling places which allow 19 voting during an early voting period under sub- 20 section (a) will be located in rural areas of the State, 21 and shall ensure that such polling places are located 22 in communities which will provide the greatest op- 23 portunity for residents of rural areas to vote during 24 the early voting period. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:06 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H640.IH H640 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 640 IH ‘‘(d) STANDARDS.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall issue 2 standards for the administration of voting prior to 3 the day scheduled for a Federal election. Such 4 standards shall include the nondiscriminatory geo- 5 graphic placement of polling places at which such 6 voting occurs. 7 ‘‘(2) DEVIATION.—The standards described in 8 paragraph (1) shall permit States, upon providing 9 adequate public notice, to deviate from any require- 10 ment in the case of unforeseen circumstances such 11 as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or a change 12 in voter turnout. 13 ‘‘(e) BALLOT PROCESSING AND SCANNING REQUIRE- 14 MENTS.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The State shall begin proc- 16 essing and scanning ballots cast during early voting 17 for tabulation at least 14 days prior to the date of 18 the election involved. 19 ‘‘(2) LIMITATION.—Nothing in this subsection 20 shall be construed to permit a State to tabulate bal- 21 lots in an election before the closing of the polls on 22 the date of the election. 23 ‘‘(f) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 24 with respect to the regularly scheduled general election for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:06 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H640.IH H640 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 640 IH Federal office held in November 2022 and each succeeding 1 election for Federal office.’’. 2 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO 3 ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS- 4 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (52 5 U.S.C. 21101(b)) is amended— 6 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 7 (2); 8 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 9 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(4) in the case of the recommendations with 13 respect to section 304, June 30, 2022.’’. 14 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 15 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 16 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 17 304’’. 18 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 19 of such Act, is amended— 20 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec- 21 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 22 306; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:06 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H640.IH H640 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 640 IH (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 1 tion 303 the following new item: 2 ‘‘Sec. 304. Early voting.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:06 Feb 21, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H640.IH H640 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS