America Votes Act of 2021

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1059 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to permit an individual who is subject to a requirement to present identification as a condition of voting in an election for Federal office to meet such requirement by presenting a sworn written statement attesting to the individual’s identification, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 15, 2021 Mr. LARSEN of Washington (for himself, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. SCHRIER, Mr. RUSH, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. KILMER, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. SE- WELL, Ms. NORTON, Mr. COOPER, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. DEGETTE, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. JONES, Ms. JOHN- SON of Texas, Mr. MCNERNEY, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. BROWNLEY, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Ms. SPEIER, Ms. TITUS, Mr. WELCH, Mr. GARAMENDI, Mrs. WATSON COLE- MAN, Mr. CARSON, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mrs. BEATTY, Mr. POCAN, Mr. SOTO, Mr. HIMES, Ms. STRICKLAND, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Ms. MCCOL- LUM, Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. OMAR, and Mr. ALLRED) in- troduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to permit an individual who is subject to a requirement to present identification as a condition of voting in an election for Federal office to meet such requirement by pre- senting a sworn written statement attesting to the indi- vidual’s identification, and for other purposes. VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1059.IH H1059 2 •HR 1059 IH 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 ‘‘America Votes Act of 4 2021’’. 5 SEC. 2. PERMITTING USE OF SWORN WRITTEN STATEMENT 6 TO MEET IDENTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS 7 FOR VOTING. 8 (a) PERMITTING USE OF STATEMENT.—Title III of 9 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et 10 seq.) is amended by inserting after section 303 the fol- 11 lowing new section: 12 ‘‘SEC. 303A. PERMITTING USE OF SWORN WRITTEN STATE- 13 MENT TO MEET IDENTIFICATION REQUIRE- 14 MENTS. 15 ‘‘(a) USE OF STATEMENT.— 16 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in sub- 17 section (c), if a State has in effect a requirement 18 that an individual present identification as a condi- 19 tion of receiving and casting a ballot in an election 20 for Federal office, the State shall permit the indi- 21 vidual to meet the requirement— 22 ‘‘(A) in the case of an individual who de- 23 sires to vote in person, by presenting the appro- 24 priate State or local election official with a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1059.IH H1059 3 •HR 1059 IH sworn written statement, signed by the indi- 1 vidual under penalty of perjury, attesting to the 2 individual’s identification and attesting that the 3 individual is registered to vote in the election; 4 or 5 ‘‘(B) in the case of an individual who de- 6 sires to vote by mail, by submitting with the 7 ballot the statement described in subparagraph 8 (A). 9 ‘‘(2) PROVIDING PRE-PRINTED COPY OF STATE- 10 MENT.—A State which is subject to paragraph (1) 11 shall— 12 ‘‘(A) prepare a pre-printed version of the 13 statement described in paragraph (1)(A) which 14 includes a blank space for an individual to pro- 15 vide a name and signature; 16 ‘‘(B) make copies of the pre-printed 17 version available at polling places for election 18 officials to distribute to individuals who desire 19 to vote in person; and 20 ‘‘(C) include a copy of the pre-printed 21 version with each blank absentee or other ballot 22 transmitted to an individual who desires to vote 23 by mail. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1059.IH H1059 4 •HR 1059 IH ‘‘(b) REQUIRING USE OF REGULAR BALLOT.—A 1 State may not require an individual who presents or sub- 2 mits a sworn written statement in accordance with sub- 3 section (a)(1) to cast a provisional ballot in the election 4 under section 302. 5 ‘‘(c) EXCEPTION FOR FIRST-TIME VOTERS REG- 6 ISTERING BY MAIL.—Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply 7 with respect to any individual described in paragraph (1) 8 of section 303(b) who is required to meet the requirements 9 of paragraph (2) of such section.’’. 10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 11 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 12 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 13 303A’’. 14 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 15 of such Act is amended by inserting after the item relating 16 to section 303 the following new item: 17 ‘‘Sec. 303A. Permitting use of sworn written statement to meet identification requirements.’’. SEC. 3. REQUIRING STATES TO INCLUDE INFORMATION ON 18 USE OF SWORN WRITTEN STATEMENT IN 19 VOTING INFORMATION MATERIAL POSTED AT 20 POLLING PLACES. 21 Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 22 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)) is amended— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1059.IH H1059 5 •HR 1059 IH (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara- 1 graph (E); 2 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub- 3 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 5 paragraph: 6 ‘‘(G) in the case of a State that has in ef- 7 fect a requirement that an individual present 8 identification as a condition of receiving and 9 casting a ballot in an election for Federal office, 10 information on how an individual may meet 11 such requirement by presenting a sworn written 12 statement in accordance with section 303A.’’. 13 SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE. 14 The amendments made by this Act shall apply with 15 respect to elections occurring on or after the date of the 16 enactment of this Act. 17 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 17:08 Mar 12, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1059.IH H1059