Help Students Vote Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 992 To amend title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education that participate in programs under such title to distribute voter registration forms to students enrolled at the institution, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 25, 2021 Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. BROWN, and Ms. HIRONO) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education that partici- pate in programs under such title to distribute voter registration forms to students enrolled at the institution, 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 ‘‘Help Students Vote 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 992 IS SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that political participation 2 and civic engagement are fundamental to the health of 3 American democracy, and that all citizens should be en- 4 couraged to vote, regardless of party affiliation. 5 SEC. 3. DISTRIBUTING VOTER REGISTRATION INFORMA- 6 TION. 7 Section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 8 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) is amended to read as fol- 9 lows: 10 ‘‘(23)(A) The institution will make every rea- 11 sonable effort to— 12 ‘‘(i) distribute voter registration applica- 13 tions for elections for Federal office prescribed 14 pursuant to section 9 of the National Voter 15 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20508), 16 which may include sharing a direct, guided link 17 to such application, to each student enrolled at 18 the institution; 19 ‘‘(ii) provide clear guidance that each stu- 20 dent enrolled at the institution should— 21 ‘‘(I) register in the State in which the 22 student is eligible to vote in the next elec- 23 tion if registration is required, which may 24 include the ability of out of State students 25 to vote in the State in which they are en- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 992 IS rolled and physically in attendance, in ac- 1 cordance with applicable State law; and 2 ‘‘(II) update the student’s existing 3 voter registration if the student’s address 4 has changed recently or since the last elec- 5 tion in which the student was eligible to 6 vote; 7 ‘‘(iii) periodically share credible, non- 8 partisan resources to help students determine 9 where and how they are eligible to vote, which 10 may include resources from State and local 11 election officials on voter registration and vot- 12 ing requirements, including voter registration 13 deadlines, residency requirements, voter identi- 14 fication requirements, and absentee voting op- 15 tions, as applicable; and 16 ‘‘(iv) in distributing voting materials (as 17 defined in section 203(b)(3) of the Voting 18 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(3)) 19 that are produced by a covered State or polit- 20 ical subdivision (as defined in such section), en- 21 sure to the greatest extent practicable that— 22 ‘‘(I) such voting materials are pro- 23 vided in accordance with section 203 of 24 such Act (52 U.S.C. 10503); and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 992 IS ‘‘(II) all materials and information 1 made available electronically under this 2 paragraph— 3 ‘‘(aa) are accessible to individuals 4 with disabilities; and 5 ‘‘(bb) conform to the accessibility 6 standards under section 508 of the 7 Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 8 794d). 9 ‘‘(B) The institution shall be considered in com- 10 pliance with the requirements of subparagraph 11 (A)— 12 ‘‘(i) if, with respect to each student en- 13 rolled who is not exclusively enrolled in distance 14 education at the institution, the institution— 15 ‘‘(I)(aa) distributes voter registration 16 applications to such students not less than 17 twice in a calendar year, and distributes 18 such voter registration applications not less 19 than 30 days in advance of the deadline 20 for registering to vote within the State for 21 the next scheduled Federal or State pri- 22 mary election and not less than 30 days in 23 advance of the deadline for registering to 24 vote within the State for the next sched- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 992 IS uled Federal or State general or special 1 election; or 2 ‘‘(bb) electronically transmits a mes- 3 sage to such students containing a voter 4 registration application (or the message 5 contains an Internet address where such a 6 voter registration application can be 7 accessed or downloaded) acceptable for use 8 in the State in which the institution is lo- 9 cated to each such student, and such elec- 10 tronic message is devoted exclusively to 11 voter registration, not less than twice in a 12 calendar year, and transmits such a mes- 13 sage not less than 30 days in advance of 14 the deadline for registering to vote within 15 the State for the next scheduled Federal or 16 State primary election and not less than 17 30 days in advance of the deadline for reg- 18 istering to vote within the State for the 19 next scheduled Federal or State general or 20 special election; 21 ‘‘(II) during a period that the institution 22 requires or encourages students to remain off- 23 campus due to a national, State, or local public 24 health or other emergency, additionally— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 992 IS ‘‘(aa) requests that the State in which 1 the institution is located provide the insti- 2 tution with absentee ballot applications, as 3 applicable, or share the official State 4 website or online portal through which eli- 5 gible voters can directly request an absen- 6 tee ballot; 7 ‘‘(bb) distributes to each such student 8 an absentee ballot application, requested 9 from the State under item (aa) and re- 10 ceived in accordance with section 303(d) of 11 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 12 U.S.C. 21083(d)) or the official State 13 website or online portal through which eli- 14 gible voters can directly request an absen- 15 tee ballot, with instructions that the form, 16 website, or online portal should be used 17 only by students eligible to vote in the 18 State; 19 ‘‘(cc) notifies students of applicable 20 deadlines for requesting and submitting an 21 absentee ballot, as well as additional op- 22 tions for early and in-person voting, and 23 voting on Election Day, as applicable; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 992 IS ‘‘(dd) shares credible, nonpartisan re- 1 sources to help students who are registered 2 in another State to apply for absentee bal- 3 lots in such State, which may include re- 4 sources from State and local election offi- 5 cials; and 6 ‘‘(III) ensures that an appropriate staff 7 person or office has been designated as a ‘Cam- 8 pus Vote Coordinator’ to ensure compliance in 9 accordance with this clause at the institution 10 and who shall— 11 ‘‘(aa) be publicly designated as the 12 ‘Campus Vote Coordinator’, along with the 13 Coordinator’s contact information, on the 14 institution’s website; and 15 ‘‘(bb) upon request, provide to stu- 16 dents residency requirements for voting, 17 including the ability of out of State stu- 18 dents to vote in the State in which they 19 are enrolled and physically in attendance, 20 in accordance with applicable State law; 21 and 22 ‘‘(ii) if, with respect to each student enrolled 23 exclusively in distance education or correspondence 24 programs, the institution— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 992 IS ‘‘(I) transmits a message devoted exclu- 1 sively to voter registration referring such stu- 2 dents to a centralized voter registration website 3 or platform that provides applicable voter reg- 4 istration application and voting information for 5 all States, provided that such platform is hosted 6 by a government affiliated website; 7 ‘‘(II) transmits such message not less than 8 twice in a calendar year; and 9 ‘‘(III) maintains information on the insti- 10 tution’s website containing credible, nonpartisan 11 resources to help students determine where and 12 how they are eligible to vote, or a link to such 13 resources. 14 ‘‘(C) The institution may also include voter registra- 15 tion applications within materials or information distrib- 16 uted to newly enrolled, or returning, students at the begin- 17 ning of a term, consistent with the requirements of sub- 18 paragraph (B). 19 ‘‘(D) In this paragraph— 20 ‘‘(i) the term ‘absentee ballot’ means any ballot 21 cast by any means other than in person and for 22 which the State requires an application; 23 ‘‘(ii) the term ‘distance education’ has the 24 meaning given the term in section 103, except such 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 992 IS term shall not include distance education that is pro- 1 vided due to a decision of an institution to require 2 or encourage students of the institution to remain 3 off-campus due to a national, State, or local public 4 health or other emergency; 5 ‘‘(iii) the term ‘Federal office’ has the meaning 6 given the term in section 301(3) of the Federal Elec- 7 tion Campaign Act of 1971 (52 U.S.C. 30101(3)); 8 and 9 ‘‘(iv) the term ‘voter registration application’ 10 has the meaning of the term ‘mail voter registration 11 form’ as described in section 9(b) of the National 12 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 13 20508(b)).’’. 14 SEC. 4. GRANTS AUTHORIZED. 15 The Secretary of Education shall award grants to in- 16 stitutions of higher education that greatly exceed the min- 17 imum requirements under section 487(a)(23) of the High- 18 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)), in- 19 cluding as demonstrated by— 20 (1) sponsoring large on-campus voter mobiliza- 21 tion efforts; 22 (2) engaging the surrounding community in 23 nonpartisan voter registration and get out the vote 24 efforts; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 992 IS (3) creating a website with centralized informa- 1 tion about voter registration and election dates; 2 (4) inviting candidates to speak on campus; and 3 (5) offering rides to the polls to increase voter 4 education, registration, and mobilization. 5 SEC. 5. ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS. 6 (a) CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education 8 shall submit a written warning to an institution of 9 higher education that violates a requirement of sec- 10 tion 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 11 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) that includes a direc- 12 tion to correct the violation not later than 60 days 13 after the date the warning was received. 14 (2) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—If an institution of 15 higher education does not correct a violation in ac- 16 cordance with a direction from the Secretary of Edu- 17 cation as described in paragraph (1), the Attorney 18 General of the United States may authorize the ap- 19 propriate State law enforcement officer or the chief 20 elections official of a State to commence a civil ac- 21 tion in accordance with subsection (b). 22 (b) CIVIL ACTIONS.— 23 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State law enforcement of- 24 ficer or chief elections official of a State may com- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 992 IS mence a civil action in accordance with subsection 1 (a) in the appropriate district court of the United 2 States against the institution that engages in a pat- 3 tern or practice of violating section 487(a)(23) of 4 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 5 1094(a)(23)). 6 (2) RELIEF.—In a civil action commenced 7 under paragraph (1), the court may— 8 (A) grant any appropriate equitable or de- 9 claratory relief with respect to the violation of 10 section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act 11 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)); 12 (B) award all other appropriate relief to 13 any person or group aggrieved by the violation; 14 (C) to vindicate the public interest, assess 15 a civil penalty in an amount not exceeding the 16 amount listed in section 487(c)(3)(B) of the 17 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 18 1094(c)(3)(B)) for any violation; and 19 (D) take into account the number of days 20 in which the infraction occurred. 21 (3) INTERVENTION.—Upon timely application, 22 a person aggrieved by a violation of section 23 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 24 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) with respect to which a civil ac- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:43 Apr 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S992.IS S992 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 992 IS tion is commenced under this subsection may inter- 1 vene in such action, and may obtain such appro- 2 priate relief as the person could obtain in a civil ac- 3 tion under subsection (c) with respect to such viola- 4 tion, along with costs and reasonable attorneys fees. 5 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any person or group ag- 7 grieved by a violation of section 487(a)(23) of the 8 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 9 1094(a)(23)) may commence a civil action in any 10 appropriate district court of the United States 11 against the institution that engages in such viola- 12 tion. 13 (2) RELIEF.—In a civil action commenced 14 under paragraph (1), the court may— 15 (A) grant any appropriate equitable or de- 16 claratory relief with respect to the violation of 17 section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act 18 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)); 19 (B) award any other appropriate relief to 20 the person or group aggr [Text truncated for display. 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