Voters’ Access to Water Act

II 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1539 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure access to water and food for voters waiting in line at polling stations in Federal elections. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 10, 2021 Mr. OSSOFF (for himself and Mr. WARNOCK) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Ad- ministration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure access to water and food for voters waiting in line at polling stations in Federal elections. 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 ‘‘Voters’ Access to 4 Water Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1539 IS SEC. 2. PROHIBITING RESTRICTIONS ON DONATIONS OF 1 FOOD AND BEVERAGES AT POLLING STA- 2 TIONS. 3 (a) FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.—Congress finds the 4 following: 5 (1) States have a legitimate interest in prohib- 6 iting electioneering at or near polling places, and 7 each State has some form of restriction on political 8 activities near polling places when voting is taking 9 place. 10 (2) In recent elections, voters have waited in 11 unacceptably long lines to cast their ballot. During 12 the 2018 midterm election, more than 3,000,000 13 voters were made to wait longer than the acceptable 14 threshold for wait times set by the Presidential 15 Commission on Election Administration, including 16 many well-documented cases where voters were made 17 to wait for several hours. A disproportionate number 18 of those who had to wait long periods were Black or 19 Latino voters, who were more likely than White vot- 20 ers to wait in the longest lines on Election Day. 21 (3) Allowing volunteers to donate food and 22 water to all people waiting in line at a polling place, 23 regardless of the voters’ political preference and 24 without engaging in electioneering activities or par- 25 tisan advocacy, helps ensure Americans who face 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1539 IS long lines at their polling place can still exercise 1 their Constitutional right to vote, without risk of de- 2 hydration, inadequate food, discomfort, and risks to 3 health. 4 (b) REQUIREMENT.—Subtitle A of title III of the 5 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) 6 is amended— 7 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 8 sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 9 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 10 new section: 11 ‘‘SEC. 304. PROHIBITING STATES FROM RESTRICTING DO- 12 NATIONS OF FOOD AND BEVERAGES AT 13 POLLING STATIONS. 14 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—Subject to the exception in sub- 15 section (b), a State may not impose any restriction on the 16 donation of food and nonalcoholic beverages to persons 17 outside of the entrance to the building where a polling 18 place for a Federal election is located, provided that such 19 food and nonalcoholic beverages are distributed without 20 regard to the electoral participation or political pref- 21 erences of the recipients. 22 ‘‘(b) EXCEPTION.—A State may require persons dis- 23 tributing food and nonalcoholic beverages outside the en- 24 trance to the building where a polling place for a Federal 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1539 IS election is located to refrain from political or election- 1 eering activity. 2 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 3 with respect to elections for Federal office occurring on 4 and after January 1, 2022.’’. 5 (c) TIMING OF ISSUANCE.—Section 311(b) of such 6 Act (52 U.S.C. 21101(b)) is amended— 7 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 8 (2); 9 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 10 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 11 (3) by adding at the end the following new 12 paragraph: 13 ‘‘(4) in the case of the recommendations with 14 respect to section 304, January 1, 2022.’’. 15 (d) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of contents 16 of such Act is amended— 17 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec- 18 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 19 306, respectively; and 20 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 21 tion 303 the following new item: 22 ‘‘Sec. 304. Prohibiting States from restricting donations of food and beverages at polling stations.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:21 May 27, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1539.IS S1539 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS