Next Generation Votes Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 734 To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require States to accept applications to register to vote in elections for Federal office in the State from individuals under 18 years of age at the time of application. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 23, 2019 Mr. NEGUSE (for himself and Mr. SARBANES) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require States to accept applications to register to vote in elections for Federal office in the State from individ- uals under 18 years of age at the time of application. 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 ‘‘Next Generation Votes 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H734.IH H734 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 734 IH SEC. 2. ACCEPTANCE OF VOTER REGISTRATION APPLICA- 1 TIONS FROM INDIVIDUALS UNDER 18 YEARS 2 OF AGE. 3 (a) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS.—Section 8 of 4 the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 5 20507) is amended— 6 (1) by redesignating subsection (j) as sub- 7 section (k); and 8 (2) by inserting after subsection (i) the fol- 9 lowing new subsection: 10 ‘‘(j) ACCEPTANCE OF APPLICATIONS FROM INDIVID- 11 UALS UNDER 18 YEARS OF AGE.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—A State may not refuse to 13 accept or process an individual’s application to reg- 14 ister to vote in elections for Federal office on the 15 grounds that the individual is under 18 years of age 16 at the time the individual submits the application, so 17 long as the individual is at least 16 years of age at 18 such time. 19 ‘‘(2) NO EFFECT ON STATE VOTING AGE RE- 20 QUIREMENTS.—Nothing in paragraph (1) may be 21 construed to require a State to permit an individual 22 who is under 18 years of age at the time of an elec- 23 tion for Federal office to vote in the election.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H734.IH H734 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 734 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 1 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to elections occur- 2 ring on or after January 1, 2020. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:43 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H734.IH H734 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS