Save Voters Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 507 To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to clarify that a State may not use an individual’s failure to vote as the basis for initiating the procedures provided under such Act for the removal of the individual from the official list of registered voters in the State on the grounds that the individual has changed residence, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 14, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Mr. BROWN, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. VAN HOLLEN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. JONES, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to clarify that a State may not use an individual’s failure to vote as the basis for initiating the procedures provided under such Act for the removal of the individual from the official list of registered voters in the State on the grounds that the individual has changed residence, 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S507.IS S507 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 507 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Automatically 2 Voiding Eligible Voters Off Their Enlisted Rolls in States 3 Act’’ or the ‘‘Save Voters Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 5 The purposes of this Act are— 6 (1) to prohibit States from removing individuals 7 from an official list of registered voters due to 8 changes in residence; and 9 (2) to protect the right to vote by allowing vot- 10 ers who are automatically registered or had pre- 11 viously registered to vote in a State to update their 12 address through the day of the election. 13 SEC. 3. CLARIFICATION THAT STATES MAY NOT USE FAIL- 14 URE TO VOTE AS BASIS FOR INITIATING PRO- 15 CEDURES TO REMOVE VOTERS FROM LIST OF 16 REGISTERED VOTERS ON GROUNDS OF 17 CHANGED RESIDENCE. 18 (a) CRITERIA FOR CONFIRMATION OF VOTER REG- 19 ISTRATION.—Section 8(b) of the National Voter Registra- 20 tion Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(b)) is amended— 21 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 22 (1); 23 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 24 graph (2) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S507.IS S507 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 507 IS (3) by adding at the end the following new 1 paragraph: 2 ‘‘(3) shall not use the failure of a registrant to 3 vote or the failure of a registrant to respond to a no- 4 tice from the State as the basis for sending the reg- 5 istrant the notice described in subsection (d).’’. 6 (b) CRITERIA FOR VOTER REMOVAL PROGRAM.— 7 Section 8(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20507(d)) is amend- 8 ed— 9 (1) by redesignating paragraph (3) as para- 10 graph (4); and 11 (2) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol- 12 lowing new paragraph: 13 ‘‘(3) A State may not use the procedures de- 14 scribed in this subsection with respect to any reg- 15 istrant unless the State has first obtained objective 16 and reliable evidence of the registrant’s change of 17 residence. For purposes of this paragraph, the objec- 18 tive and reliable evidence of a registrant’s change of 19 residence shall not include the failure of the reg- 20 istrant to vote or the failure of the registrant to re- 21 spond to a notice from the State.’’. 22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 23 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 24 of this Act. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S507.IS S507 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 507 IS SEC. 4. STATE REGISTRATION PORTABILITY. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(e) of the National Voter 2 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(e)) is amend- 3 ed to read as follows: 4 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURE FOR VOTING FOLLOWING FAILURE 5 TO RETURN CARD.—Notwithstanding failure to notify the 6 registrar of the change of address prior to the date of an 7 election, a registrant who has moved from an address in 8 the State to an address in the same State shall, upon oral 9 or written affirmation by the registrant of the change of 10 address before an election official, be permitted to vote 11 (at the option of the voter)— 12 ‘‘(1) at the polling place of the registrant’s cur- 13 rent address; or 14 ‘‘(2) at a central location within the same reg- 15 istrar’s jurisdiction.’’. 16 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 17 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 18 of this Act. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:51 Feb 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S507.IS S507 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS