Register America to Vote Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 550 To require States to automatically register eligible voters at the time they turn 18 to vote in Federal elections, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 25, 2019 Ms. KLOBUCHAR introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To require States to automatically register eligible voters at the time they turn 18 to vote in Federal elections, 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 ‘‘Register America to 4 Vote Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 6 The purposes of this Act are— 7 (1) to require every State to develop and imple- 8 ment a system to ensure that every eligible person 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 550 IS is automatically registered to vote when they turn 18 1 years old; and 2 (2) to protect the right to vote by allowing vot- 3 ers who are automatically registered or had pre- 4 viously registered in a State to update their address 5 through the day of the election. 6 SEC. 3. AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION. 7 (a) REQUIREMENT.— 8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than November 3, 9 2020, the chief State election official of each State 10 shall establish and operate a system of automatic 11 registration for the registration of any eligible indi- 12 vidual at the time the individual turns 18 to vote for 13 elections for Federal office in the State. 14 (2) EXCEPTION.—The requirements under 15 paragraph (1) shall not apply to a State in which, 16 under a State law in effect continuously on and after 17 the date of the enactment of this section, there is no 18 voter registration requirement for individuals in the 19 State with respect to elections for Federal office. 20 (3) LIMITS ON USE OF AUTOMATIC REGISTRA- 21 TION.—The registration of any individual under this 22 subsection, and any action by an individual to opt- 23 out of such automatic registration, may not be used 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 550 IS as evidence against that individual in any State or 1 Federal law enforcement proceeding. 2 (b) SAME DAY REGISTRATION.— 3 (1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 4 8(a)(1)(D) of the National Voter Registration Act of 5 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6), each noncomplying 6 State shall permit any eligible individual on the day 7 of a Federal election— 8 (A) to register to vote in such election at 9 the polling place using a form that meets the 10 requirements under section 9(b) of the National 11 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 12 20509(b)); and 13 (B) to cast a vote in such election. 14 (2) NONCOMPLYING STATE.—For purposes of 15 paragraph (1), the term ‘‘noncomplying State’’ 16 means, with respect to any Federal election occur- 17 ring on or after November 3, 2020, any State which 18 is required to meet the requirements of subsection 19 (a) and which does not have a system described in 20 subsection (a) established and operated before the 21 date of such Federal election. 22 (c) AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION GRANTS.— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 550 IS (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall make 1 a payment in an amount determined under para- 2 graph (3) to each State. 3 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—A State receiving a pay- 4 ment under this subsection shall use the payment— 5 (A) to implement automatic voter registra- 6 tion in accordance with subsection (a); and 7 (B) to improve election security systems 8 related to voter registration. 9 (3) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.— 10 (A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara- 11 graph (C), the amount of a payment made to 12 a State under this subsection shall be equal to 13 the product of— 14 (i) the total amount appropriated for 15 payments pursuant to the authorization 16 under paragraph (4); and 17 (ii) the State allocation percentage for 18 the State (as determined under subpara- 19 graph (B)). 20 (B) STATE ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE DE- 21 FINED.—The ‘‘State allocation percentage’’ for 22 a State is the amount (expressed as a percent- 23 age) equal to the quotient of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 550 IS (i) the voting age population of the 1 State (as reported in the most recent de- 2 cennial census); and 3 (ii) the total voting age population of 4 all States (as reported in the most recent 5 decennial census). 6 (C) MINIMUM AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.—The 7 amount of a payment made to a State under 8 this subsection may not be less than one-half of 9 1 percent of the total amount appropriated for 10 payments under this subsection under para- 11 graph (4). 12 (D) PRO RATA REDUCTIONS.—The Com- 13 mission shall make such pro rata reductions to 14 the allocations determined under subparagraph 15 (A) as are necessary to comply with the require- 16 ments of subparagraph (C). 17 (E) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS 18 AFTER APPROPRIATION.—A payment to a State 19 under this subsection shall be available to the 20 State without fiscal year limitation. 21 (4) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 22 (A) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to 23 be appropriated $325,000,000 for payments 24 under this subsection. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 550 IS (B) AVAILABILITY.—Any amounts appro- 1 priated pursuant to the authority of subpara- 2 graph (A) shall remain available without fiscal 3 year limitation until expended. 4 (d) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 11 of the National 5 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20510), relat- 6 ing to civil enforcement and the availability of private 7 rights of action, shall apply with respect to subsections 8 (a) and (b) in the same manner as such section applies 9 to such Act. 10 (e) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.—Except as pro- 11 vided, nothing in this Act may be construed to authorize 12 or require conduct prohibited under, or to supersede, re- 13 strict, or limit the application of any of the following: 14 (1) The Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 15 10301 et seq.). 16 (2) The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Ab- 17 sentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq.). 18 (3) The National Voter Registration Act of 19 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.). 20 (4) The Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 21 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.). 22 (f) DEFINITIONS.—In this Act, the following defini- 23 tions apply: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •S 550 IS (1) CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL.—The 1 term ‘‘chief State election official’’ means, with re- 2 spect to a State, the individual designated by the 3 State under section 10 of the National Voter Reg- 4 istration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20509) to be re- 5 sponsible for coordination of the State’s responsibil- 6 ities under such Act. 7 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 8 means the Election Assistance Commission. 9 (3) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ has the 10 meaning given such term under section 301(1) of 11 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971. 12 (4) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of- 13 fice’’ has the meaning given such term under section 14 301(3) of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 15 1971. 16 (5) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means each of 17 the several States and the District of Columbia. 18 SEC. 4. STATE REGISTRATION PORTABILITY. 19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 8(e) of the National Voter 20 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(e)) is amend- 21 ed to read as follows: 22 ‘‘(e) PROCEDURE FOR VOTING FOLLOWING FAILURE 23 TO RETURN CARD.—Notwithstanding failure to notify the 24 registrar of the change of address prior to the date of an 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 8 •S 550 IS election, a registrant who has moved from an address in 1 the State to an address in the same State shall, upon oral 2 or written affirmation by the registrant of the change of 3 address before an election official, be permitted to vote 4 (at the option of the voter)— 5 ‘‘(1) at the polling place of the registrant’s cur- 6 rent address; or 7 ‘‘(2) at a central location within the same reg- 8 istrar’s jurisdiction.’’. 9 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 10 this section shall take effect on January 1, 2020. 11 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:15 Mar 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S550.IS S550 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS