Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2019

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 561 To amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to revise the criteria for determining which States and political subdivisions are subject to section 4 of the Act, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES FEBRUARY 26, 2019 Mr. LEAHY (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. JONES, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. COONS, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. CASEY, Mr. KAINE, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. REED, Mr. BROWN, Ms. SMITH, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. MARKEY, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. BALDWIN, Ms. HASSAN, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. BOOKER, Ms. HIRONO, Mr. KING, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. VAN HOL- LEN, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Mr. WARNER, Ms. STABENOW, Mr. CARPER, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. MENENDEZ, Mr. UDALL, Mr. BENNET, Mr. SCHATZ, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Ms. WARREN, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Ms. ROSEN, Mr. TESTER, Mr. PETERS, and Ms. SINEMA) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to revise the criteria for determining which States and political sub- divisions are subject to section 4 of the Act, 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 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 561 IS SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Voting Rights Ad- 2 vancement Act of 2019’’. 3 SEC. 2. VOTING ON INDIAN LANDS. 4 Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (42 5 U.S.C. 1973) is amended by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 ‘‘(c) VOTING ON INDIAN LANDS.— 8 ‘‘(1) TRIBAL REQUESTS FOR POLLING PLACES; 9 POLLING PLACE PROVIDED.— 10 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A representative offi- 11 cial of an Indian Tribe, with authorization from 12 the governing body of the Tribe, may request 13 one or more polling places to be located on the 14 Indian lands of the Indian Tribe. Such request 15 shall be delivered in writing to the State or po- 16 litical subdivision with responsibility for assign- 17 ing polling places at least 6 months prior to the 18 next election for which the request is made, and 19 shall specify the location of each requested poll- 20 ing place. 21 ‘‘(B) POLLING PLACES PROVIDED.—Each 22 requested polling place shall be provided by the 23 State or political subdivision in response to a 24 request made under subparagraph (A), at no 25 expense to the Indian Tribe, if the voting-age 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 561 IS population within the geographic area of the In- 1 dian lands relevant to the requested polling 2 place is at least equal to the smallest voting-age 3 population served by any other polling place in 4 the State. Each polling place that is provided 5 under this subparagraph shall continue to be 6 provided after the election for which the request 7 was made, until such time as the Indian Tribe 8 that requested that polling place delivers a writ- 9 ten request to the State or political subdivision 10 asking that such polling place be withdrawn. 11 ‘‘(C) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing 12 in this paragraph shall be construed to prevent 13 a State or political subdivision from providing 14 additional polling places on Indian lands if no 15 request was made under subparagraph (A), or 16 if such request was made less than 6 months 17 prior to the next election for which the request 18 was made. 19 ‘‘(2) REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE EQUITABLE 20 POLLING LOCATIONS.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A State or political 22 subdivision shall provide the same ratio of poll 23 workers and voting devices, the same rate of 24 pay to poll workers, and the same days and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 561 IS hours of operation, for polling places that are 1 located on Indian lands as are provided in other 2 locations of polling places in the State or polit- 3 ical subdivision. 4 ‘‘(B) ELIGIBILITY TO VOTE AT A POLLING 5 LOCATION.—A polling place located on Indian 6 lands shall be open to voting by all persons who 7 are otherwise eligible to vote residing within the 8 precinct, voting unit, or electoral district. 9 ‘‘(C) FEDERAL FACILITIES.—Polling 10 places located on Indian lands may be des- 11 ignated at— 12 ‘‘(i) a Federal facility, such as Indian 13 Health Service or Bureau of Indian Affairs 14 service buildings; 15 ‘‘(ii) any Tribal government facility 16 that meets the requirements of Federal 17 and State law applied to other polling loca- 18 tions within the State; 19 ‘‘(iii) a tribally owned building; or 20 ‘‘(iv) another facility that meets the 21 requirements for polling places in the 22 State. 23 ‘‘(3) ABSENTEE BALLOTS AND EARLY VOT- 24 ING.— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 561 IS ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—A representative offi- 1 cial of an Indian Tribe, with authorization from 2 the governing body of the Indian Tribe, may de- 3 liver a request to the appropriate State or polit- 4 ical subdivision that a location on Indian lands 5 be designated as an absentee ballot location or 6 an early voting location, and such State or po- 7 litical subdivision shall grant the request, at no 8 expense to the Indian Tribe, if— 9 ‘‘(i) the requested location on Indian 10 lands is in a State that permits voting by 11 an absentee or mail-in ballot or early vot- 12 ing (also called absentee in-person voting), 13 as the case may be; and 14 ‘‘(ii) the voting-age population within 15 the geographic area of Indian lands rel- 16 evant to the requested absentee ballot loca- 17 tion or early voting location is at least 18 equal to the smallest voting-age population 19 served by any other absentee ballot loca- 20 tion or early voting location in the State. 21 ‘‘(B) INDIAN LANDS AS ABSENTEE BALLOT 22 LOCATION.—If a location on Indian lands is 23 designated as an absentee ballot location or an 24 early voting location, absentee ballots, or early 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 561 IS ballots, as the case may be, shall be provided, 1 at no expense to the Indian Tribe, to each reg- 2 istered voter living in such designated location 3 without the requirement of an excuse for an ab- 4 sentee ballot or early voting. Bilingual election 5 materials and oral language assistance shall be 6 provided if required by section 203. 7 ‘‘(4) TRIBAL REQUESTS FOR VOTER REGISTRA- 8 TION AGENCIES.—A representative official of an In- 9 dian Tribe, with authorization from the governing 10 body of the Tribe, may request that Tribal govern- 11 ment service offices be designated as voter registra- 12 tion agencies under section 7 of the National Voter 13 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20506). Such 14 a request shall be delivered in writing to the State 15 or political subdivision with responsibility for assign- 16 ing polling locations at least 6 months prior to the 17 next election for which the request is made. Such a 18 request shall be granted if the Tribal government 19 service office meets the requirements of Federal and 20 State law applied to other designated voter registra- 21 tion agencies within the State.’’. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 561 IS SEC. 3. VIOLATIONS TRIGGERING AUTHORITY OF COURT 1 TO RETAIN JURISDICTION. 2 (a) TYPES OF VIOLATIONS.—Section 3(c) of the Vot- 3 ing Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10302(c)) is amended 4 by striking ‘‘violations of the fourteenth or fifteenth 5 amendment’’ and inserting ‘‘violations of the 14th or 15th 6 Amendment, violations of this Act, or violations of any 7 Federal law that prohibits discrimination in voting on the 8 basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority 9 group,’’. 10 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 3(a) of 11 such Act (52 U.S.C. 10302(a)) is amended by striking 12 ‘‘violations of the fourteenth or fifteenth amendment’’ and 13 inserting ‘‘violations of the 14th or 15th Amendment, vio- 14 lations of this Act, or violations of any Federal law that 15 prohibits discrimination in voting on the basis of race, 16 color, or membership in a language minority group,’’. 17 SEC. 4. CRITERIA FOR COVERAGE OF STATES AND POLIT- 18 ICAL SUBDIVISIONS. 19 (a) DETERMINATION OF STATES AND POLITICAL 20 SUBDIVISIONS SUBJECT TO SECTION 4(a).— 21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 4(b) of the Voting 22 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10303(b)) is amend- 23 ed to read as follows: 24 ‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF STATES AND POLITICAL 25 SUBDIVISIONS SUBJECT TO REQUIREMENTS.— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 8 •S 561 IS ‘‘(1) EXISTENCE OF VOTING RIGHTS VIOLA- 1 TIONS DURING PREVIOUS 25 YEARS.— 2 ‘‘(A) STATEWIDE APPLICATION.—Sub- 3 section (a) applies with respect to a State and 4 all political subdivisions within the State during 5 a calendar year if— 6 ‘‘(i) 15 or more voting rights viola- 7 tions occurred in the State during the pre- 8 vious 25 calendar years; or 9 ‘‘(ii) 10 or more voting rights viola- 10 tions occurred in the State during the pre- 11 vious 25 calendar years, at least one of 12 which was committed by the State itself 13 (as opposed to a political subdivision with- 14 in the State). 15 ‘‘(B) APPLICATION TO SPECIFIC POLITICAL 16 SUBDIVISIONS.—Subsection (a) applies with re- 17 spect to a political subdivision as a separate 18 unit during a calendar year if 3 or more voting 19 rights violations occurred in the subdivision 20 during the previous 25 calendar years. 21 ‘‘(2) PERIOD OF APPLICATION.— 22 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 23 subparagraph (B), if, pursuant to paragraph 24 (1), subsection (a) applies with respect to a 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 9 •S 561 IS State or political subdivision during a calendar 1 year, subsection (a) shall apply with respect to 2 such State or political subdivision for the pe- 3 riod— 4 ‘‘(i) that begins on January 1 of the 5 year in which subsection (a) applies; and 6 ‘‘(ii) that ends on the date which is 10 7 years after the date described in clause (i). 8 ‘‘(B) NO FURTHER APPLICATION AFTER 9 DECLARATORY JUDGMENT.— 10 ‘‘(i) STATES.—If a State obtains a de- 11 claratory judgment under subsection (a), 12 and the judgment remains in effect, sub- 13 section (a) shall no longer apply to such 14 State pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) unless, 15 after the issuance of the declaratory judg- 16 ment, paragraph (1)(A) applies to the 17 State solely on the basis of voting rights 18 violations occurring after the issuance of 19 the declaratory judgment. 20 ‘‘(ii) POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.—If a 21 political subdivision obtains a declaratory 22 judgment under subsection (a), and the 23 judgment remains in effect, subsection (a) 24 shall no longer apply to such political sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 10 •S 561 IS division pursuant to paragraph (1), includ- 1 ing pursuant to paragraph (1)(A) (relating 2 to the statewide application of subsection 3 (a)), unless, after the issuance of the de- 4 claratory judgment, paragraph (1)(B) ap- 5 plies to the political subdivision solely on 6 the basis of voting rights violations occur- 7 ring after the issuance of the declaratory 8 judgment. 9 ‘‘(3) DETERMINATION OF VOTING RIGHTS VIO- 10 LATION.—For purposes of paragraph (1), a voting 11 rights violation occurred in a State or political sub- 12 division if any of the following applies: 13 ‘‘(A) FINAL JUDGMENT; VIOLATION OF 14 THE 14TH OR 15TH AMENDMENT.—In a final 15 judgment (which has not been reversed on ap- 16 peal), any court of the United States has deter- 17 mined that a denial or abridgement of the right 18 of any citizen of the United States to vote on 19 account of race, color, or membership in a lan- 20 guage minority group, in violation of the 14th 21 or 15th Amendment, occurred anywhere within 22 the State or subdivision. 23 ‘‘(B) FINAL JUDGMENT; VIOLATIONS OF 24 THIS ACT.—In a final judgment (which has not 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 11 •S 561 IS been reversed on appeal), any court of the 1 United States has determined that a voting 2 qualification or prerequisite to voting or stand- 3 ard, practice, or procedure with respect to vot- 4 ing was imposed or applied or would have been 5 imposed or applied anywhere within the State 6 or subdivision in a manner that resulted or 7 would have resulted in a denial or abridgement 8 of the right of any citizen of the United States 9 to vote on account of race, color, or membership 10 in a language minority group, in violation of 11 subsection (e) or (f), or section 2 or 203 of this 12 Act. 13 ‘‘(C) FINAL JUDGMENT; DENIAL OF DE- 14 CLARATORY JUDGMENT.—In a final judgment 15 (which has not been reversed on appeal), any 16 court of the United States has denied the re- 17 quest of the State or subdivision for a declara- 18 tory judgment under section 3(c) or section 5, 19 and thereby prevented a voting qualification or 20 prerequisite to voting or standard, practice, or 21 procedure with respect to voting from being en- 22 forced anywhere within the State or subdivision. 23 ‘‘(D) OBJECTION BY THE ATTORNEY GEN- 24 ERAL.—The Attorney General has interposed 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:48 Mar 08, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S561.IS S561 pbinns on DSK79D2C42PROD with BILLS 12 •S 561 IS an objection under section 3(c) or section 5 1 (and the objection has not been overturned by 2 a final judgment of a court or withdrawn by the 3 Attorney General), and thereby prevented a vot- 4 ing qualification or prerequisite to voting or 5 standard, practice, or procedure with respect to 6 voting from being enforced anywhere within the 7 State or subdivision. 8 ‘‘(E) CONSENT DECREE, SETTLEMENT, OR 9 OTHER AGREEMENT.—A consent decree, settle- 10 ment, or other agreement was entered into, 11 which resulted in the al [Text truncated for display. 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