To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and other questionable challenges.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1460 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and other questionable challenges. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 28, 2019 Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL (for herself, Mr. COHEN, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. COOPER, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SOTO, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. SHALALA, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subse- quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and other questionable challenges. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. VOTER CAGING AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE 3 CHALLENGES PROHIBITED. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 5 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol- 6 lowing: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1460 IH ‘‘§ 612. Voter caging and other questionable chal- 1 lenges 2 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 3 ‘‘(1) the term ‘voter caging document’ means— 4 ‘‘(A) a nonforwardable document that is 5 returned to the sender or a third party as unde- 6 livered or undeliverable despite an attempt to 7 deliver such document to the address of a reg- 8 istered voter or applicant; or 9 ‘‘(B) any document with instructions to an 10 addressee that the document be returned to the 11 sender or a third party but is not so returned, 12 despite an attempt to deliver such document to 13 the address of a registered voter or applicant, 14 unless at least two Federal election cycles have 15 passed since the date of the attempted delivery; 16 ‘‘(2) the term ‘voter caging list’ means a list of 17 individuals compiled from voter caging documents; 18 and 19 ‘‘(3) the term ‘unverified match list’ means a 20 list produced by matching the information of reg- 21 istered voters or applicants for voter registration to 22 a list of individuals who are ineligible to vote in the 23 registrar’s jurisdiction, by virtue of death, convic- 24 tion, change of address, or otherwise; unless one of 25 the pieces of information matched includes a signa- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1460 IH ture, photograph, or unique identifying number en- 1 suring that the information from each source refers 2 to the same individual. 3 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION AGAINST VOTER CAGING.—No 4 State or local election official shall prevent an individual 5 from registering or voting in any election for Federal of- 6 fice, or permit in connection with any election for Federal 7 office a formal challenge under State law to an individual’s 8 registration status or eligibility to vote, if the basis for 9 such decision is evidence consisting of— 10 ‘‘(1) a voter caging document or voter caging 11 list; 12 ‘‘(2) an unverified match list; 13 ‘‘(3) an error or omission on any record or 14 paper relating to any application, registration, or 15 other act requisite to voting, if such error or omis- 16 sion is not material to an individual’s eligibility to 17 vote under section 2004 of the Revised Statutes, as 18 amended (52 U.S.C. 10101(a)(2)(B)); or 19 ‘‘(4) any other evidence so designated for pur- 20 poses of this section by the Election Assistance Com- 21 mission, 22 except that the election official may use such evidence if 23 it is corroborated by independent evidence of the individ- 24 ual’s ineligibility to register or vote. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1460 IH ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES BY PERSONS 1 OTHER THAN ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 2 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES.—No 3 person, other than a State or local election official, 4 shall submit a formal challenge to an individual’s eli- 5 gibility to register to vote in an election for Federal 6 office or to vote in an election for Federal office un- 7 less that challenge is supported by personal knowl- 8 edge regarding the grounds for ineligibility which 9 is— 10 ‘‘(A) documented in writing; and 11 ‘‘(B) subject to an oath or attestation 12 under penalty of perjury that the challenger has 13 a good faith factual basis to believe that the in- 14 dividual who is the subject of the challenge is 15 ineligible to register to vote or vote in that elec- 16 tion, except a challenge which is based on the 17 race, ethnicity, or national origin of the indi- 18 vidual who is the subject of the challenge may 19 not be considered to have a good faith factual 20 basis for purposes of this paragraph. 21 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON CHALLENGES ON OR 22 NEAR DATE OF ELECTION.—No person, other than 23 a State or local election official, shall be permitted— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1460 IH ‘‘(A) to challenge an individual’s eligibility 1 to vote in an election for Federal office on Elec- 2 tion Day, or 3 ‘‘(B) to challenge an individual’s eligibility 4 to register to vote in an election for Federal of- 5 fice or to vote in an election for Federal office 6 less than 10 days before the election unless the 7 individual registered to vote less than 20 days 8 before the election. 9 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES FOR KNOWING MISCONDUCT.— 10 Whoever knowingly challenges the eligibility of one or 11 more individuals to register or vote or knowingly causes 12 the eligibility of such individuals to be challenged in viola- 13 tion of this section with the intent that one or more eligi- 14 ble voters be disqualified, shall be fined under this title 15 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, for each such 16 violation. Each violation shall be a separate offense. 17 ‘‘(e) NO EFFECT ON RELATED LAWS.—Nothing in 18 this section is intended to override the protections of the 19 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20 20501 et seq.) or to affect the Voting Rights Act of 1965 21 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.).’’. 22 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 23 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 24 by adding at the end the following: 25 ‘‘612. Voter caging and other questionable challenges.’’. VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6211 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1460 IH SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OF BEST PRAC- 1 TICES FOR PREVENTING VOTER CAGING. 2 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 3 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist- 4 ance Commission shall develop and publish for the use of 5 States recommendations for best practices to deter and 6 prevent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 7 Code, as added by section 1(a), including practices to pro- 8 vide for the posting of relevant information at polling 9 places and voter registration agencies, the training of poll 10 workers and election officials, and relevant educational 11 measures. For purposes of this subsection, the term 12 ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia, the Common- 13 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 14 United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of 15 the Northern Mariana Islands. 16 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTING INFORMATION REQUIRE- 17 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 18 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)) is amended— 19 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara- 20 graph (E); 21 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub- 22 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 23 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 24 paragraph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 7 •HR 1460 IH ‘‘(G) information relating to the prohibi- 1 tion against voter caging and other questionable 2 challenges (as set forth in section 612 of title 3 18, United States Code), including information 4 on how individuals may report allegations of 5 violations of such prohibition.’’. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS