To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish a minimum period for early voting in elections for Federal office.

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1546 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish a minimum period for early voting in elections for Federal office. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 5, 2019 Ms. WILD (for herself, Mr. SOTO, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. ROUDA, Mr. LUJA´N, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Mr. COOPER, Mr. DELGADO, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. TITUS, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, and Ms. NOR- TON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish a minimum period for early voting in elections for Fed- eral office. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. EARLY VOTING. 3 (a) REQUIREMENTS.—Subtitle A of title III of the 4 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) 5 is amended— 6 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 7 sections 305 and 306; and 8 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1546.IH H1546 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1546 IH (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 1 new section: 2 ‘‘SEC. 304. EARLY VOTING. 3 ‘‘(a) REQUIRING VOTING PRIOR TO DATE OF ELEC- 4 TION.— 5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall allow indi- 6 viduals to vote in an election for Federal office dur- 7 ing an early voting period which occurs prior to the 8 date of the election, in the same manner as voting 9 is allowed on such date. 10 ‘‘(2) LENGTH OF PERIOD.—The early voting 11 period required under this subsection with respect to 12 an election shall consist of a period of consecutive 13 days (including weekends) which begins on the 15th 14 day before the date of the election (or, at the option 15 of the State, on a day prior to the 15th day before 16 the date of the election) and ends on the date of the 17 election. 18 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING REQUIREMENTS.— 19 Each polling place which allows voting during an early vot- 20 ing period under subsection (a) shall— 21 ‘‘(1) allow such voting for no less than 4 hours 22 on each day, except that the polling place may allow 23 such voting for fewer than 4 hours on Sundays; and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1546.IH H1546 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1546 IH ‘‘(2) have uniform hours each day for which 1 such voting occurs. 2 ‘‘(c) LOCATION OF POLLING PLACES NEAR PUBLIC 3 TRANSPORTATION.—To the greatest extent practicable, a 4 State shall ensure that each polling place which allows vot- 5 ing during an early voting period under subsection (a) is 6 located within walking distance of a stop on a public trans- 7 portation route. 8 ‘‘(d) STANDARDS.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall issue 10 standards for the administration of voting prior to 11 the day scheduled for a Federal election. Such 12 standards shall include the nondiscriminatory geo- 13 graphic placement of polling places at which such 14 voting occurs. 15 ‘‘(2) DEVIATION.—The standards described in 16 paragraph (1) shall permit States, upon providing 17 adequate public notice, to deviate from any require- 18 ment in the case of unforeseen circumstances, such 19 as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or a change 20 in voter turnout. 21 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 22 with respect to elections held on or after January 1, 23 2020.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1546.IH H1546 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1546 IH (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO 1 ISSUANCE OF VOLUNTARY GUIDANCE BY ELECTION AS- 2 SISTANCE COMMISSION.—Section 311(b) of such Act (52 3 U.S.C. 21101(b)) is amended— 4 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of paragraph 5 (2); 6 (2) by striking the period at the end of para- 7 graph (3) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 8 (3) by adding at the end the following new 9 paragraph: 10 ‘‘(4) in the case of the recommendations with 11 respect to section 304, June 30, 2020.’’. 12 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 13 of such Act, is amended— 14 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec- 15 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 16 306; and 17 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 18 tion 303 the following new item: 19 ‘‘Sec. 304. Early voting.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:13 Mar 20, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1546.IH H1546 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS