Native American Voting Rights Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1694 To protect the voting rights of Native American and Alaska Native voters. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 12, 2019 Mr. LUJA´N (for himself, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. GALLEGO, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. COLE, Mr. CLYBURN, Mr. NADLER, Mr. O’HALLERAN, Mr. HUFFMAN, Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mrs. TORRES of California, Mr. SOTO, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mr. RUIZ, Mr. COHEN, Mr. KHANNA, Mr. AGUILAR, Ms. SEWELL of Alabama, Ms. BASS, Mr. POCAN, Mr. CARBAJAL, Mr. KILMER, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Ms. KUSTER of New Hampshire, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD, Ms. OMAR, Mr. TED LIEU of California, Mr. RASKIN, Mr. SIRES, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. SMITH of Washington, Mr. CASE, Mr. PETERS, Ms. JACK- SON LEE, Ms. TORRES SMALL of New Mexico, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. PALLONE, Ms. CLARK of Massachusetts, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. CART- WRIGHT, Ms. TITUS, Ms. MENG, Mrs. BUSTOS, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. ALLRED, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. HECK, Mrs. DINGELL, Mr. ROUDA, Ms. WILD, Mr. STANTON, Mr. TONKO, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. LARSEN of Washington, Mr. CASTEN of Illinois, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. HAS- TINGS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. EVANS, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. CRIST, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. COURTNEY, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. LOFGREN, Mr. HIMES, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. JEFFRIES, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, Ms. HILL of California, and Mr. NEAL) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the Judici- ary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To protect the voting rights of Native American and Alaska Native voters. VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6652 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1694 IH 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 ‘‘Native American Vot- 4 ing Rights Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 (1) The Constitution explicitly and implicitly 8 grants Congress broad general powers to legislate on 9 issues relating to Indian Tribes, powers consistently 10 described as plenary and exclusive. These powers 11 arise from the grant of authority in the Indian Com- 12 merce Clause and through legislative matters arising 13 under the Treaty Clause. 14 (2) The Federal Government is responsible for 15 upholding the obligations that the Federal Govern- 16 ment has agreed to through treaties, legislation, and 17 executive orders, referred to as the Federal trust re- 18 sponsibility toward Indian Tribes and their mem- 19 bers. 20 (3) The Supreme Court has repeatedly relied on 21 the nature of this ‘‘government to government’’ rela- 22 tionship between the United States and sovereign 23 Indian Tribes for congressional authority to enact 24 ‘‘legislation that singles out Indians for particular 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1694 IH and special treatment.’’ Morton v. Mancari, 417 1 U.S. 535, 554–555 (1974). 2 (4) Legislation removing barriers to Native 3 American voting is vital for the fulfillment of Con- 4 gress’ ‘‘unique obligation’’ toward Indians, particu- 5 larly ensuring that Native American voters are fully 6 included as ‘‘qualified members of the modern body 7 politic.’’ Board of County Comm’rs v. Seber, 318 8 U.S. 705, 715 (1943). 9 (5) Under the Elections Clause of article I, sec- 10 tion 4 of the Constitution, Congress has additional 11 power to regulate any election conducted at least in 12 part to select Members of Congress. Taken together, 13 the Indian Commerce Clause and the Election 14 Clause give Congress broad authority to enact legis- 15 lation to safeguard the voting rights of Native Amer- 16 ican voters. 17 (6) Despite Congress’ decision to grant Native 18 Americans Federal citizenship, and with it the pro- 19 tections of the Fifteenth Amendment, with passage 20 of the Act of June 2, 1924 (Public Law 68–233; 43 21 Stat. 253) (commonly known as the ‘‘Indian Citizen- 22 ship Act of 1924’’), States continued to deploy dis- 23 tinct methods for disenfranchising Indians by enact- 24 ing statutes to exclude from voter rolls Indians liv- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1694 IH ing on reservations, requiring that Indians first ter- 1 minate their relationship with their Indian Tribe, re- 2 stricting the right to vote on account of a Tribal 3 member’s ‘‘guardianship’’ status, and imposing lit- 4 eracy tests. 5 (7) Barriers to voter access for Native Ameri- 6 cans persist today, and such barriers range from ob- 7 structing voter access, to vote dilution and inten- 8 tional malapportionment of electoral districts. 9 (8) The Native American Voting Rights Coali- 10 tion’s recent 9 field hearings in Indian Country and 11 4-State survey of voter discrimination revealed a 12 number of additional obstacles that Native Ameri- 13 cans must overcome in some States, including— 14 (A) a lack of accessible registration and 15 polling sites, either due to conditions such as 16 geography, lack of paved roads, the absence of 17 reliable and affordable broadband connectivity, 18 and restrictions on the time and place that peo- 19 ple can register and vote, and the manner in 20 which people can register and vote, including 21 unequal opportunities for absentee, early, mail- 22 in, and in-person voting; 23 (B) nontraditional addresses for residents 24 on Indian reservations, which make voter reg- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 1694 IH istration, acquisition of mail-in ballots, and se- 1 curing required identification difficult, if not 2 impossible; 3 (C) inadequate language assistance for 4 Tribal members, including lack of outreach and 5 publicity, the failure to provide complete, accu- 6 rate, and uniform translations of all voting ma- 7 terials in the relevant Native language, and an 8 insufficient number of trained bilingual poll 9 workers; and 10 (D) voter identification laws that discrimi- 11 nate against Native Americans. 12 (9) The Department of Justice and courts have 13 also recognized that some jurisdictions have been 14 unresponsive to reasonable requests from federally 15 recognized Indian Tribes for more accessible voter 16 registration sites and in-person voting locations. 17 (10) According to the National Congress of 18 American Indians, there is a wide gap between the 19 voter registration and turnout rates of eligible Amer- 20 ican Indians and Alaska Natives, and the voter reg- 21 istration and turnout rates of non-Hispanic White 22 and other racial and ethnic groups. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 1694 IH (11) Despite these obstacles, the Native Amer- 1 ican vote continues to play a significant role in na- 2 tional, State, and local elections. 3 (12) In Alaska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and 4 South Dakota, Native Americans comprise approxi- 5 mately 10 percent or more of the voting population. 6 (13) The Native American vote also holds great 7 potential, with over 1,000,000 voters who are eligible 8 to vote, but are not registered to vote. 9 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 10 (1) to fulfill the Federal Government’s trust re- 11 sponsibility to protect and promote Native Ameri- 12 cans’ exercise of their constitutionally guaranteed 13 right to vote, including the right to register to vote 14 and the ability to access all mechanisms for voting; 15 (2) to establish preclearance procedures for a 16 specific subset of State actions that have been used 17 to restrict access to the polls on Indian lands; 18 (3) to expand voter registration under the Na- 19 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20 20506 et seq.) to cover all Federal facilities, at the 21 request of the Indian Tribe; 22 (4) to afford equal treatment to forms of identi- 23 fication unique to Indian Tribes and their members; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 1694 IH (5) to clarify the obligations of States and polit- 1 ical subdivisions regarding the provision of trans- 2 lated voting materials for American Indians and 3 Alaska Natives under section 203 of the Voting 4 Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503); 5 (6) to provide Tribal leaders with a direct path- 6 way to request Federal election observers, and to 7 allow public access to the reports of those election 8 observers; and 9 (7) to direct the Department of Justice to con- 10 sult on an annual basis with Indian Tribes on issues 11 related to voting. 12 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 13 In this Act: 14 (1) INDIAN.—The term ‘‘Indian’’ has the mean- 15 ing given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self- 16 Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 17 U.S.C. 5304). 18 (2) INDIAN LANDS.—The term ‘‘Indian lands’’ 19 includes— 20 (A) any Indian country of an Indian Tribe, 21 as defined under section 1151 of title 18, 22 United States Code; 23 (B) any land in Alaska owned, pursuant to 24 the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 1694 IH U.S.C. 1601 et seq.), by an Indian Tribe that 1 is a Native village (as defined in section 3 of 2 that Act (43 U.S.C. 1602)) or by a Village Cor- 3 poration that is associated with an Indian Tribe 4 (as defined in section 3 of that Act (43 U.S.C. 5 1602)); 6 (C) any land on which the seat of the Trib- 7 al Government is located; and 8 (D) any land that is part or all of a Tribal 9 designated statistical area associated with an 10 Indian Tribe, or is part or all of an Alaska Na- 11 tive village statistical area associated with an 12 Indian Tribe, as defined by the Census Bureau 13 for the purposes of the most recent decennial 14 census. 15 (3) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 16 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 17 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu- 18 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 19 (4) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT.—The term ‘‘Tribal 20 Government’’ means the recognized governing body 21 of an Indian Tribe. 22 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 1694 IH SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF A NATIVE AMERICAN VOTING 1 TASK FORCE GRANT PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Office for Civil Rights at the 3 Office of Justice Programs of the Department of Justice 4 (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Office’’) shall establish 5 and administer, in coordination with the Department of 6 the Interior, a Native American voting task force grant 7 program, through which the Office shall provide financial 8 assistance to eligible applicants to enable those eligible ap- 9 plicants to establish and operate a Native American Vot- 10 ing Task Force in each State with a federally recognized 11 Indian Tribe. 12 (b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of the Native American 13 voting task force grant program is to— 14 (1) increase voter outreach, education, registra- 15 tion, and turnout in Native American communities; 16 (2) increase access to the ballot for Native 17 American communities, including additional satellite, 18 early voting, and absentee voting locations; 19 (3) streamline and reduce inconsistencies in the 20 voting process for Native Americans; 21 (4) provide, in the community’s dominant lan- 22 guage, educational materials and classes on Indian 23 lands about candidacy filing; 24 (5) train and educate State and local employ- 25 ees, including poll workers, about— 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 1694 IH (A) the language assistance and voter as- 1 sistance requirements under sections 203 and 2 208 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 3 U.S.C. 10503; 10508); and 4 (B) voter identification laws under section 5 8 of this Act; 6 (6) identify model programs and best practices 7 for providing language assistance to Native Amer- 8 ican communities; 9 (7) provide non-partisan poll watchers on elec- 10 tion day in Native American communities; 11 (8) participate in and evaluate future redis- 12 tricting efforts; 13 (9) address issues of internet connectivity as it 14 relates to voter registration and ballot access in Na- 15 tive American communities; and 16 (10) facilitate collaboration between local elec- 17 tion officials, Native American communities, and 18 Tribal elections offices. 19 (c) ELIGIBLE APPLICANT.—The term ‘‘eligible appli- 20 cant’’ means— 21 (1) an Indian Tribe; 22 (2) a Secretary of State of a State, or another 23 official of a State entity responsible for overseeing 24 elections; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:10 Apr 02, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1694.IH H1694 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 1694 IH (3) a nonprofit organization that works, in 1 whole or in part, on voting issues; or 2 (4) a consortium of one or more of the entities 3 described in paragraphs (1) through (3). 4 (d) APPLICATION AND SELECTION PROCESS.— 5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Office, in coordination 6 with the Department of the Interior and following 7 consultation with Indian Tribes about the implemen- 8 tation of the Native American voting task force 9 grant program, shall establish guidelines for the 10 process by which eligible applicants will submit ap- 11 plications. 12 (2) APPLICATIONS.—Each eligible applicant de- 13 siring a grant under this section shall submit an ap- 14 plication, according to the process established under 15 paragraph (1), and at such time, in such manner, 16 and containing such information as the Attorney 17 General may require. Such application shall in- 18 clude— 19 (A) a certification that the applicant is an 20 eligible applicant; 21 (B) a proposed work plan addressing how 22 the eligible applicant will establish and admin- 23 ister a Native American Voting Task Force 24 VerDa [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]