Early Voting Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 957 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish minimum requirements for early voting. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MARCH 28, 2019 Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to establish minimum requirements for early voting. 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 ‘‘Early Voting Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHING MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS FOR 5 EARLY VOTING. 6 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR STATES.— 7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subtitle A of title III of the 8 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 9 et seq.) is amended— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 957 IS (A) by redesignating section 304 as section 1 307; and 2 (B) by inserting after section 303 the fol- 3 lowing new section: 4 ‘‘SEC. 304. EARLY VOTING. 5 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Each State and jurisdiction 6 which is responsible for administering elections for Fed- 7 eral office shall allow individuals to vote in an election for 8 Federal office on each day occurring during the 15-day 9 period which ends on the Friday immediately preceding 10 the date of the election, in the same manner as voting 11 is allowed on such date. 12 ‘‘(b) MINIMUM EARLY VOTING REQUIREMENTS.— 13 ‘‘(1) MINIMUM NUMBER OF EARLY VOTING LO- 14 CATIONS BASED ON VOTING POPULATION.— 15 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Each jurisdiction shall 16 have at least the applicable number of polling 17 places specified under subparagraph (B) open 18 for early voting pursuant to subsection (a) and 19 in accordance with the requirements under 20 paragraphs (2) and (3). 21 ‘‘(B) MINIMUM APPLICABLE NUMBER OF 22 VOTING SYSTEMS SPECIFIED.—For purposes of 23 subparagraph (A), the applicable number of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 957 IS polling places specified in this subparagraph 1 is— 2 ‘‘(i) in the case of a jurisdiction that 3 has (as of the 60th day prior to an election 4 for Federal office, if available, or if not 5 available, as reported in the most recent 6 decennial census) a voting age population 7 greater than 100,000, 2; and 8 ‘‘(ii) in the case of a jurisdiction that 9 has (as of such date, if available, or if not 10 available, as reported in the most recent 11 decennial census) a voting age population 12 equal to or less than 100,000, 1. 13 ‘‘(2) MINIMUM NUMBER OF EARLY VOTING LO- 14 CATIONS PER COUNTY.—Each jurisdiction shall en- 15 sure that each county within the jurisdiction has 16 more than 1 polling location. 17 ‘‘(3) OTHER REQUIREMENTS.—Each polling 18 place which allows voting prior to the date of a Fed- 19 eral election pursuant to subsection (a) shall— 20 ‘‘(A) allow such voting for not less than 10 21 hours on each day; and 22 ‘‘(B) have uniform hours each day for 23 which such voting occurs. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 957 IS ‘‘(c) LOCATION OF POLLING PLACES NEAR PUBLIC 1 TRANSPORTATION.—To the greatest extent practicable, a 2 State or jurisdiction shall ensure that each polling place 3 which allows voting prior to the date of a Federal election 4 pursuant to subsection (a) is located within reasonable 5 walking distance of no more than 1⁄2 mile of a stop on 6 a public transportation route. 7 ‘‘(d) STANDARDS.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding section 9 209, the Commission shall issue standards for the 10 administration of voting prior to the date scheduled 11 for a Federal election. Such standards shall include 12 the nondiscriminatory geographic placement of poll- 13 ing places at which such voting occurs. 14 ‘‘(2) DEVIATION.—The standards described in 15 paragraph (1) shall— 16 ‘‘(A) subject to subparagraph (B), permit 17 States and jurisdictions, upon providing ade- 18 quate public notice, to deviate from any require- 19 ment in the case of unforeseen circumstances 20 such as a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or 21 a change in voter turnout; and 22 ‘‘(B) include minimum standards for 23 States and jurisdictions with respect to polling 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •S 957 IS locations in case of such unforseen cir- 1 cumstances. 2 ‘‘(e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 3 with respect to elections held on or after the date that 4 is 180 days after the date of enactment of this section.’’. 5 (2) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 401 of the Help 6 America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111) is 7 amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, 8 and 304’’. 9 (3) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO 10 RULEMAKING AUTHORITY.—Section 209 of such Act 11 (52 U.S.C. 20929) is amended by striking ‘‘The 12 Commission’’ and inserting ‘‘Except as provided in 13 section 304(d), the Commission’’. 14 (4) CLERICAL AMENDMENTS.—The table of 15 contents of such Act is amended— 16 (A) by redesignating the items relating to 17 section 304 as relating to section 307; and 18 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 19 section 303 the following new item: 20 ‘‘Sec. 304. Early voting.’’. (5) AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDING.—Section 21 257(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 22 U.S.C. 21007(a)) is amended by adding at the end 23 the following new paragraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •S 957 IS ‘‘(5) For fiscal year 2019 and subsequent fiscal 1 years, such sums as are necessary for purposes of 2 making requirements payments to States to carry 3 out the activities described in section 304.’’. 4 (b) REPORT BY ELECTION ASSISTANCE COMMIS- 5 SION.—Not later than June 30 of each odd-numbered 6 year, the Election Assistance Commission shall submit to 7 Congress a report assessing the impact of section 304 of 8 the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as added by sub- 9 section (a)) on the administration of elections for Federal 10 office during the preceding 2-year period, and shall include 11 in the report such recommendations as the Commission 12 considers appropriate. 13 (c) NO EFFECT ON AUTHORITY OF STATE TO PRO- 14 VIDE FOR LONGER PERIODS OF EARLY VOTING.—Noth- 15 ing in this section or in any amendment made by this sec- 16 tion may be construed to prohibit a State, with respect 17 to any election for Federal office from providing in an eq- 18 uitable and nondiscriminatory manner a longer period for 19 early voting than the minimum period required under sec- 20 tion 304 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (as added 21 by subsection (a)). 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Apr 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S957.IS S957 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS