Help Students Vote Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1514 To amend title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education that participate in programs under such title to distribute voter registration forms to students enrolled at the institution, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 16, 2019 Mr. BOOKER (for himself, Mr. DURBIN, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions A BILL To amend title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions of higher education that partici- pate in programs under such title to distribute voter registration forms to students enrolled at the institution, 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 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Help Students Vote 4 Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1514 IS SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 1 It is the sense of Congress that political participation 2 and civic engagement are fundamental to the health of 3 American democracy, and that all citizens should be en- 4 couraged to vote, regardless of party affiliation. 5 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) According to the National Center for Edu- 8 cation Statistics, undergraduate enrollment is pro- 9 jected to increase from 17,000,000 to 19,300,000 10 students between 2015 and 2026, and nearly 11 3,000,000 undergraduate and graduate students 12 today enroll in exclusively online education. 13 (2) According to the Pew Research Center, peo- 14 ple between the ages of 18 and 35 comprise roughly 15 31 percent of the overall electorate. 16 (3) In 2014, young adults (ages 18 to 29) made 17 up about 21 percent of the voting eligible population 18 but only 17 percent of this populations cast a ballot 19 in the 2014 election. 20 (4) Just 42 percent of 18–24-year-olds said 21 they were registered to vote in 2014, which was the 22 lowest rate in 40 years. 23 (5) In 2008, 21 percent of young adults (ages 24 18 to 29) said they weren’t registered to vote be- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1514 IS cause they missed the registration deadline. Six per- 1 cent said they didn’t know where or how to register. 2 SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTING VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS. 3 Section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) is amended to read as fol- 5 lows: 6 ‘‘(23)(A) The institution will make a good faith 7 effort to distribute voter registration forms to each 8 student, and to make such forms widely available to 9 students at the institution. In this paragraph, the 10 term ‘student’ means an individual who is enrolled 11 at the institution as an undergraduate or graduate 12 student on a full-time or part-time basis, including 13 an individual who is solely enrolled in an online 14 course. 15 ‘‘(B) The institution shall be considered in com- 16 pliance with the good faith requirements of subpara- 17 graph (A)— 18 ‘‘(i) if, with respect to each student en- 19 rolled and physically in attendance at the insti- 20 tution, the institution— 21 ‘‘(I)(aa) distributes voter registration 22 forms not less than twice in a calendar 23 year, and distributes such voter registra- 24 tion forms not less than 30 days in ad- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1514 IS vance of the deadline for registering to 1 vote within the State for the next sched- 2 uled Federal or State primary election and 3 not less than 30 days in advance of the 4 deadline for registering to vote within the 5 State for the next scheduled Federal or 6 State general election; or 7 ‘‘(bb) electronically transmits a mes- 8 sage containing a voter registration form 9 (or the message contains an Internet ad- 10 dress where such a form can be 11 downloaded) acceptable for use in the 12 State in which the institution is located to 13 each such student, and such electronic 14 message is devoted exclusively to voter reg- 15 istration, not less than twice in a calendar 16 year, and transmits such a message not 17 less than 30 days in advance of the dead- 18 line for registering to vote within the State 19 for the next scheduled Federal or State 20 primary election and not less than 30 days 21 in advance of the deadline for registering 22 to vote within the State for the next sched- 23 uled Federal or State general election; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1514 IS ‘‘(II) makes available information re- 1 garding State registration deadlines, resi- 2 dency requirements, voter identification, 3 and absentee voting, as applicable; and 4 ‘‘(III) ensures that an appropriate 5 staff person or office has been designated 6 as a ‘Campus Vote Coordinator’ to ensure 7 compliance in accordance with this clause 8 at the institution and who shall— 9 ‘‘(aa) be publicly designated as 10 the ‘Campus Vote Coordinator’, along 11 with the Coordinator’s contact infor- 12 mation, on the institution’s website; 13 and 14 ‘‘(bb) upon request, provide to 15 students residency requirements for 16 voting, including the ability of out of 17 State students to vote in the State in 18 which they are enrolled and physically 19 in attendance, in accordance with ap- 20 plicable State law; and 21 ‘‘(ii) if, with respect to each student en- 22 rolled exclusively in distance education or cor- 23 respondence programs and who is not physically 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1514 IS in attendance at the institution, the institu- 1 tion— 2 ‘‘(I) transmits a message of referral 3 to a centralized voter registration website 4 or platform that provides applicable voter 5 registration forms and information to po- 6 tential voters in all States, provided that 7 such platform is hosted by a government 8 affiliated website; and 9 ‘‘(II) transmits such message not less 10 than twice in a calendar year. 11 ‘‘(C) The institution may also include voter reg- 12 istration forms within materials or information dis- 13 tributed to newly enrolled, or returning, students at 14 the beginning of a term, consistent with the require- 15 ments of subparagraph (B).’’. 16 SEC. 5. GRANTS AUTHORIZED. 17 The Secretary of Education shall award grants to in- 18 stitutions of higher education that greatly exceed the min- 19 imum requirements under section 487(a)(23) of the High- 20 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)), in- 21 cluding as demonstrated by— 22 (1) sponsoring large on-campus voter mobiliza- 23 tion efforts; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1514 IS (2) engaging the surrounding community in 1 nonpartisan voter registration and get out the vote 2 efforts; 3 (3) creating a website with centralized informa- 4 tion about voter registration and election dates; 5 (4) inviting candidates to speak on campus; and 6 (5) offering rides to the polls to increase voter 7 education, registration, and mobilization. 8 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS. 9 (a) CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education 11 shall submit a written warning to an institution of 12 higher education that violates a requirement of sec- 13 tion 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 14 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) that includes a direc- 15 tion to correct the violation not later than 60 days 16 after the date the warning was received. 17 (2) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—If an institution of 18 higher education does not correct a violation in ac- 19 cordance with a direction from the Secretary of Edu- 20 cation as described in paragraph (1), the Attorney 21 General of the United States may authorize the ap- 22 propriate State law enforcement officer or the chief 23 elections official of a State to commence a civil ac- 24 tion in accordance with subsection (b). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 1514 IS (b) CIVIL ACTIONS.— 1 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State law enforcement of- 2 ficer or chief elections official of a State may com- 3 mence a civil action in accordance with subsection 4 (a) in the appropriate district court of the United 5 States against the institution that engages in a pat- 6 tern or practice of violating section 487(a)(23) of 7 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 8 1094(a)(23)). 9 (2) RELIEF.—In a civil action commenced 10 under paragraph (1), the court may— 11 (A) grant any appropriate equitable or de- 12 claratory relief with respect to the violation of 13 section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act 14 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)); 15 (B) award all other appropriate relief to 16 any person or group aggrieved by the violation; 17 (C) to vindicate the public interest, assess 18 a civil penalty in an amount not exceeding the 19 amount listed in section 487(c)(3)(B) of the 20 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 21 1094(c)(3)(B)) for any violation; and 22 (D) take into account the number of days 23 in which the infraction occurred. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 1514 IS (3) INTERVENTION.—Upon timely application, 1 a person aggrieved by a violation of section 2 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 3 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) with respect to which a civil ac- 4 tion is commenced under this subsection may inter- 5 vene in such action, and may obtain such appro- 6 priate relief as the person could obtain in a civil ac- 7 tion under subsection (c) with respect to such viola- 8 tion, along with costs and reasonable attorneys fees. 9 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any person or group ag- 11 grieved by a violation of section 487(a)(23) of the 12 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 13 1094(a)(23)) may commence a civil action in any 14 appropriate district court of the United States 15 against the institution that engages in such viola- 16 tion. 17 (2) RELIEF.—In a civil action commenced 18 under paragraph (1), the court may— 19 (A) grant any appropriate equitable or de- 20 claratory relief with respect to the violation of 21 section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act 22 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)); 23 (B) award any other appropriate relief to 24 the person or group aggrieved by the violation, 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 1514 IS including the costs of the action, such as rea- 1 sonable attorneys fees; 2 (C) to vindicate the public interest, assess 3 a civil penalty in an amount not exceeding the 4 amount listed in section 487(c)(3)(B) of the 5 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6 1094(c)(3)(B)) for any violation; and 7 (D) take into account the number of days 8 in which the infraction occurred. 9 (3) REPORTING.—Not later than 60 days be- 10 fore the date a person or group aggrieved by a viola- 11 tion of section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education 12 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) commences a 13 civil action under paragraph (1), the person or 14 group shall report the violation to the Department 15 of Education, a Federal or State law enforcement 16 agency, and the institution purported to have com- 17 mitted the violation via an affidavit detailing the al- 18 leged violation. 19 (d) PRESERVATION OF REMEDIES.—Nothing in this 20 section shall be construed to preclude or limit any remedy 21 otherwise available under other law, including consequen- 22 tial and punitive damages. 23 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 19:41 May 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1514.IS S1514 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS