Military Voting Protection Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1566 To require information and opportunities for registration for voting and absentee ballot requests for members of the Armed Forces who are undergoing deployment overseas, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2019 Mr. CORNYN (for himself, Mr. KING, Mr. TILLIS, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) in- troduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Com- mittee on Rules and Administration A BILL To require information and opportunities for registration for voting and absentee ballot requests for members of the Armed Forces who are undergoing deployment overseas, 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 ‘‘Military Voting Protec- 4 tion Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1566.IS S1566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1566 IS SEC. 2. INFORMATION AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR REG- 1 ISTRATION FOR VOTING AND ABSENTEE BAL- 2 LOT REQUESTS FOR MEMBERS OF THE 3 ARMED FORCES UNDERGOING DEPLOYMENT 4 OVERSEAS. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 45 days prior to 6 a general election for Federal office, a member of the 7 Armed Forces shall be provided with the following: 8 (1) A Federal write-in absentee ballot pre- 9 scribed pursuant to section 103 of the Uniformed 10 and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52 11 U.S.C. 20303), together with instructions on the ap- 12 propriate use of the ballot with respect to the State 13 in which the member is registered to vote. 14 (2) In the case of a member intending to vote 15 in a State that does not accept the Federal write- 16 in absentee ballot as a simultaneous application and 17 acceptable ballot for Federal elections, a briefing on, 18 and an opportunity to fill out, the official post card 19 form for absentee voter registration application and 20 absentee ballot application prescribed under section 21 101(b)(2) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens 22 Absentee Voting Act (52 U.S.C. 20301(b)(2)). 23 (b) PERSONNEL RESPONSIBLE OF DISCHARGE.— 24 Ballots and instructions shall be provided pursuant to 25 paragraphs(1) of subsection (a) by Voting Assistance Offi- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1566.IS S1566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1566 IS cers or such other personnel as the Secretary of the mili- 1 tary department concerned shall designate. 2 (c) SENSE OF CONGRESS RELATING TO THE USE OF 3 THE FEDERAL WRITE-IN ABSENTEE BALLOT.— 4 (1) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following 5 findings: 6 (A) Servicemembers serving abroad are 7 subject to disproportionate challenges in voting. 8 (B) As of May, 2019, only 28 States allow 9 servicemembers to use the Federal write-in ab- 10 sentee ballot as a simultaneous application and 11 acceptable ballot for Federal elections. 12 (2) SENSE OF CONGRESS.—It is the sense of 13 Congress that— 14 (A) Federal and State governments should 15 remove all obstacles that would inhibit deployed 16 servicemembers from voting; and 17 (B) States that do not allow servicemem- 18 bers to use the Federal write-in absentee ballot 19 as a simultaneous application and acceptable 20 ballot for Federal elections should modify their 21 laws to permit such use. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:19 May 30, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1566.IS S1566 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS