Federal

Alice Paul Voter Protection Act

Source: Congress.gov · 868 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill creates a new federal crime for anyone who tries to stop another person from registering to vote. It also requires the Election Assistance Commission (a federal agency that helps states run elections) to create recommendations for how states can prevent this interference.

Who It Affects

Any person who tries to hinder or prevent voter registration, the Election Assistance Commission, state election officials, poll workers and voters.

Key Provisions

• Makes it illegal for any person to deliberately hinder, interfere with or prevent someone from registering to vote, whether acting under color of law (meaning using government authority) or not (Sec. 2(a)) • Allows the same penalties for attempting to commit this crime as for actually committing it (Sec. 2(b)) • Punishes violators with a fine, imprisonment for up to 5 years or both (Sec. 2(c)) • Requires the Election Assistance Commission to develop and publish best practices within 180 days, including recommendations for posting information at polling places, training poll workers and creating educational materials (Sec. 3(a)) • Requires information about these prohibitions to be included in voter information materials under federal election law (Sec. 3(b))

What Changes

A new criminal law will be added to federal code making it illegal to interfere with voter registration. States will receive guidance on preventing such interference. Voter information materials will include details on this new crime and how to report violations.

Important Definitions

The bill does not explicitly define any key terms.

Effective Date

The amendments apply to elections held on or after the date the bill becomes law. However, no one can be prosecuted under this law for acts that happened before the bill becomes law.

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1583 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit interfering with voter registration, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 14, 2023 Mr. KIM of New Jersey (for himself and Mr. NORCROSS) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit interfering with voter registration, 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 ‘‘Alice Paul Voter Pro- 4 tection Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1583.IH H1583 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 1583 IH SEC. 2. PROHIBITING HINDERING, INTERFERING WITH, OR 1 PREVENTING VOTER REGISTRATION. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 3 States Code is amended by adding at the end the following 4 new section: 5 ‘‘§ 612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing 6 registering to vote 7 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per- 8 son, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to 9 corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person 10 from registering to vote or to corruptly hinder, interfere 11 with, or prevent another person from aiding another per- 12 son in registering to vote. 13 ‘‘(b) ATTEMPT.—Any person who attempts to commit 14 any offense described in subsection (a) shall be subject to 15 the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense that 16 the person attempted to commit. 17 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 18 (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 19 than 5 years, or both.’’. 20 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 21 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code is amended 22 by adding at the end the following new item: 23 ‘‘612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing registering to vote.’’. (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 24 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1583.IH H1583 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 1583 IH or after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 1 no person may be found to have violated section 612 of 2 title 18, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), 3 on the basis of any act occurring prior to the date of the 4 enactment of this Act. 5 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 6 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 7 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist- 8 ance Commission shall develop and publish recommenda- 9 tions for best practices for States to use to deter and pre- 10 vent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 11 Code (as added by section 2), and section 12 of the Na- 12 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) 13 (relating to the unlawful interference with registering to 14 vote, or voting, or attempting to register to vote or vote), 15 including practices to provide for the posting of relevant 16 information at polling places and voter registration agen- 17 cies under such Act, the training of poll workers and elec- 18 tion officials, and relevant educational materials. For pur- 19 poses of this subsection, the term ‘‘State’’ includes the 20 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 21 Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Is- 22 lands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 23 Islands. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1583.IH H1583 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 1583 IH (b) INCLUSION IN VOTER INFORMATION REQUIRE- 1 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 2 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)) is amended— 3 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara- 4 graph (E); 5 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub- 6 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 7 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub- 8 paragraph: 9 ‘‘(G) information relating to the prohibi- 10 tions of section 612 of title 18, United States 11 Code, and section 12 of the National Voter 12 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) 13 (relating to the unlawful interference with reg- 14 istering to vote, or voting, or attempting to reg- 15 ister to vote or vote), including information on 16 how individuals may report allegations of viola- 17 tions of such prohibitions.’’. 18 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:45 Mar 25, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1583.IH H1583 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.