Voter Choice Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6010 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to support State and local governments making a transition to ranked choice voting. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 27, 2020 Mr. PHILLIPS introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration A BILL To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to support State and local governments making a transition to ranked choice 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 ‘‘Voter Choice Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR TRANSITION TO RANKED CHOICE 5 VOTING. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Help America Vote 7 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21121 et seq.) is amended by add- 8 ing at the end the following: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6010.IH H6010 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6010 IH ‘‘Subtitle B—Ranked Choice Voting 1 Program 2 ‘‘SEC. 511. RANKED CHOICE VOTING PROGRAM. 3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING SYS- 4 TEM.—For purposes of this subtitle, the term ‘ranked 5 choice voting system’ means a set of election methods 6 which allow each voter to rank contest options in order 7 of the voter’s preference, in which votes are counted in 8 rounds using a series of runoff tabulations to defeat con- 9 test options with the fewest votes, and which elects a win- 10 ner with a majority of final round votes in a single-winner 11 contest and provides proportional representation in multi- 12 winner contests. 13 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—The Commission shall establish a 14 program under which the Commission— 15 ‘‘(1) provides technical assistance to State and 16 local governments that are considering whether to 17 make, or that are in the process of making, a transi- 18 tion to a ranked choice voting system for Federal, 19 State, or local elections; and 20 ‘‘(2) awards grants to States and local govern- 21 ment to support the transition to a ranked choice 22 voting system, including through the acquisition of 23 voting equipment and tabulation software, appro- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6010.IH H6010 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6010 IH priate ballot design, the development and publication 1 of educational materials, and voter outreach. 2 ‘‘(c) RULES FOR GRANTS.— 3 ‘‘(1) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.—To 4 the extent possible, the Commission shall award 5 grants under subsection (b)(2) to areas that rep- 6 resent a diversity of jurisdictions with respect to ge- 7 ography, population characteristics, and population 8 density. 9 ‘‘(2) AWARD LIMITATION.—The amount of any 10 grant awarded under subsection (b)(2) shall not ex- 11 ceed 50 percent of the cost of the activities covered 12 by the grant. 13 ‘‘SEC. 512. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 14 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any funds author- 15 ized to be appropriated to the Commission under section 16 210, there are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 17 this subtitle $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2020. 18 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro- 19 priated pursuant to the authorization under this section 20 shall remain available, without fiscal year limitation, until 21 expended.’’. 22 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 23 (1) Section 202(6) of the Help America Vote 24 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20922) is amended by strik- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6010.IH H6010 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6010 IH ing ‘‘the Help America Vote College Program under 1 title V’’ and inserting ‘‘the programs under title V’’. 2 (2) Title V of the Help America Vote Act of 3 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21121 et seq.) is amended by strik- 4 ing the matter preceding section 501 and inserting 5 the following: 6 ‘‘TITLE V—ELECTION 7 ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS 8 ‘‘Subtitle A—Help America Vote 9 College Program’’. 10 (3) Section 503 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21123) 11 is amended by striking ‘‘title’’ and inserting ‘‘sub- 12 title’’. 13 (4) The table of sections of the Help America 14 Vote Act of 2002 is amended— 15 (A) by striking the item relating to title V 16 and inserting the following: 17 ‘‘TITLE V—ELECTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS ‘‘Subtitle A—Help America Vote College Program’’; and 18 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 19 section 503 the following: 20 ‘‘Subtitle B—Ranked Choice Voting Program ‘‘Sec. 511. Ranked choice voting program. ‘‘Sec. 512. Authorization of appropriations.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:37 Mar 03, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6010.IH H6010 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS