Restoring Faith in Our Elections Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 8781 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require individuals applying to register to vote in elections for Federal office to provide a complete Social Security number with the application, to require States to use Social Security numbers to cross-check the identifications of individuals who vote in elections for Federal office in the State with the identifica- tions of individuals who are registered to vote in such elections, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 19, 2020 Mr. BANKS 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 require individuals applying to register to vote in elections for Federal office to provide a complete Social Security num- ber with the application, to require States to use Social Security numbers to cross-check the identifications of individuals who vote in elections for Federal office in the State with the identifications of individuals who are registered to vote in such elections, and for other pur- poses. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8781.IH H8781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 8781 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Restoring Faith in Our 2 Elections Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. REQUIRING APPLICANTS FOR VOTER REGISTRA- 4 TION TO PROVIDE FULL SOCIAL SECURITY 5 NUMBERS. 6 (a) REQUIREMENT.—Section 303(a)(5)(A) of the 7 Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 8 21083(a)(5)(A)) is amended to read as follows: 9 ‘‘(A) REQUIRING APPLICANTS TO PROVIDE 10 FULL SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER.—Notwith- 11 standing any other provision of law, an applica- 12 tion for voter registration for an election for 13 Federal office may not be accepted or processed 14 by a State unless the application includes the 15 applicant’s full Social Security number.’’. 16 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO CER- 17 TAIN VOTERS REGISTERING BY MAIL.—Section 18 303(b)(3)(B)(i) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 19 21083(b)(3)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘either—’’ and 20 all that follows through ‘‘; and’’ and inserting ‘‘the individ- 21 ual’s full Social Security number; and’’. 22 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO WAIV- 23 ER OF PRIVACY ACT.—Section 303(c) of such Act (52 24 U.S.C. 21083(c)) is amended to read as follows: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8781.IH H8781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 8781 IH ‘‘(c) PERMITTED USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUM- 1 BERS.—Section 7 of the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 2 552a note) does not apply to the use of a Social Security 3 number under subsection (a)(5)(A) or subsection 4 (b)(3)(B)(i).’’. 5 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 6 this section shall apply with respect to elections held in 7 2022 or any succeeding year. 8 SEC. 3. USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS TO CROSS- 9 CHECK IDENTIFICATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS 10 CASTING BALLOTS IN ELECTIONS WITH INDI- 11 VIDUALS REGISTERED TO VOTE IN ELEC- 12 TIONS. 13 (a) REQUIRING CROSS-CHECK OF IDENTIFICA- 14 TIONS.—Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 15 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended— 16 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 17 sections 305 and 306; and 18 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 19 new section: 20 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8781.IH H8781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 8781 IH ‘‘SEC. 304. USE OF SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS TO CROSS- 1 CHECK IDENTIFICATIONS OF INDIVIDUALS 2 CASTING BALLOTS IN AN ELECTION WITH IN- 3 DIVIDUALS REGISTERED TO VOTE IN THE 4 ELECTION. 5 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—Immediately upon the closing 6 of the polls in an election for Federal office, each State 7 shall verify the identification of each individual who cast 8 a ballot in the election by carrying out a cross-check of 9 the individual’s identification with the individual’s identi- 10 fication in the official list of individuals who are registered 11 to vote in the election, using the individual’s full Social 12 Security number as the method for determining the indi- 13 vidual’s identification. 14 ‘‘(b) REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later than 7 days 15 after the closing of the polls in an election for Federal 16 office, the State shall submit to the Committee on House 17 Administration of the House of Representatives and the 18 Committee on Rules and Administration of the Senate a 19 report on the State’s compliance with subsection (a), and 20 shall include in the report— 21 ‘‘(1) the percentage of individuals who cast 22 votes in the election whose identifications were 23 verified by the State under such subsection; and 24 ‘‘(2) the number of individuals who cast votes 25 in the election, or who attempted to cast votes in the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H8781.IH H8781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 8781 IH election, whose identifications could not be verified 1 by the State under such subsection. 2 ‘‘(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—This section shall apply 3 with respect to elections held in 2022 or any succeeding 4 year.’’. 5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT RELATING TO EN- 6 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 7 is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and inserting ‘‘303, and 8 304’’. 9 (c) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of contents 10 of such Act is amended— 11 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec- 12 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 13 306; and 14 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec- 15 tion 303 the following: 16 ‘‘Sec. 304. Use of Social Security numbers to cross-check identifications of indi- viduals casting ballots in an election with individuals registered to vote in the election.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:53 Nov 28, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H8781.IH H8781 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS