Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB2842 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	118THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 2842
5	5	To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to clarify that a
6	6	State may not use an individual’s failure to vote as the basis for initiating
7	7	the procedures provided under such Act for the removal of the individual
8	8	from the official list of registered voters in the State on the grounds
9	9	that the individual has changed residence, and for other purposes.
10	10	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
11	11	SEPTEMBER19, 2023
12	12	Ms. K
13	13	LOBUCHAR(for herself, Mr. KING, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. PADILLA, Mr.
14	14	B
15	15	LUMENTHAL, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MERKLEY,
16	16	Ms. S
17	17	MITH, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr.
18	18	M
19	19	ARKEY, Mr. CASEY, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr. BROWN, Mr. MENENDEZ,
20	20	and Mrs. F
21	21	EINSTEIN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
22	22	and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration
23	23	A BILL
24	24	To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to
25	25	clarify that a State may not use an individual’s failure
26	26	to vote as the basis for initiating the procedures provided
27	27	under such Act for the removal of the individual from
28	28	the official list of registered voters in the State on the
29	29	grounds that the individual has changed residence, and
30	30	for other purposes.
31	31	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
32	32	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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35	35	•S 2842 IS
36	36	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
37	37	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Automatically 2
38	38	Voiding Eligible Voters Off Their Enlisted Rolls in States 3
39	39	Act’’ or the ‘‘Save Voters Act’’. 4
40	40	SEC. 2. PURPOSE. 5
41	41	The purposes of this Act are— 6
42	42	(1) to prohibit States from removing individuals 7
43	43	from an official list of registered voters due to 8
44	44	changes in residence; and 9
45	45	(2) to protect the right to vote by allowing vot-10
46	46	ers who are automatically registered or had pre-11
47	47	viously registered to vote in a State to update their 12
48	48	address through the day of the election. 13
49	49	SEC. 3. CONDITIONS FOR REMOVAL OF VOTERS FROM LIST 14
50	50	OF REGISTERED VOTERS. 15
51	51	(a) C
52	52	ONDITIONSDESCRIBED.—The National Voter 16
53	53	Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.) is 17
54	54	amended by inserting after section 8 the following new 18
55	55	section: 19
56	56	‘‘SEC. 8A. CONDITIONS FOR REMOVAL OF VOTERS FROM 20
57	57	OFFICIAL LIST OF REGISTERED VOTERS. 21
58	58	‘‘(a) V
59	59	ERIFICATION ONBASIS OFOBJECTIVE AND 22
60	60	R
61	61	ELIABLEEVIDENCE OFINELIGIBILITY.— 23
62	62	‘‘(1) R
63	63	EQUIRING VERIFICATION .—Notwith-24
64	64	standing any other provision of this Act, a State 25
65	65	may not remove the name of any registrant from the 26
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68	68	•S 2842 IS
69	69	official list of voters eligible to vote in elections for 1
70	70	Federal office in the State unless the State verifies, 2
71	71	on the basis of objective and reliable evidence, that 3
72	72	the registrant is ineligible to vote in such elections. 4
73	73	‘‘(2) F
74	74	ACTORS NOT CONSIDERED AS OBJECTIVE 5
75	75	AND RELIABLE EVIDENCE OF INELIGIBILITY .—For 6
76	76	purposes of paragraph (1), except as permitted 7
77	77	under section 8(d) after a notice described in para-8
78	78	graph (2) of such section has been sent, the fol-9
79	79	lowing factors, or any combination thereof, shall not 10
80	80	be treated as objective and reliable evidence of a reg-11
81	81	istrant’s ineligibility to vote: 12
82	82	‘‘(A) The failure of the registrant to vote 13
83	83	in any election. 14
84	84	‘‘(B) The failure of the registrant to re-15
85	85	spond to any election mail, unless the election 16
86	86	mail has been returned as undeliverable. 17
87	87	‘‘(C) The failure of the registrant to take 18
88	88	any other action with respect to voting in any 19
89	89	election or with respect to the registrant’s sta-20
90	90	tus as a registrant. 21
91	91	‘‘(3) R
92	92	EMOVAL BASED ON OFFICIAL 22
93	93	RECORDS.— 23
94	94	‘‘(A) I
95	95	N GENERAL.—Nothing in this sec-24
96	96	tion shall prohibit a State from removing a reg-25
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99	99	•S 2842 IS
100	100	istrant from the official list of eligible voters in 1
101	101	elections for Federal office if, on the basis of of-2
102	102	ficial records maintained by the State, a State 3
103	103	or local election official knows, on the basis of 4
104	104	objective and reliable evidence, that the reg-5
105	105	istrant has— 6
106	106	‘‘(i) died; or 7
107	107	‘‘(ii) permanently moved out of the 8
108	108	State and is no longer eligible to vote in 9
109	109	the State. 10
110	110	‘‘(B) O
111	111	PPORTUNITY TO DEMONSTRATE 11
112	112	ELIGIBILITY.—The State shall provide a voter 12
113	113	removed from the official list of eligible voters 13
114	114	in elections for Federal office under this para-14
115	115	graph an opportunity to demonstrate that the 15
116	116	registrant is eligible to vote and be reinstated 16
117	117	on the official list of eligible voters in elections 17
118	118	for Federal office in the State. 18
119	119	‘‘(b) N
120	120	OTICEAFTERREMOVAL.— 19
121	121	‘‘(1) N
122	122	OTICE TO INDIVIDUAL REMOVED .— 20
123	123	‘‘(A) I
124	124	N GENERAL.—Not later than 48 21
125	125	hours after a State removes the name of a reg-22
126	126	istrant from the official list of eligible voters, 23
127	127	the State shall send notice of the removal to the 24
128	128	former registrant, and shall include in the no-25
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131	131	•S 2842 IS
132	132	tice the grounds for the removal and informa-1
133	133	tion on how the former registrant may contest 2
134	134	the removal or be reinstated, including a tele-3
135	135	phone number for the appropriate election offi-4
136	136	cial. 5
137	137	‘‘(B) E
138	138	XCEPTIONS.—Subparagraph (A) 6
139	139	does not apply in the case of a registrant— 7
140	140	‘‘(i) who sends written confirmation to 8
141	141	the State that the registrant is no longer 9
142	142	eligible to vote in the registrar’s jurisdic-10
143	143	tion in which the registrant was registered; 11
144	144	or 12
145	145	‘‘(ii) who is removed from the official 13
146	146	list of eligible voters by reason of the death 14
147	147	of the registrant. 15
148	148	‘‘(2) P
149	149	UBLIC NOTICE.—Not later than 48 hours 16
150	150	after conducting any general program to remove the 17
151	151	names of ineligible voters from the official list of eli-18
152	152	gible voters (as described in section 8(a)(4)), the 19
153	153	State shall disseminate a public notice through such 20
154	154	methods as may be reasonable to reach the general 21
155	155	public (including by publishing the notice in a news-22
156	156	paper of wide circulation and posting the notice on 23
157	157	the websites of the appropriate election officials) 24
158	158	that list maintenance is taking place and that reg-25
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161	161	•S 2842 IS
162	162	istrants should check their registration status to en-1
163	163	sure no errors or mistakes have been made. The 2
164	164	State shall ensure that the public notice dissemi-3
165	165	nated under this paragraph is in a format that is 4
166	166	reasonably convenient and accessible to voters with 5
167	167	disabilities, including voters who have low vision or 6
168	168	are blind.’’. 7
169	169	(b) C
170	170	ONDITIONS FORTRANSMISSION OFNOTICES OF 8
171	171	R
172	172	EMOVAL.—Section 8(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 9
173	173	20507(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following 10
174	174	new paragraph: 11
175	175	‘‘(4) A State may not transmit a notice to a 12
176	176	registrant under this subsection unless the State ob-13
177	177	tains objective and reliable evidence (in accordance 14
178	178	with the standards for such evidence which are de-15
179	179	scribed in section 8A(a)(2)) that the registrant has 16
180	180	changed residence to a place outside the registrar’s 17
181	181	jurisdiction in which the registrant is registered.’’. 18
182	182	(c) C
183	183	ONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 19
184	184	(1) N
185	185	ATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION ACT OF 20
186	186	1993.—Section 8(a) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21
187	187	20507(a)) is amended— 22
188	188	(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘pro-23
189	189	vide’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to section 8A, pro-24
190	190	vide’’; and 25
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193	193	•S 2842 IS
194	194	(B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘con-1
195	195	duct’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to section 8A, con-2
196	196	duct’’. 3
197	197	(2) H
198	198	ELP AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002 .—Section 4
199	199	303(a)(4)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 5
200	200	(52 U.S.C. 21083(a)(4)(A)) is amended by striking 6
201	201	‘‘registrants’’ the second place it appears and insert-7
202	202	ing ‘‘and subject to section 8A of such Act, reg-8
203	203	istrants’’. 9
204	204	(d) E
205	205	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 10
206	206	this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 11
207	207	of this Act. 12
208	208	SEC. 4. STATE REGISTRATION PORTABILITY. 13
209	209	(a) I
210	210	NGENERAL.—Section 8(e) of the National Voter 14
211	211	Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(e)) is amend-15
212	212	ed to read as follows: 16
213	213	‘‘(e) P
214	214	ROCEDURE FORVOTINGFOLLOWINGFAILURE 17
215	215	T
216	216	ORETURNCARD.—Notwithstanding failure to notify the 18
217	217	registrar of the change of address prior to the date of an 19
218	218	election, a registrant who has moved from an address in 20
219	219	the State to an address in the same State shall, upon oral 21
220	220	or written affirmation by the registrant of the change of 22
221	221	address before an election official, be permitted to vote 23
222	222	(at the option of the voter)— 24
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225	225	•S 2842 IS
226	226	‘‘(1) at the polling place of the registrant’s cur-1
227	227	rent address; or 2
228	228	‘‘(2) at a central location within the same reg-3
229	229	istrar’s jurisdiction.’’. 4
230	230	(b) E
231	231	FFECTIVEDATE.—The amendment made by 5
232	232	this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 6
233	233	of this Act. 7
234	234	Æ
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