Us Congress 2023-2024 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB2843 Compare Versions

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11 II
22 118THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION S. 2843
55 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide
66 for same day voter registration.
77 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
88 SEPTEMBER19, 2023
99 Ms. K
1010 LOBUCHAR(for herself, Mr. KING, Ms. CORTEZMASTO, Mrs. GILLI-
1111 BRAND, Mr. PADILLA, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. DURBIN,
1212 Ms. W
1313 ARREN, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. KAINE, Mr. MERKLEY, Ms. SMITH, Mr.
1414 C
1515 ARPER, Mr. BOOKER, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. HIRONO, Mr.
1616 B
1717 ENNET, Mr. MARKEY, Mr. CASEY, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr. BROWN, and
1818 Mr. M
1919 ENENDEZ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
2020 referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration
2121 A BILL
2222 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require
2323 States to provide for same day voter registration.
2424 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2525 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2626 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2727 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Same Day Registration 4
2828 Act’’. 5
2929 SEC. 2. SAME DAY REGISTRATION. 6
3030 (a) I
3131 NGENERAL.—Title III of the Help America 7
3232 Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended— 8
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3535 •S 2843 IS
3636 (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as 1
3737 sections 305 and 306, respectively; and 2
3838 (2) by inserting after section 303 the following 3
3939 new section: 4
4040 ‘‘SEC. 304. SAME DAY REGISTRATION. 5
4141 ‘‘(a) I
4242 NGENERAL.— 6
4343 ‘‘(1) R
4444 EGISTRATION.—Each State shall permit 7
4545 any eligible individual on the day of a Federal elec-8
4646 tion and on any day when voting, including early 9
4747 voting, is permitted for a Federal election— 10
4848 ‘‘(A) to register to vote in such election at 11
4949 the polling place using a form that meets the 12
5050 requirements under section 9(b) of the National 13
5151 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (or, if the indi-14
5252 vidual is already registered to vote, to revise 15
5353 any of the individual’s voter registration infor-16
5454 mation); and 17
5555 ‘‘(B) to cast a vote in such election. 18
5656 ‘‘(2) E
5757 XCEPTION.—The requirements under 19
5858 paragraph (1) shall not apply to a State in which, 20
5959 under a State law in effect continuously on and after 21
6060 the date of the enactment of this section, there is no 22
6161 voter registration requirement for individuals in the 23
6262 State with respect to elections for Federal office. 24
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6565 •S 2843 IS
6666 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLEINDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this 1
6767 section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means, with respect 2
6868 to any election for Federal office, an individual who is oth-3
6969 erwise qualified to vote in that election. 4
7070 ‘‘(c) E
7171 NSURINGAVAILABILITY OF FORMS.—The 5
7272 State shall ensure that each polling place has copies of 6
7373 any forms an individual may be required to complete in 7
7474 order to register to vote or revise the individual’s voter 8
7575 registration information under this section. 9
7676 ‘‘(d) E
7777 FFECTIVEDATE.— 10
7878 ‘‘(1) I
7979 N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 11
8080 each State shall be required to comply with the re-12
8181 quirements of this section for the regularly sched-13
8282 uled general election for Federal office occurring in 14
8383 November 2024 and for any subsequent election for 15
8484 Federal office. 16
8585 ‘‘(2) S
8686 PECIAL RULES FOR ELECTIONS BEFORE 17
8787 NOVEMBER 2028.— 18
8888 ‘‘(A) E
8989 LECTIONS PRIOR TO NOVEMBER 19
9090 2026 GENERAL ELECTION .—A State shall be 20
9191 deemed to be in compliance with the require-21
9292 ments of this section for the regularly scheduled 22
9393 general election for Federal office occurring in 23
9494 November 2024 and subsequent elections for 24
9595 Federal office occurring before the regularly 25
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9898 •S 2843 IS
9999 scheduled general election for Federal office in 1
100100 November 2026 if at least one location for each 2
101101 15,000 registered voters in each jurisdiction in 3
102102 the State meets such requirements, and such lo-4
103103 cation is reasonably located to serve voting pop-5
104104 ulations equitably across the jurisdiction. 6
105105 ‘‘(B) A
106106 DDITIONAL ELECTIONS PRIOR TO 7
107107 NOVEMBER 2028 GENERAL ELECTION .—If a 8
108108 State certifies to the Commission not later than 9
109109 November 3, 2026, that the State will not be in 10
110110 compliance with the requirements of this section 11
111111 for the regularly scheduled general election for 12
112112 Federal office occurring in November 2026 be-13
113113 cause it would be impracticable to do so and in-14
114114 cludes in the certification the reasons for the 15
115115 failure to meet such requirements, the State 16
116116 shall be deemed to be in compliance with the re-17
117117 quirements of this section for the regularly 18
118118 scheduled general election for Federal office in 19
119119 November 2026 and subsequent elections for 20
120120 Federal office occurring before the regularly 21
121121 scheduled general election for Federal office in 22
122122 November 2028, if at least one location for each 23
123123 15,000 registered voters in each jurisdiction in 24
124124 the State meets such requirements, and such lo-25
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127127 •S 2843 IS
128128 cation is reasonably located to serve voting pop-1
129129 ulations equitably across the jurisdiction.’’. 2
130130 (b) C
131131 ONFORMINGAMENDMENT RELATING TOEN-3
132132 FORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) 4
133133 is amended by striking ‘‘sections 301, 302, and 303’’ and 5
134134 inserting ‘‘subtitle A of title III’’. 6
135135 (c) C
136136 LERICALAMENDMENTS.—The table of contents 7
137137 of such Act is amended— 8
138138 (1) by redesignating the items relating to sec-9
139139 tions 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 10
140140 306, respectively; and 11
141141 (2) by inserting after the item relating to sec-12
142142 tion 303 the following new item: 13
143143 ‘‘Sec. 304. Same day registration.’’.
144144 Æ
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