Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB155 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 155
55 To require States to permit unaffiliated voters to vote in primary elections
66 for Federal office, and for other purposes.
77 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
88 JANUARY3, 2025
99 Mr. F
1010 ITZPATRICK(for himself, Ms. PEREZ, Mr. GOLDENof Maine, and Mr.
1111 G
1212 ARBARINO) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
1313 mittee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the
1414 Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in
1515 each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic-
1616 tion of the committee concerned
1717 A BILL
1818 To require States to permit unaffiliated voters to vote in
1919 primary elections for Federal office, and for other purposes.
2020 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2121 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2222 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2323 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Let America Vote 4
2424 Act’’. 5
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2727 •HR 155 IH
2828 SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATES TO PERMIT UNAFFILIATED 1
2929 VOTERS TO VOTE IN PRIMARY ELECTIONS. 2
3030 (a) S
3131 ENSE OFCONGRESS.—It is the sense of Con-3
3232 gress that the right of a citizen of the United States to 4
3333 vote in any taxpayer-funded election for public office shall 5
3434 not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any 6
3535 State on the grounds of political party affiliation or lack 7
3636 thereof. 8
3737 (b) R
3838 EQUIREMENTS FOR ELECTIONS FORFEDERAL 9
3939 O
4040 FFICE.— 10
4141 (1) A
4242 CCESS OF UNAFFILIATED VOTERS TO PRI -11
4343 MARIES.—Each State shall permit an unaffiliated 12
4444 voter who is registered to vote in an election for 13
4545 Federal office held in the State to vote in any pri-14
4646 mary election for such office held in the State, ex-15
4747 cept that the State shall not permit an unaffiliated 16
4848 voter to vote in primary elections for such office of 17
4949 more than one political party. 18
5050 (2) R
5151 ESTRICTIONS RELATING TO UNAFFILI -19
5252 ATED VOTERS.— 20
5353 (A) R
5454 ESTRICTIONS ON SHARING OF INFOR -21
5555 MATION.—A State shall not share information 22
5656 relating to an unaffiliated voter in a primary 23
5757 election for Federal office, including the voter’s 24
5858 name and contact information, with a political 25
5959 party or with any other person who may rea-26
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6262 •HR 155 IH
6363 sonably be expected to use the information for 1
6464 a political or politically-connected commercial 2
6565 purpose, including soliciting funds. 3
6666 (B) R
6767 ESTRICTIONS ON STATUS OF VOTER 4
6868 ON OFFICIAL REGISTRATION LIST .—For pur-5
6969 poses of a State’s official voter registration list, 6
7070 a State shall not treat an individual who is an 7
7171 unaffiliated voter as a member of, or as an indi-8
7272 vidual who is otherwise affiliated with, the polit-9
7373 ical party who held the primary election in 10
7474 which the individual voted solely on the grounds 11
7575 that the individual voted in that primary elec-12
7676 tion. 13
7777 (c) E
7878 LECTIONS FORSTATE ANDLOCALOFFICE.— 14
7979 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a State may 15
8080 not use any funds provided by the Federal Government 16
8181 directly for election administration purposes unless the 17
8282 State certifies to the Election Assistance Commission 18
8383 that— 19
8484 (1) the State permits an unaffiliated voter who 20
8585 is registered to vote in an election for State or local 21
8686 office held in the State to vote in any primary elec-22
8787 tion for such office held in the State, except that the 23
8888 State shall not permit an unaffiliated voter to vote 24
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9191 •HR 155 IH
9292 in primary elections for such office of more than one 1
9393 political party; 2
9494 (2) the State applies the restrictions on sharing 3
9595 information relating to unaffiliated voters in primary 4
9696 elections for Federal office, as described in sub-5
9797 section (a)(2)(A), to information relating to unaffili-6
9898 ated voters in primary elections for State and local 7
9999 office; and 8
100100 (3) the State applies the restrictions on treating 9
101101 unaffiliated voters in primary elections for Federal 10
102102 office as members of, or as individuals who are oth-11
103103 erwise affiliated with, a political party, as described 12
104104 in subsection (a)(2)(B), to unaffiliated voters in pri-13
105105 mary elections for State and local office. 14
106106 (d) T
107107 RANSITIONASSISTANCEGRANTS.— 15
108108 (1) P
109109 AYMENT OF GRANTS .—If a State certifies 16
110110 to the Election Assistance Commission that the 17
111111 State is in compliance with the requirements of this 18
112112 section with respect to a fiscal year, the Commission 19
113113 shall make a payment to the State during that fiscal 20
114114 year and each of the 4 succeeding fiscal years in an 21
115115 amount equal to 2 percent of the total amount of re-22
116116 quirements payments made to the State under sec-23
117117 tion 251 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 24
118118 U.S.C. 21001). 25
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121121 •HR 155 IH
122122 (2) USE OF FUNDS.—A State shall use the pay-1
123123 ment received under this subsection to cover the 2
124124 costs of permitting unaffiliated voters who are reg-3
125125 istered to vote in elections for Federal, State, or 4
126126 local office held in the State to vote in any primary 5
127127 election for such office held in the State. 6
128128 (3) A
129129 UTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS .— 7
130130 There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal 8
131131 year 2026 and each succeeding fiscal year such sums 9
132132 as may be necessary for grants under this sub-10
133133 section. 11
134134 (e) D
135135 EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 12
136136 (1) the terms ‘‘election’’ and ‘‘Federal office’’ 13
137137 have the meanings give such terms in section 301 of 14
138138 the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 (52 15
139139 U.S.C. 30101); 16
140140 (2) the term ‘‘primary election’’ means an elec-17
141141 tion (including a primary election held for the ex-18
142142 pression of a preference for the nomination of indi-19
143143 viduals for election to the office of President) held 20
144144 by any political party to nominate individuals who 21
145145 would appear on a general election ballot as a can-22
146146 didate for election for Federal office, including a 23
147147 convention or caucus of a political party which has 24
148148 authority to nominate such a candidate; 25
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151151 •HR 155 IH
152152 (3) the term ‘‘State’’ has the meaning given 1
153153 such term in section 901 of the Help America Vote 2
154154 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21141); and 3
155155 (4) the term ‘‘unaffiliated voter’’ means an in-4
156156 dividual who is not registered to vote as a member 5
157157 of a political party or otherwise affiliated with a po-6
158158 litical party. 7
159159 (f) E
160160 FFECTIVEDATE.—This Act shall apply with re-8
161161 spect to elections held after the date of the enactment of 9
162162 this Act. 10
163163 SEC. 3. PROHIBITING NONCITIZENS FROM VOTING. 11
164164 (a) S
165165 TATEMENT OFPOLICY.—It is the policy of the 12
166166 United States that no person who is not a citizen shall 13
167167 be permitted or granted the right to vote in any taxpayer- 14
168168 funded election for public office held by or in the United 15
169169 States or any State. 16
170170 (b) E
171171 LECTIONS FORFEDERALOFFICE.—No State 17
172172 shall permit any person who is not a citizen of the United 18
173173 States to vote in any election for Federal office held in 19
174174 the State. 20
175175 (c) E
176176 LECTIONS FORSTATE ANDLOCALOFFICE.— 21
177177 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a State may 22
178178 not use any funds provided by the Federal Government 23
179179 directly for election administration purposes unless the 24
180180 State certifies to the Election Assistance Commission that 25
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183183 •HR 155 IH
184184 the State does not permit any person who is not a citizen 1
185185 of the United States to vote in any election for State or 2
186186 local office or any ballot initiative or referendum held in 3
187187 the State. 4
188188 Æ
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