Save Voters Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3201 To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to prohibit a State from removing the name of any registrant from the official list of voters eligible to vote in elections for Federal office in the State unless the State verifies, on the basis of objective and reliable evidence, that the registrant is ineligible to vote in such elections. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 11, 2019 Mrs. BEATTY (for herself, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. NORTON, Ms. KAPTUR, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on House Administration A BILL To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to prohibit a State from removing the name of any reg- istrant from the official list of voters eligible to vote in elections for Federal office in the State unless the State verifies, on the basis of objective and reliable evi- dence, that the registrant is ineligible to vote in such elections. 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 04:25 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3201.IH H3201 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 3201 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Automatically 2 Voiding Eligible Voters Off Their Enlisted Rolls in States 3 Act’’ or the ‘‘Save Voters Act’’. 4 SEC. 2. CONDITIONS FOR REMOVAL OF VOTERS FROM LIST 5 OF REGISTERED VOTERS. 6 (a) CONDITIONS DESCRIBED.—The National Voter 7 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.) is 8 amended by inserting after section 8 the following new 9 section: 10 ‘‘SEC. 8A. CONDITIONS FOR REMOVAL OF VOTERS FROM 11 OFFICIAL LIST OF REGISTERED VOTERS. 12 ‘‘(a) VERIFICATION ON BASIS OF OBJECTIVE AND 13 RELIABLE EVIDENCE OF INELIGIBILITY.— 14 ‘‘(1) REQUIRING VERIFICATION.—Notwith- 15 standing any other provision of this Act, a State 16 may not remove the name of any registrant from the 17 official list of voters eligible to vote in elections for 18 Federal office in the State unless the State verifies, 19 on the basis of objective and reliable evidence, that 20 the registrant is ineligible to vote in such elections. 21 ‘‘(2) FACTORS NOT CONSIDERED AS OBJECTIVE 22 AND RELIABLE EVIDENCE OF INELIGIBILITY.—For 23 purposes of paragraph (1), the following factors, or 24 any combination thereof, shall not be treated as ob- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 20:41 Jun 18, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3201.IH H3201 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 3201 IH jective and reliable evidence of a registrant’s ineligi- 1 bility to vote: 2 ‘‘(A) The failure of the registrant to vote 3 in any election. 4 ‘‘(B) The failure of the registrant to re- 5 spond to any notice sent under section 8(d), un- 6 less the notice has been returned as undeliver- 7 able. 8 ‘‘(C) The failure of the registrant to take 9 any other action with respect to voting in any 10 election or with respect to the registrant’s sta- 11 tus as a registrant. 12 ‘‘(b) NOTICE AFTER REMOVAL.— 13 ‘‘(1) NOTICE TO INDIVIDUAL REMOVED.— 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 48 15 hours after a State removes the name of a reg- 16 istrant from the official list of eligible voters for 17 any reason, the State shall send notice of the 18 removal to the former registrant, and shall in- 19 clude in the notice the grounds for the removal 20 and information on how the former registrant 21 may contest the removal or be reinstated, in- 22 cluding a telephone number for the appropriate 23 election official. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3201.IH H3201 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 3201 IH ‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.—Subparagraph (A) 1 does not apply in the case of a registrant— 2 ‘‘(i) who sends written confirmation to 3 the State that the registrant is no longer 4 eligible to vote in the registrar’s jurisdic- 5 tion in which the registrant was registered; 6 or 7 ‘‘(ii) who is removed from the official 8 list of eligible voters by reason of the death 9 of the registrant. 10 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC NOTICE.—Not later than 48 hours 11 after conducting any general program to remove the 12 names of ineligible voters from the official list of eli- 13 gible voters (as described in section 8(a)(4)), the 14 State shall disseminate a public notice through such 15 methods as may be reasonable to reach the general 16 public (including by publishing the notice in a news- 17 paper of wide circulation or posting the notice on the 18 websites of the appropriate election officials) that 19 list maintenance is taking place and that registrants 20 should check their registration status to ensure no 21 errors or mistakes have been made. The State shall 22 ensure that the public notice disseminated under this 23 paragraph is in a format that is reasonably conven- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3201.IH H3201 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 3201 IH ient and accessible to voters with disabilities, includ- 1 ing voters who have low vision or are blind.’’. 2 (b) CONDITIONS FOR TRANSMISSION OF NOTICES OF 3 REMOVAL.—Section 8(d) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 4 20507(d)) is amended by adding at the end the following 5 new paragraph: 6 ‘‘(4) A State may not transmit a notice to a 7 registrant under this subsection unless the State ob- 8 tains objective and reliable evidence (in accordance 9 with the standards for such evidence which are de- 10 scribed in section 8A(a)(2)) that the registrant has 11 changed residence to a place outside the registrar’s 12 jurisdiction in which the registrant is registered.’’. 13 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 14 (1) NATIONAL VOTER REGISTRATION ACT OF 15 1993.—Section 8(a) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 16 20507(a)) is amended— 17 (A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘pro- 18 vide’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to section 8A, pro- 19 vide’’; and 20 (B) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘con- 21 duct’’ and inserting ‘‘subject to section 8A, con- 22 duct’’. 23 (2) HELP AMERICA VOTE ACT OF 2002.—Section 24 303(a)(4)(A) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3201.IH H3201 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 3201 IH (52 U.S.C. 21083(a)(4)(A)) is amended by striking 1 ‘‘, registrants’’ and inserting ‘‘, and subject to sec- 2 tion 8A of such Act, registrants’’. 3 (d) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 4 this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment 5 of this Act. 6 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:25 Jun 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3201.IH H3201 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS