115th CONGRESS 1st Session |
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide for same day registration.
February 14, 2017
Mr. Ellison (for himself and Mr. Blumenauer) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide for same day registration.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “Same Day Registration Act of 2017”.
SEC. 2. Same day registration.
(a) In general.—Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is amended—
(1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as sections 305 and 306, respectively; and
(2) by inserting after section 303 the following new section:
“(1) REGISTRATION.—Notwithstanding section 8(a)(1)(D) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(a)(1)(D)), each State shall permit any eligible individual on the day of a Federal election and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a Federal election—
“(A) to register to vote in such election at the polling place using a form that meets the requirements under section 9(b) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (or, if the individual is already registered to vote, to revise any of the individual's voter registration information); and
“(B) to cast a vote in such election.
“(2) EXCEPTION.—The requirements under paragraph (1) shall not apply to a State in which, under a State law in effect continuously on and after the date of the enactment of this section, there is no voter registration requirement for individuals in the State with respect to elections for Federal office.
“(b) Eligible individual.—For purposes of this section, the term ‘eligible individual’ means, with respect to any election for Federal office, an individual who is otherwise qualified to vote in that election.
“(c) Effective date.—Each State shall be required to comply with the requirements of subsection (a) for the regularly scheduled general election for Federal office occurring in November 2018 and for any subsequent election for Federal office.”.
(b) Conforming amendment relating to enforcement.—Section 401 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking “and 303” and inserting “303, and 304”.
(c) Clerical amendment.—The table of contents of such Act is amended—
(1) by redesignating the items relating to sections 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 306, respectively; and
(2) by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the following new item: