Automatic Voter Registration Act
This bill provides for automatic voter registration of individuals through state motor vehicle authorities.
Specifically, the bill requires each state motor vehicle authority, upon receiving specified identifying information regarding an individual who requests services from the authority, to transmit the identifying information to the appropriate state election official. The state election official must then notify the individual that the individual shall be automatically registered to vote in federal elections unless the individual declines to be registered to vote, does not meet voter registration eligibility requirements, or is already registered to vote. The bill provides an individual with a 21-calendar day period to opt out of automatic voter registration.
A state may only use identifying information regarding an individual's citizenship status for determining whether the individual is eligible to vote in federal elections.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2301 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2301
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require each
State to ensure that each individual who provides identifying
information to the State motor vehicle authority is automatically
registered to vote in elections for Federal office held in the State
unless the individual does not meet the eligibility requirements for
registering to vote in such elections or declines to be registered to
vote in such elections, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
April 1, 2021
Mr. Cicilline (for himself, Ms. Schakowsky, Mr. Takano, Mrs. Watson
Coleman, Mrs. Napolitano, Mr. McGovern, Mr. Cooper, Mr. Payne, Mrs.
Beatty, Ms. Speier, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Thompson of California, Mr.
Evans, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, Ms. DelBene, Mr. Sarbanes, Ms.
Castor of Florida, Mr. Meeks, Mr. Blumenauer, Mrs. Trahan, Mr. Brendan
F. Boyle of Pennsylvania, Ms. Lee of California, Ms. Clarke of New
York, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Kim of New Jersey, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Mr.
Espaillat, Ms. Sewell, Mr. Smith of Washington, Mr. Price of North
Carolina, Ms. Tlaib, Miss Rice of New York, Mr. Schiff, Mr. Levin of
Michigan, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Mr. Stanton, Mr. Moulton, Mr. Garamendi,
Mr. Welch, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Langevin, Mr. Rush, Mr. Huffman, Ms. Meng,
Mr. Trone, Mr. Garcia of Illinois, Ms. Escobar, Mrs. Carolyn B. Maloney
of New York, Mr. Neguse, Ms. Norton, Ms. DeGette, Mrs. Lawrence, Ms.
Scanlon, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Tonko, Ms. Brownley, Mr. Swalwell, Ms.
Garcia of Texas, Mr. Panetta, Mrs. Demings, Ms. Titus, Mr. Lowenthal,
Mrs. Hayes, Mr. Carbajal, Mr. Johnson of Georgia, Mr. Suozzi, Mr.
Krishnamoorthi, Mr. Khanna, Mr. Hastings, Mr. DeFazio, Ms. Lois Frankel
of Florida, Ms. Jayapal, Mr. Peters, Mr. Gomez, Mr. Ryan, Mr.
Cartwright, Mr. Kilmer, Mr. Pocan, Mr. Casten, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Sires,
Mr. Crow, Mr. San Nicolas, Mr. Nadler, Mr. Courtney, Mr. Michael F.
Doyle of Pennsylvania, Mr. Connolly, Mr. Schneider, Mr. Scott of
Virginia, Mr. Soto, Mr. Yarmuth, Ms. Bonamici, Mr. Kind, Ms. Moore of
Wisconsin, Ms. Jackson Lee, Ms. Matsui, Mr. Malinowski, Ms. Houlahan,
Mr. Torres of New York, Ms. Kaptur, Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, Mr. Higgins of
New York, Ms. Wilson of Florida, Mr. Cohen, Mr. Himes, Mr. Bowman, Mr.
Deutch, Mr. Auchincloss, and Mr. DeSaulnier) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require each
State to ensure that each individual who provides identifying
information to the State motor vehicle authority is automatically
registered to vote in elections for Federal office held in the State
unless the individual does not meet the eligibility requirements for
registering to vote in such elections or declines to be registered to
vote in such elections, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Automatic Voter Registration Act''.
SEC. 2. AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION THROUGH STATE MOTOR VEHICLE
AUTHORITIES.
(a) Automatic Voter Registration.--Section 5 of the National Voter
Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20504) is amended to read as
follows:
``SEC. 5. AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION THROUGH MOTOR VEHICLE AUTHORITY.
``(a) Transmission of Information to Election Officials.--
``(1) Transmission.--Each State's motor vehicle authority,
upon receiving the identifying information described in
paragraph (2) with respect to any individual who requests
services from the authority, shall transmit the identifying
information to the appropriate State election official.
``(2) Identifying information described.--The identifying
information described in this paragraph with respect to any
individual is as follows:
``(A) The individual's legal name.
``(B) The individual's age.
``(C) The individual's residence.
``(D) The individual's citizenship status.
``(E) The individual's electronic signature.
``(3) Restriction on use of information on citizenship
status.--A State may not use any identifying information
regarding an individual's citizenship status which is
transmitted under this subsection for any purpose other than
determining whether the individual is eligible to vote in
elections for Federal office.
``(b) Notification to Individuals.--Upon receiving the identifying
information with respect to an individual under subsection (a), the
appropriate State election official shall issue a notification to the
individual containing--
``(1) a statement that, unless the individual notifies the
election official prior to the expiration of the 21-calendar
day period which begins on the date the official issued the
notification that the individual declines to be registered to
vote in elections for Federal office held in the State, the
individual shall be considered to have completed and submitted
a voter registration application for purposes of this Act; and
``(2) a description of the process by which the individual
may decline to be registered to vote in elections for Federal
office in the State.
``(c) Automatic Registration of Eligible Individuals.--Upon the
expiration of the 21-calendar day period which begins on the date the
appropriate State election official issues a notification to an
individual under subsection (b)(1), the official shall ensure that the
individual is registered to vote in elections for Federal office held
in the State unless--
``(1) the official determines that the individual does not
meet the eligibility requirements for registering to vote in
such elections;
``(2) prior to the expiration of such 21-calendar day
period, the individual notifies the official that the
individual declines to be registered to vote in such elections;
or
``(3) the individual is already registered to vote in such
elections.
``(d) Application to Territories.--This section shall apply with
respect to the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the
United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern
Mariana Islands in the same manner as this section applies to a
State.''.
(b) Conforming Amendment Relating to Timing of Registration Prior
to Elections.--Section 8(a)(1)(A) of such Act (52 U.S.C.
20507(a)(1)(A)) is amended to read as follows:
``(A) in the case of registration through a motor
vehicle authority under section 5, if the identifying
information with respect to the individual is
transmitted by the authority to the appropriate State
election official under section 5(a)(1) not later than
the lesser of 30 days, or the period provided by State
law, before the date of the election;''.
(c) Other Conforming Amendment.--Section 4(a)(1) of such Act (52
U.S.C. 20503(a)(1)) is amended to read as follows:
``(1) through the State motor vehicle authority pursuant to
section 5;''.
SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this Act shall take
effect upon the expiration of the 180-day period which begins on the
date of the enactment of this Act.
(b) Timing of Automatic Registration of Individuals Providing
Identifying Information to Motor Vehicle Authority Prior to Effective
Date.--
(1) Retroactive automatic registration requirements.--For
purposes of section 5 of the National Voter Registration Act of
1993 (52 U.S.C. 20504), as amended by section 2(a), if an
individual provided identifying information (as described in
section 5(a)(2) of such Act) to a State motor vehicle authority
at any time during the period described in paragraph (2), the
authority shall transmit such information to the appropriate
State election official pursuant to section 5(a)(1) of such Act
not later than such effective date, unless the motor vehicle
authority determines that the information is no longer valid
with respect to the individual.
(2) Period described.--The period described in this
paragraph is the period which begins on the date which is 2
years prior to the date of the enactment of this Act and which
ends on the effective date described in subsection (a).
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
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