II 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3961 

To require States and local jurisdictions to allow absentee voting in the 

November 2020 general election for Federal office for individuals impacted by coronavirus disease 2019, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 15, 2020 

Mr. MERKLEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To require States and local jurisdictions to allow absentee 

voting in the November 2020 general election for Federal 

office for individuals impacted by coronavirus disease 

2019, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Pandemic Democracy 

5 for All Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE ABSENTEE BALLOTS 

2 FOR 2020 ELECTIONS TO INDIVIDUALS IM3 PACTED BY COVID–19. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—In the case of the regularly sched5 uled general election for Federal office occurring in No6 vember 2020, each State and local jurisdiction shall per7 mit eligible voters to use absentee registration procedures 

8 and to vote by absentee ballot individuals if such eligible 

9 voter has a reasonable concern that voting in person on 

10 the day of the election may expose the voter to contracting 

11 coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID–19) or is otherwise im12 pacted by COVID–19. 

13 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—The Attorney General may 

14 bring a civil action against any State or local jurisdiction 

15 in an appropriate United States District Court for such 

16 declaratory and injunctive relief (including a temporary 

17 restraining order, a permanent or temporary injunction, 

18 or other order) as may be necessary to carry out the pur19 poses of subsection (a). 

20 SEC. 3. GRANTS FOR ONLINE REGISTRATION SYSTEMS. 

21 (a) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this section is to en22 courage State and local jurisdictions with paper-based ab23 sentee ballot request systems to provide for online absen24 tee ballot request systems. 

25 (b) GRANTS.—The Election Assistance Commission 

26 may award grants to States and local jurisdictions to enVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:54 Jun 25, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3961.IS S3961

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1 able States and local jurisdictions to implement online ab2 sentee registration systems for the regularly scheduled 

3 election for Federal office in November 2020. 

4 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated for payments under this 

6 section $16,700,000 for fiscal year 2020. 

7 SEC. 4. GRANTS FOR INCREASED ABSENTEE VOTING. 

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance Commis9 sion may award grants to States and local jurisdictions 

10 to facilitate an increase in absentee voting during the reg11 ularly scheduled election for Federal office in November 

12 2020. 

13 (b) USE OF GRANTS.—Grants provided under this 

14 section may be used for— 

15 (1) the purchase of materials (including the 

16 costs of postage, envelopes, ballot printing, drop 

17 boxes, and processing equipment) to facilitate absen18 tee voting; 

19 (2) educational outreach to the public with re20 spect to casting absentee ballots and the amount of 

21 time it will take to process such ballots and certify 

22 election results; and 

23 (3) such other purposes as the Commission may 

24 determine appropriate. 


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1 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated for payments under this 

3 section $700,000,000 for fiscal year 2020, of which not 

4 less than $200,000,000 shall be authorized for grants 

5 used for purposes described in subsection (b)(2). 

6 SEC. 5. STATE DEFINED. 

7 In this Act, the term ‘‘State’’ means the 50 States 

8 and the District of Columbia. 

Æ 


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