I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2215 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to treat the lease 

for a dwelling unit under certain federally assisted housing programs 

as a simultaneous application for voter registration in elections for Federal office, to designate owners of dwelling units under certain federally 

assisted housing programs as voter registration agencies for purposes 

of such Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 26, 2021 

Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, 

Ms. TLAIB, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. 

MENG, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. 

DEMINGS, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. CLARKE of 

New York, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 

SUOZZI, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. JONES, Mr. 

LYNCH, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SIRES, Mr. 

AUCHINCLOSS, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, and Mr. SAN

NICOLAS) 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 

treat the lease for a dwelling unit under certain federally 

assisted housing programs as a simultaneous application 

for voter registration in elections for Federal office, to 

designate owners of dwelling units under certain federally 

assisted housing programs as voter registration agencies 

for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Our Homes, Our Votes 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROMOTING VOTER REGISTRATION FOR RESI7 DENTS OF UNITS UNDER CERTAIN FEDER8 ALLY ASSISTED HOUSING PROGRAMS. 

9 (a) TREATMENT OF LEASE AS SIMULTANEOUS AP10 PLICATION FOR VOTER REGISTRATION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Voter Reg12 istration Act of 1993 is amended by inserting after 

13 section 5 (52 U.S.C. 20504) the following new sec14 tion: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 5A. SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION FOR VOTER REG16 ISTRATION AND LEASE FOR PHA-ASSISTED 

17 HOUSING. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

19 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION FOR VOTER REGISTRA20 TION.—Each lease and annual income recertification 

21 for a PHA-assisted dwelling unit (as such term is 

22 defined in subsection (e)) submitted to the applicable 

23 public housing agency for such unit shall serve as an 

24 application for voter registration with respect to 

25 elections for Federal office for each lessee who signs 


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1 the lease unless the lessee fails to sign the voter reg2 istration application. 

3 ‘‘(2) UPDATE.—An application for voter reg4 istration submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 

5 be considered as updating any previous voter reg6 istration by the applicant. 

7 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON USE OF INFORMATION.—No in8 formation relating to the failure of a lessee of PHA-as9 sisted dwelling unit to sign a voter registration application 

10 may be used for any purpose other than voter registration. 

11 ‘‘(c) FORMS AND PROCEDURES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) INCLUSION.—Each owner of a PHA-as13 sisted dwelling unit shall include a voter registration 

14 application form for elections for Federal office as 

15 part of a lease for such dwelling unit. 

16 ‘‘(2) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—The voter reg17 istration application portion of a lease for a PHA18 assisted dwelling unit— 

19 ‘‘(A) may not require any information that 

20 duplicates information required in the lease por21 tion of the form (other than a second signature 

22 or other information necessary under subpara23 graph (C)); 

24 ‘‘(B) may require only the minimum 

25 amount of information necessary to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) prevent duplicate voter registra2 tions; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) enable State election officials to 

4 assess the eligibility of the applicant and to 

5 administer voter registration and other 

6 parts of the election process; 

7 ‘‘(C) shall include a statement that— 

8 ‘‘(i) states each eligibility requirement 

9 (including citizenship); 

10 ‘‘(ii) contains an attestation that the 

11 applicant meets each such requirement; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(iii) requires the signature of the ap14 plicant, under penalty of perjury; 

15 ‘‘(D) shall include, in print that is identical 

16 to that used in the attestation portion of the 

17 application— 

18 ‘‘(i) the information required in sub19 paragraphs (A) and (B) of section 8(a)(5) 

20 of this Act; 

21 ‘‘(ii) a statement that, if an applicant 

22 declines to register to vote, the fact that 

23 the applicant has declined to register will 

24 remain confidential and will be used only 

25 for voter registration purposes; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a statement that if an applicant 

2 does register to vote, the office at which 

3 the applicant submits a voter registration 

4 application will remain confidential and 

5 will be used only for voter registration pur6 poses; and 

7 ‘‘(E) shall be made available (as submitted 

8 by the applicant, or in machine readable or 

9 other format) to the appropriate State election 

10 official as provided by State law. 

11 ‘‘(d) TRANSMITTAL.— 

12 ‘‘(1) BY OWNER.—In the case of lease or an13 nual income recertification for a PHA-assistance 

14 dwelling unit described in subsection (e)(1)(B), the 

15 owner of the dwelling unit shall transmit a com16 pleted voter registration portion of a lease or annual 

17 income recertification to the public housing agency 

18 providing assistance with respect to such unit not 

19 later than 10 days after the date of acceptance. 

20 ‘‘(2) BY PHA.—Subject to paragraph (3), a 

21 completed voter registration portion of a lease or an22 nual income recertification for a PHA-assisted dwell23 ing unit accepted by the public housing agency as 

24 owner of such a dwelling unit, or pursuant to para25 graph (1), shall be transmitted to the appropriate 


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1 State election official not later than 10 days after 

2 the date of acceptance. 

3 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED WITHIN 5 DAYS

4 OF REGISTRATION DEADLINE.—If a registration ap5 plication is accepted by a public housing agency pur6 suant to paragraph (2) within 5 days before the last 

7 day for registration to vote in an election, the appli8 cation shall be transmitted to the appropriate State 

9 election official not later than 5 days after the date 

10 of acceptance. 

11 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

12 ‘‘(1) PHA-ASSISTED DWELLING UNIT.—The 

13 term ‘PHA-assisted dwelling unit’ means a dwelling 

14 unit— 

15 ‘‘(A) in public housing, as such term is de16 fined in section 3(b) of the United States Hous17 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); or 

18 ‘‘(B) that is assisted under the program 

19 for tenant-based rental assistance under section 

20 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 

21 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), including the program 

22 under paragraph (13) of such section 8(o). 

23 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.—The term 

24 ‘public housing agency’ has the meaning given such 


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1 term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 

2 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 

3 ‘‘(3) OWNER.—The term ‘owner’ means, with 

4 respect to a PHA-assisted dwelling unit— 

5 ‘‘(A) in the case of a unit described in 

6 paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection, the public 

7 housing agency that owns or operates such unit; 

8 or 

9 ‘‘(B) in the case of a unit described in 

10 paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, the private 

11 person or entity having the legal right to lease 

12 such unit.’’. 

13 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

14 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to leases 

15 entered into on or after the expiration of the 90-day 

16 period beginning on the date of the enactment of 

17 this Act. 

18 (b) TREATMENT OF OWNERS OF UNITS AS VOTER

19 REGISTRATION AGENCIES.— 

20 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of such Act (52 

21 U.S.C. 20506) is amended— 

22 (A) in subsection (a)(2)— 

23 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

24 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 


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1 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

2 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

3 and’’; and 

4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol5 lowing new subparagraph: 

6 ‘‘(C) each owner (as such term is defined in 

7 subsection (e)) of a dwelling unit assisted under a 

8 covered federally assisted housing program (as such 

9 term is defined in such subsection) located within 

10 such State, subject to section 5A in the case of an 

11 owner described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of sub12 section (e)(1), except that such an owner shall be a 

13 voter registration agency for purposes of this section 

14 only with respect to lessees of such dwelling units of 

15 such owner located within such State.’’; and 

16 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

17 subsection: 

18 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

19 ‘‘(1) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING

20 PROGRAM.—The term ‘covered federally assisted 

21 housing program’ means— 

22 ‘‘(A) the public housing program under 

23 title I of the United States Housing Act of 

24 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.); 


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1 ‘‘(B) the programs for rental housing as2 sistance under section 8 of the United States 

3 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), includ4 ing— 

5 ‘‘(i) the program for tenant-based 

6 rental assistance under subsection (o) of 

7 such section 8; and 

8 ‘‘(ii) the program for project-based 

9 rental assistance under such section 8; 

10 ‘‘(C) the program for supportive housing 

11 for the elderly under section 202 of the Hous12 ing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); 

13 ‘‘(D) the program for supportive housing 

14 for persons with disabilities under section 811 

15 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 

16 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); 

17 ‘‘(E) the program for housing opportuni18 ties for persons with AIDS under subtitle D of 

19 title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 

20 Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et 

21 seq.); 

22 ‘‘(F) the program under subtitle A of title 

23 IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 

24 Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.); 


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1 ‘‘(G) the HOME Investment Partnerships 

2 Program under subtitle A of title II of the 

3 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Hous4 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 12741 et seq.); 

5 ‘‘(H) the program under paragraph (3) of 

6 section 221(d) of the National Housing Act (12 

7 U.S.C. 1715l(d)(3)) that bears interest at a 

8 rate determined under the proviso under para9 graph (5) of such section 221(d); 

10 ‘‘(I) the rental assistance program under 

11 section 236 of the National Housing Act (12 

12 U.S.C. 1715z–1); 

13 ‘‘(J) the programs for rural housing assist14 ance provided under sections 514, 515, 516, 

15 522, and 538 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 

16 U.S.C. 1484, 1485, 1486, 1490m, and 1490p– 

17 2); 

18 ‘‘(K) the low income housing tax credit 

19 program under section 42 of the Internal Rev20 enue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 42); 

21 ‘‘(L) the program for rural housing vouch22 ers under section 542 of the Housing Act of 

23 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490r); and 

24 ‘‘(M) the program for assistance from the 

25 Housing Trust Fund established under section 


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1 1338 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Fi2 nancial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (12 

3 U.S.C. 4568). 

4 ‘‘(2) OWNER.—The term ‘owner’ means, with 

5 respect to a dwelling unit assisted under a covered 

6 federally assisted housing program— 

7 ‘‘(A) in the case of a dwelling unit assisted 

8 under a program specified in subparagraph (A) 

9 or (B)(1) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, 

10 the public housing agency that owns or operates 

11 such unit or provides rental assistance with re12 spect to such unit, as applicable; or 

13 ‘‘(B) in the case of a dwelling unit assisted 

14 under any other covered federally assisted hous15 ing program, the private person or entity hav16 ing the legal right to lease such unit.’’. 

17 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

18 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to assist19 ance provided on or after the expiration of the 90- 

20 day period beginning on the date of the enactment 

21 of this Act. 

Æ 


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