I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1460 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and other 

questionable challenges. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2019 

Ms. MUCARSEL-POWELL (for herself, Mr. COHEN, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. 

COOPER, Ms. HAALAND, Ms. NORTON, Mr. SOTO, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Ms. SHALALA, and Mr. RUSH) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition 

to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 

provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter 

caging and other questionable challenges. 

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

3 SECTION 1. VOTER CAGING AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE 

4 CHALLENGES PROHIBITED. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 29 of title 18, United 

6 States Code, is amended by adding at the end the fol7 lowing: 


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1 ‘‘§ 612. Voter caging and other questionable chal2 lenges 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

4 ‘‘(1) the term ‘voter caging document’ means— 

5 ‘‘(A) a nonforwardable document that is 

6 returned to the sender or a third party as unde7 livered or undeliverable despite an attempt to 

8 deliver such document to the address of a reg9 istered voter or applicant; or 

10 ‘‘(B) any document with instructions to an 

11 addressee that the document be returned to the 

12 sender or a third party but is not so returned, 

13 despite an attempt to deliver such document to 

14 the address of a registered voter or applicant, 

15 unless at least two Federal election cycles have 

16 passed since the date of the attempted delivery; 

17 ‘‘(2) the term ‘voter caging list’ means a list of 

18 individuals compiled from voter caging documents; 

19 and 

20 ‘‘(3) the term ‘unverified match list’ means a 

21 list produced by matching the information of reg22 istered voters or applicants for voter registration to 

23 a list of individuals who are ineligible to vote in the 

24 registrar’s jurisdiction, by virtue of death, convic25 tion, change of address, or otherwise; unless one of 

26 the pieces of information matched includes a signaVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:46 Mar 15, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1460.IH H1460

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1 ture, photograph, or unique identifying number en2 suring that the information from each source refers 

3 to the same individual. 

4 ‘‘(b) PROHIBITION AGAINST VOTER CAGING.—No 

5 State or local election official shall prevent an individual 

6 from registering or voting in any election for Federal of7 fice, or permit in connection with any election for Federal 

8 office a formal challenge under State law to an individual’s 

9 registration status or eligibility to vote, if the basis for 

10 such decision is evidence consisting of— 

11 ‘‘(1) a voter caging document or voter caging 

12 list; 

13 ‘‘(2) an unverified match list; 

14 ‘‘(3) an error or omission on any record or 

15 paper relating to any application, registration, or 

16 other act requisite to voting, if such error or omis17 sion is not material to an individual’s eligibility to 

18 vote under section 2004 of the Revised Statutes, as 

19 amended (52 U.S.C. 10101(a)(2)(B)); or 

20 ‘‘(4) any other evidence so designated for pur21 poses of this section by the Election Assistance Com22 mission, 

23 except that the election official may use such evidence if 

24 it is corroborated by independent evidence of the individ25 ual’s ineligibility to register or vote. 


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1 ‘‘(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES BY PERSONS

2 OTHER THAN ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 

3 ‘‘(1) REQUIREMENTS FOR CHALLENGES.—No 

4 person, other than a State or local election official, 

5 shall submit a formal challenge to an individual’s eli6 gibility to register to vote in an election for Federal 

7 office or to vote in an election for Federal office un8 less that challenge is supported by personal knowl9 edge regarding the grounds for ineligibility which 

10 is— 

11 ‘‘(A) documented in writing; and 

12 ‘‘(B) subject to an oath or attestation 

13 under penalty of perjury that the challenger has 

14 a good faith factual basis to believe that the in15 dividual who is the subject of the challenge is 

16 ineligible to register to vote or vote in that elec17 tion, except a challenge which is based on the 

18 race, ethnicity, or national origin of the indi19 vidual who is the subject of the challenge may 

20 not be considered to have a good faith factual 

21 basis for purposes of this paragraph. 

22 ‘‘(2) PROHIBITION ON CHALLENGES ON OR

23 NEAR DATE OF ELECTION.—No person, other than 

24 a State or local election official, shall be permitted— 


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1 ‘‘(A) to challenge an individual’s eligibility 

2 to vote in an election for Federal office on Elec3 tion Day, or 

4 ‘‘(B) to challenge an individual’s eligibility 

5 to register to vote in an election for Federal of6 fice or to vote in an election for Federal office 

7 less than 10 days before the election unless the 

8 individual registered to vote less than 20 days 

9 before the election. 

10 ‘‘(d) PENALTIES FOR KNOWING MISCONDUCT.— 

11 Whoever knowingly challenges the eligibility of one or 

12 more individuals to register or vote or knowingly causes 

13 the eligibility of such individuals to be challenged in viola14 tion of this section with the intent that one or more eligi15 ble voters be disqualified, shall be fined under this title 

16 or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, for each such 

17 violation. Each violation shall be a separate offense. 

18 ‘‘(e) NO EFFECT ON RELATED LAWS.—Nothing in 

19 this section is intended to override the protections of the 

20 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

21 20501 et seq.) or to affect the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

22 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.).’’. 

23 (b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 

24 for chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, is amended 

25 by adding at the end the following: 

‘‘612. Voter caging and other questionable challenges.’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OF BEST PRAC2 TICES FOR PREVENTING VOTER CAGING. 

3 (a) BEST PRACTICES.—Not later than 180 days after 

4 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist5 ance Commission shall develop and publish for the use of 

6 States recommendations for best practices to deter and 

7 prevent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 

8 Code, as added by section 1(a), including practices to pro9 vide for the posting of relevant information at polling 

10 places and voter registration agencies, the training of poll 

11 workers and election officials, and relevant educational 

12 measures. For purposes of this subsection, the term 

13 ‘‘State’’ includes the District of Columbia, the Common14 wealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the 

15 United States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of 

16 the Northern Mariana Islands. 

17 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTING INFORMATION REQUIRE18 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 

19 of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)) is amended— 

20 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara21 graph (E); 

22 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub23 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

24 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub25 paragraph: 


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1 ‘‘(G) information relating to the prohibi2 tion against voter caging and other questionable 

3 challenges (as set forth in section 612 of title 

4 18, United States Code), including information 

5 on how individuals may report allegations of 

6 violations of such prohibition.’’. 

Æ 


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