I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1451 

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

registration, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 28, 2019 

Mr. KIM 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 

interfering with voter registration, 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 ‘‘Alice Paul Voter Pro5 tection Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITING HINDERING, INTERFERING WITH, OR 

2 PREVENTING VOTER REGISTRATION. 

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

4 States Code is amended by adding at the end the following 

5 new section: 

6 ‘‘§ 612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing 

7 registering to vote 

8 ‘‘(a) PROHIBITION.—It shall be unlawful for any per9 son, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to 

10 corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person 

11 from registering to vote or to corruptly hinder, interfere 

12 with, or prevent another person from aiding another per13 son in registering to vote. 

14 ‘‘(b) ATTEMPT.—Any person who attempts to commit 

15 any offense described in subsection (a) shall be subject to 

16 the same penalties as those prescribed for the offense that 

17 the person attempted to commit. 

18 ‘‘(c) PENALTY.—Any person who violates subsection 

19 (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 

20 than 5 years, or both.’’. 

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

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

23 by adding at the end the following new item: 

‘‘612. Hindering, interfering with, or preventing registering to vote.’’. 

24 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

25 this section shall apply with respect to elections held on 


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1 or after the date of the enactment of this Act, except that 

2 no person may be found to have violated section 612 of 

3 title 18, United States Code (as added by subsection (a)), 

4 on the basis of any act occurring prior to the date of the 

5 enactment of this Act. 

6 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF BEST PRACTICES. 

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

8 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Election Assist9 ance Commission shall develop and publish recommenda10 tions for best practices for States to use to deter and pre11 vent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 

12 Code (as added by section 2), and section 12 of the Na13 tional Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) 

14 (relating to the unlawful interference with registering to 

15 vote, or voting, or attempting to register to vote or vote), 

16 including practices to provide for the posting of relevant 

17 information at polling places and voter registration agen18 cies under such Act, the training of poll workers and elec19 tion officials, and relevant educational materials. For pur20 poses of this subsection, the term ‘‘State’’ includes the 

21 District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, 

22 Guam, American Samoa, the United States Virgin Is23 lands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 

24 Islands. 


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1 (b) INCLUSION IN VOTER INFORMATION REQUIRE2 MENTS.—Section 302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act 

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

4 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of subpara5 graph (E); 

6 (2) by striking the period at the end of sub7 paragraph (F) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following new sub9 paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(G) information relating to the prohibi11 tions of section 612 of title 18, United States 

12 Code, and section 12 of the National Voter 

13 Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20511) 

14 (relating to the unlawful interference with reg15 istering to vote, or voting, or attempting to reg16 ister to vote or vote), including information on 

17 how individuals may report allegations of viola18 tions of such prohibitions.’’. 

Æ 


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