II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1828 

To change the date for regularly scheduled general elections for Federal 

office to the first Saturday and Sunday after the first Friday in November in every even-numbered year. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 18, 2017 

Mr. REED (for himself, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, Mr. BROWN, Mr. KING, Mr. 

FRANKEN, and Mr. WHITEHOUSE) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To change the date for regularly scheduled general elections 

for Federal office to the first Saturday and Sunday 

after the first Friday in November in every even-numbered year. 

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 ‘‘Weekend Voting Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. WEEKEND VOTING FOR REGULARLY SCHEDULED 

2 GENERAL ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL OFFICE. 

3 (a) ELECTIONS FOR HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

4 AND SENATE.—Section 25 of the Revised Statutes of the 

5 United States (2 U.S.C. 7) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 25. DATES AND TIME OF ELECTIONS. 

7 ‘‘(a) DATES OF ELECTION.—The first Saturday and 

8 Sunday after the first Friday in November, in every even9 numbered year, are established as the dates for the elec10 tion in each of the States of Representatives and Dele11 gates to the next Congress commencing after the dates 

12 of the election. 

13 ‘‘(b) HOURS OF OPERATION OF POLLING PLACES.— 

14 Each State shall by law establish the hours of operation 

15 for polling places in the State on the dates of election es16 tablished under subsection (a). 

17 ‘‘(c) STATE DEFINED.—In this section, the term 

18 ‘State’ means each of the several States, the District of 

19 Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, 

20 American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands, and 

21 the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.’’. 

22 (b) ELECTIONS FOR PRESIDENT AND VICE PRESI23 DENT.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 1 of title 3, United 

25 States Code, is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘§ 1. Date and time of appointing electors 

2 ‘‘(a) DATES OF ELECTION.—The electors of Presi3 dent and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, 

4 on the first Saturday and Sunday after the first Friday 

5 in November, in every fourth year succeeding every elec6 tion of a President and Vice President. 

7 ‘‘(b) HOURS OF OPERATION OF POLLING PLACES.— 

8 Each State shall by law establish the hours of operation 

9 for polling places in the State on the dates of election es10 tablished under subsection (a).’’. 

11 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec12 tions for chapter 1 of title 3, United States Code, 

13 is amended by striking the item relating to section 

14 1 and inserting the following: 

‘‘1. Date and time of appointing electors.’’. 

15 (c) NO INTERFERENCE WITH RELIGIOUS PRAC16 TICES.—It is the sense of Congress that the holding of 

17 elections over a weekend, as established by this Act, should 

18 be carried out in a manner which does not interfere with 

19 religious practices. 

20 (d) COST SAVINGS.—It is the sense of Congress that 

21 the holding of elections over a weekend, as established by 

22 this Act, should result in cost savings to the American tax23 payer. 

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

25 this section shall apply with respect to regularly scheduled 


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•S 1828 IS

1 general elections for Federal office beginning with the 

2 elections held in November 2018. 

Æ 


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