II 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2699 

To amend title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 to require institutions 

of higher education that participate in programs under such title to 

distribute voter registration forms to students enrolled at the institution, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 18, 2018 

Mr. BOOKER (for himself and Mr. DURBIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To amend title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 

to require institutions of higher education that participate in programs under such title to distribute voter 

registration forms to students enrolled at the institution, 

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 ‘‘Help Students Vote 

5 Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that political participation 

3 and civic engagement are fundamental to the health of 

4 American democracy, and that all citizens should be en5 couraged to vote, regardless of party affiliation. 

6 SEC. 3. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) According to the National Center for Edu9 cation Statistics, undergraduate enrollment is pro10 jected to increase from 17,000,000 to 19,300,000 

11 students between 2015 and 2026, and nearly 

12 3,000,000 undergraduate and graduate students 

13 today enroll in exclusively online education. 

14 (2) According to the Pew Research Center, peo15 ple between the ages of 18 and 35 comprise roughly 

16 31 percent of the overall electorate. 

17 (3) In 2014, young adults (ages 18 to 29) made 

18 up about 21 percent of the voting eligible population 

19 but only 17 percent of this population cast a ballot 

20 in the 2014 election. 

21 (4) Just 42 percent of 18–24 year olds said 

22 they were registered to vote in 2014, which was the 

23 lowest rate in 40 years. 

24 (5) In 2008, 21 percent of young adults (ages 

25 18 to 29) said they weren’t registered to vote beVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:20 Apr 23, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2699.IS S2699

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1 cause they missed the registration deadline. Six per2 cent said they didn’t know where or how to register. 

3 SEC. 4. DISTRIBUTING VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS. 

4 Section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 

5 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) is amended to read as fol6 lows: 

7 ‘‘(23)(A) The institution will make a good faith 

8 effort to distribute voter registration forms to each 

9 student, and to make such forms widely available to 

10 students at the institution. In this paragraph, the 

11 term ‘student’ means an individual who is enrolled 

12 at the institution as an undergraduate or graduate 

13 student on a full-time or part-time basis, including 

14 an individual who is solely enrolled in an online 

15 course. 

16 ‘‘(B) The institution shall be considered in com17 pliance with the good faith requirements of subpara18 graph (A)— 

19 ‘‘(i) if, with respect to each student en20 rolled and physically in attendance at the insti21 tution, the institution— 

22 ‘‘(I)(aa) distributes voter registration 

23 forms not less than twice in a calendar 

24 year, and distributes such voter registra25 tion forms not less than 30 days in adVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:54 Apr 21, 2018 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2699.IS S2699

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1 vance of the deadline for registering to 

2 vote within the State for the next sched3 uled Federal or State primary election and 

4 not less than 30 days in advance of the 

5 deadline for registering to vote within the 

6 State for the next scheduled Federal or 

7 State general election; or 

8 ‘‘(bb) electronically transmits a mes9 sage containing a voter registration form 

10 (or the message contains an Internet ad11 dress where such a form can be down12 loaded) acceptable for use in the State in 

13 which the institution is located to each 

14 such student, and such electronic message 

15 is devoted exclusively to voter registration, 

16 not less than twice in a calendar year, and 

17 transmits such a message not less than 30 

18 days in advance of the deadline for reg19 istering to vote within the State for the 

20 next scheduled Federal or State primary 

21 election and not less than 30 days in ad22 vance of the deadline for registering to 

23 vote within the State for the next sched24 uled Federal or State general election; 


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1 ‘‘(II) makes available information re2 garding State registration deadlines, resi3 dency requirements, voter identification, 

4 and absentee voting, as applicable; and 

5 ‘‘(III) ensures that an appropriate 

6 staff person or office has been designated 

7 as a ‘Campus Vote Coordinator’ to ensure 

8 compliance in accordance with this clause 

9 at the institution and who shall— 

10 ‘‘(aa) be publicly designated as 

11 the ‘Campus Vote Coordinator’, along 

12 with the Coordinator’s contact infor13 mation, on the institution’s website; 

14 and 

15 ‘‘(bb) upon request, provide to 

16 students residency requirements for 

17 voting, including the ability of out of 

18 State students to vote in the State in 

19 which they are enrolled and physically 

20 in attendance, in accordance with ap21 plicable State law; and 

22 ‘‘(ii) if, with respect to each student en23 rolled exclusively in distance education or cor24 respondence programs and who is not physically 


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1 in attendance at the institution, the institu2 tion— 

3 ‘‘(I) transmits a message of referral 

4 to a centralized voter registration website 

5 or platform that provides applicable voter 

6 registration forms and information to po7 tential voters in all States, provided that 

8 such platform is hosted by a government 

9 affiliated website; and 

10 ‘‘(II) transmits such message not less 

11 than twice in a calendar year. 

12 ‘‘(C) The institution may also include voter reg13 istration forms within materials or information dis14 tributed to newly enrolled, or returning, students at 

15 the beginning of a term, consistent with the require16 ments of subparagraph (B).’’. 

17 SEC. 5. GRANTS AUTHORIZED. 

18 The Secretary of Education shall award grants to in19 stitutions of higher education that greatly exceed the min20 imum requirements under section 487(a)(23) of the High21 er Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)), in22 cluding as demonstrated by— 

23 (1) sponsoring large on campus voter mobiliza24 tion efforts; 


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1 (2) engaging the surrounding community in 

2 nonpartisan voter registration and get out the vote 

3 efforts; 

4 (3) creating a website with centralized informa5 tion about voter registration and election dates; 

6 (4) inviting candidates to speak on campus; and 

7 (5) offering rides to the polls to increase voter 

8 education, registration, and mobilization. 

9 SEC. 6. ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS. 

10 (a) CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Education 

12 shall submit a written warning to an institution of 

13 higher education that violates a requirement of sec14 tion 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 

15 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) that includes a direc16 tion to correct the violation not later than 60 days 

17 after the date the warning was received. 

18 (2) ACTIONS AUTHORIZED.—If an institution of 

19 higher education does not correct a violation in ac20 cordance with a direction from the Secretary of Edu21 cation as described in paragraph (1), the Attorney 

22 General of the United States may authorize the ap23 propriate State law enforcement officer or the chief 

24 elections official of a State to commence a civil ac25 tion in accordance with subsection (b). 


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1 (b) CIVIL ACTIONS.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State law enforcement of3 ficer or chief elections official of a State may com4 mence a civil action in accordance with subsection 

5 (a) in the appropriate district court of the United 

6 States against the institution that engages in a pat7 tern or practice of violating section 487(a)(23) of 

8 the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

9 1094(a)(23)). 

10 (2) RELIEF.—In a civil action commenced 

11 under paragraph (1), the court may— 

12 (A) grant any appropriate equitable or de13 claratory relief with respect to the violation of 

14 section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act 

15 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)); 

16 (B) award all other appropriate relief to 

17 any person or group aggrieved by the violation; 

18 (C) to vindicate the public interest, assess 

19 a civil penalty in an amount not exceeding the 

20 amount listed in section 487(c)(3)(B) of the 

21 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

22 1094(c)(3)(B)) for any violation; and 

23 (D) take into account the number of days 

24 in which the infraction occurred. 


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1 (3) INTERVENTION.—Upon timely application, 

2 a person aggrieved by a violation of section 

3 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 

4 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) with respect to which a civil ac5 tion is commenced under this subsection may inter6 vene in such action, and may obtain such appro7 priate relief as the person could obtain in a civil ac8 tion under subsection (c) with respect to such viola9 tion, along with costs and reasonable attorneys fees. 

10 (c) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Any person or group ag12 grieved by a violation of section 487(a)(23) of the 

13 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

14 1094(a)(23)) may commence a civil action in any 

15 appropriate district court of the United States 

16 against the institution that engages in such viola17 tion. 

18 (2) RELIEF.—In a civil action commenced 

19 under paragraph (1), the court may— 

20 (A) grant any appropriate equitable or de21 claratory relief with respect to the violation of 

22 section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education Act 

23 of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)); 

24 (B) award any other appropriate relief to 

25 the person or group aggrieved by the violation, 


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1 including the costs of the action, such as rea2 sonable attorneys’ fees; 

3 (C) to vindicate the public interest, assess 

4 a civil penalty in an amount not exceeding the 

5 amount listed in section 487(c)(3)(B) of the 

6 Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 

7 1094(c)(3)(B)) for any violation; and 

8 (D) take into account the number of days 

9 in which the infraction occurred. 

10 (3) REPORTING.—Not later than 60 days be11 fore the date a person or group aggrieved by a viola12 tion of section 487(a)(23) of the Higher Education 

13 Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1094(a)(23)) commences a 

14 civil action under paragraph (1), the person or 

15 group shall report the violation to the Department 

16 of Education, a Federal or State law enforcement 

17 agency, and the institution purported to have com18 mitted the violation via an affidavit detailing the al19 leged violation. 

20 (d) PRESERVATION OF REMEDIES.—Nothing in this 

21 section shall be construed to preclude or limit any remedy 

22 otherwise available under other law, including consequen23 tial and punitive damages. 

Æ 


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