I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1398 

To provide funds to give States incentives to invest in practices and technology 

designed to expedite voting at the polls and simplify voter registration, 

improve voting system security, and promote automatic voter registration, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 7, 2017 

Mr. CONNOLLY (for himself and Mr. LANGEVIN) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To provide funds to give States incentives to invest in practices and technology designed to expedite voting at the 

polls and simplify voter registration, improve voting system security, and promote automatic 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; TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the 

5 ‘‘Fair, Accurate, Secure, and Timely Voting Act of 2017’’ 

6 or the ‘‘FAST Voting Act of 2017’’. 


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1 (b) TABLE OF CONTENTS.—The table of contents of 

2 this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title; table of contents. 

TITLE I—IMPROVING VOTER PARTICIPATION 

Sec. 101. Incentives for States to invest in practices and technology designed 

to expedite voting at the polls and simplify voter registration. 

Sec. 102. Criteria for awarding grants. 

Sec. 103. Criteria for evaluating applications. 

Sec. 104. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE II—IMPROVING VOTING SYSTEM SECURITY 

Sec. 201. Incentives for States to improve voting system security. 

Sec. 202. Criteria for awarding grants. 

Sec. 203. Criteria for evaluating applications. 

Sec. 204. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE III—ENCOURAGING AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION 

Sec. 301. Incentives for States to implement automatic voter registration. 

Sec. 302. Applications. 

Sec. 303. Authorization of appropriations. 

TITLE IV—GENERAL PROVISIONS 

Sec. 401. Establishment of performance measures and targets. 

Sec. 402. Reporting requirements. 

Sec. 403. State defined. 

3 TITLE I—IMPROVING VOTER 

4 PARTICIPATION 

5 SEC. 101. INCENTIVES FOR STATES TO INVEST IN PRAC6 TICES AND TECHNOLOGY DESIGNED TO EX7 PEDITE VOTING AT THE POLLS AND SIM8 PLIFY VOTER REGISTRATION. 

9 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

11 available under section 104 for a fiscal year and not 

12 reserved under section (b) of section 104, the Elec13 tion Assistance Commission (hereafter in this title 


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1 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall award 

2 grants, on a competitive basis, to States in accord3 ance with section 103. 

4 (2) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—A State may not re5 ceive more than 1 grant under this section per grant 

6 period. 

7 (3) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

8 (A) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this sec9 tion shall be awarded for a period of not more 

10 than 4 years. 

11 (B) CONTINUATION OF GRANTS.—A State 

12 that is awarded a grant under this section shall 

13 not receive grant funds under this section for 

14 the second or any subsequent year of the grant 

15 unless the State demonstrates to the Commis16 sion, at such time and in such manner as deter17 mined by the Commission, that the State is— 

18 (i) making progress in implementing 

19 the grant implementation plan described in 

20 section 102(b) at a rate that the Commis21 sion determines will result in the State 

22 fully implementing such plan during the 

23 remainder of the grant period; or 

24 (ii) making progress against the per25 formance measures established under secVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:32 Mar 11, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1398.IH H1398

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1 tion 401 at a rate that the Commission de2 termines will result in the State reaching 

3 its targets and achieving the objectives of 

4 the grant during the remainder of the 

5 grant period. 

6 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each State that receives a 

7 grant under this title shall use the funds provided by the 

8 grant to carry out the State’s grant implementation plan 

9 described in section 102(b). 

10 SEC. 102. CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS. 

11 (a) APPLICATIONS.—Each State that desires to re12 ceive a grant under this title shall submit an application 

13 to the Commission at such time, in such manner, and con14 taining such information as the Commission may reason15 ably require. At a minimum, each such application shall 

16 include each of the following: 

17 (1) A documentation of the State’s record in 

18 carrying out the following in the administration of 

19 elections for public office: 

20 (A) Providing various voter registration 

21 opportunities and record of providing electronic 

22 transfer of voter registration information from 

23 government agencies to election officials. 

24 (B) Providing early voting. 

25 (C) Providing absentee voting. 


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1 (D) Providing assistance to voters who do 

2 not speak English as a primary language. 

3 (E) Providing assistance to voters with dis4 abilities at and beyond the level required by 

5 Federal law. 

6 (F) Providing effective access to voting for 

7 members of the uniformed services at and be8 yond the level required by Federal law. 

9 (G) Providing formal training of election 

10 officials. 

11 (H) Auditing waiting times at polling 

12 places. 

13 (I) Allocating polling locations, equipment, 

14 and staff to match population distribution. 

15 (J) Responding to voting irregularities and 

16 concerns raised at polling stations. 

17 (K) Creating and adhering to contingency 

18 voting plans in the event of a natural or other 

19 disaster. 

20 (L) Any other performance measure estab21 lished under section 401 in providing various 

22 voter registration opportunities. 

23 (2) Evidence of established conditions of inno24 vation and reform in the administration of elections 


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1 for public office in the State and the State’s pro2 posed plan for implementing additional conditions. 

3 (3) Evidence of collaboration between relevant 

4 stakeholders in developing the grant implementation 

5 plan described in subsection (b). 

6 (4) Annual performance measures and targets 

7 for the activities carried out with the grant. 

8 (5) A description of the State’s plan to conduct 

9 a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the ac10 tivities carried out with the grant. 

11 (6) The grant implementation plan described in 

12 subsection (b). 

13 (b) GRANT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—The grant im14 plementation plan described in this subsection is a plan 

15 developed by the State for using funds provided by the 

16 grant to improve the State’s performance on the perform17 ance measures established under section 401, including 

18 how the State will carry out some or all of the following: 

19 (1) Providing flexible registration opportunities, 

20 including online and same-day registration and reg21 istration updating. 

22 (2) Providing early voting, at a minimum of 9 

23 of the 10 calendar days preceding an election, at 

24 sufficient and flexible hours. 


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1 (3) Providing absentee voting, including no-ex2 cuse absentee voting. 

3 (4) Providing assistance to voters who do not 

4 speak English as a primary language beyond the 

5 minimum requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 

6 1965. 

7 (5) Providing assistance to voters with disabil8 ities, including visual impairment, at and beyond the 

9 level required by Federal law. 

10 (6) Providing effective access to voting for 

11 members of the uniformed services at and beyond 

12 the level required by Federal law. 

13 (7) Providing formal training of election offi14 cials, including State and county administrators and 

15 volunteers. 

16 (8) Auditing and reducing waiting times at poll17 ing places. 

18 (9) Allocating polling locations, equipment, and 

19 staff to match population distribution. 

20 (10) Responding to any reports of voting irreg21 ularities or concerns raised at polling places. 

22 (11) Creating contingency voting plans in the 

23 event of natural or other disaster. 

24 (12) Improving the wait times at the persist25 ently poorest performing polling stations. 


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1 SEC. 103. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS. 

2 (a) AWARD BASIS.—The Commission shall award 

3 grants to States under this title on a competitive basis, 

4 based on the quality of the State’s application submitted 

5 under section 102, including— 

6 (1) the State’s record in the areas described in 

7 paragraph (1) of section 102(a); 

8 (2) the State’s record of, and commitment to, 

9 establishing conditions for innovation and reform, as 

10 described in paragraph (2) of section 102(a); 

11 (3) the quality and likelihood of success of the 

12 State’s grant implementation plan described in sec13 tion 102(b) in showing improvement in the areas de14 scribed in paragraph (1) of section 102(a), including 

15 the State’s capacity to implement the plan and evi16 dence of collaboration as described in paragraph (3) 

17 of section 102(a); and 

18 (4) the State’s evaluation plan as described in 

19 paragraph (5) of section 102(a). 

20 (b) EXPLANATION.—The Commission shall publish 

21 an explanation of how the application review process under 

22 this paragraph will ensure an equitable and objective eval23 uation based on the criteria described in subsection (a). 

24 SEC. 104. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

25 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro26 priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 


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1 2017 and each succeeding fiscal year to carry out this 

2 title. 

3 (b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—From the amount 

4 made available to carry out this title for a fiscal year, the 

5 Commission may reserve not more than 10 percent of such 

6 amount to carry out activities related to— 

7 (1) technical assistance; and 

8 (2) outreach and dissemination. 

9 TITLE II—IMPROVING VOTING 

10 SYSTEM SECURITY 

11 SEC. 201. INCENTIVES FOR STATES TO IMPROVE VOTING 

12 SYSTEM SECURITY. 

13 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

14 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

15 available under section 204 for a fiscal year and not 

16 reserved under section (b) of section 204, the Elec17 tion Assistance Commission (hereafter in this title 

18 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall award 

19 grants, on a competitive basis, to States in accord20 ance with section 203. 

21 (2) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—A State may not re22 ceive more than 1 grant under this section per grant 

23 period. 

24 (3) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 


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1 (A) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this sec2 tion shall be awarded for a period of not more 

3 than 4 years. 

4 (B) CONTINUATION OF GRANTS.—A State 

5 that is awarded a grant under this section shall 

6 not receive grant funds under this section for 

7 the second or any subsequent year of the grant 

8 unless the State demonstrates to the Commis9 sion, at such time and in such manner as deter10 mined by the Commission, that the State is— 

11 (i) making progress in implementing 

12 the grant implementation plan described in 

13 section 202(b) at a rate that the Commis14 sion determines will result in the State 

15 fully implementing such plan during the 

16 remainder of the grant period; or 

17 (ii) making progress against the per18 formance measures established under sec19 tion 401 at a rate that the Commission de20 termines will result in the State reaching 

21 its targets and achieving the objectives of 

22 the grant during the remainder of the 

23 grant period. 

24 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each State that receives a 

25 grant under this title shall use the funds provided by the 


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1 grant to carry out the State’s grant implementation plan 

2 described in section 202(b). 

3 SEC. 202. CRITERIA FOR AWARDING GRANTS. 

4 (a) APPLICATIONS.—Each State that desires to re5 ceive a grant under this title shall submit an application 

6 to the Commission at such time, in such manner, and con7 taining such information as the Commission may reason8 ably require. At a minimum, each such application shall 

9 include each of the following: 

10 (1) A documentation of the State’s record in 

11 carrying out the following in the administration of 

12 elections for public office: 

13 (A) Providing voting machines that are 

14 less than 10 years old. 

15 (B) Providing voting equipment that gen16 erates a verifiable paper trail at polling places. 

17 (C) Implementing strong chain of custody 

18 procedures for the physical security of voting 

19 equipment and paper records at all stages of 

20 the process. 

21 (D) Conducting pre-election testing on 

22 every voting machine and ensuring that paper 

23 ballots are available wherever electronic ma24 chines are used. 


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1 (E) Mandating post-election risk-limiting 

2 audits to confirm the validity of electronic re3 sults. 

4 (F) Keeping offline backups of voter reg5 istration lists. 

6 (G) Providing a secure voter registration 

7 database that logs requests submitted to the 

8 database. 

9 (H) Publishing and enforcing a policy de10 tailing use limitations and security safeguards 

11 to protect voters’ personal information in the 

12 voter registration process. 

13 (I) Providing secure processes and proce14 dures for reporting vote tallies. 

15 (J) Providing a secure platform for dis16 seminating vote totals. 

17 (K) Any other performance measure estab18 lished under section 401 in providing voting 

19 system security. 

20 (2) Evidence of established conditions of inno21 vation and reform in providing voting system secu22 rity and the State’s proposed plan for implementing 

23 additional conditions. 


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1 (3) Evidence of collaboration between relevant 

2 stakeholders in developing the grant implementation 

3 plan described in subsection (b). 

4 (4) Annual performance measures and targets 

5 for the activities carried out with the grant. 

6 (5) A description of the State’s plan to conduct 

7 a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the ac8 tivities carried out with the grant. 

9 (6) The grant implementation plan described in 

10 subsection (b). 

11 (b) GRANT IMPLEMENTATION PLAN.—The grant im12 plementation plan described in this subsection is a plan 

13 developed by the State for using funds provided by the 

14 grant to improve the State’s performance on the perform15 ance measures established under section 401, including 

16 how the State will carry out some or all of the following: 

17 (1) Providing voting machines that are less 

18 than 10 years old. 

19 (2) Updating voting equipment to provide a 

20 verifiable paper trail at polling stations. 

21 (3) Implementing strong chain of custody pro22 cedures for the physical security of voting equipment 

23 and paper records at all stages of the process. 


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1 (4) Conducting pre-election testing on every 

2 voting machine and ensuring paper ballots are avail3 able wherever electronic machines are used. 

4 (5) Mandating post-election risk-limiting audits 

5 to confirm the validity of electronic results. 

6 (6) Keeping offline backups of voter registra7 tion lists. 

8 (7) Providing a secure voter registration data9 base that logs requests submitted to the database. 

10 (8) Publishing and enforcing a policy detailing 

11 use limitations and security safeguards to protect 

12 voters’ personal information in the voter registration 

13 process. 

14 (9) Providing secure processes and procedures 

15 for reporting vote tallies. 

16 (10) Providing a secure platform for dissemi17 nating vote totals. 

18 SEC. 203. CRITERIA FOR EVALUATING APPLICATIONS. 

19 (a) AWARD BASIS.—The Commission shall award 

20 grants to States under this title on a competitive basis, 

21 based on the quality of the State’s application submitted 

22 under section 202, including— 

23 (1) the State’s record in the areas described in 

24 paragraph (1) of section 202(a); 


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1 (2) the State’s record of, and commitment to, 

2 establishing conditions for innovation and reform, as 

3 described in paragraph (2) of section 202(a); 

4 (3) the quality and likelihood of success of the 

5 State’s grant implementation plan described in sec6 tion 202(b) in showing improvement in the areas de7 scribed in paragraph (1) of section 202(a), including 

8 the State’s capacity to implement the plan and evi9 dence of collaboration as described in paragraph (3) 

10 of section 202(a); and 

11 (4) the State’s evaluation plan as described in 

12 paragraph (5) of section 202(a). 

13 (b) EXPLANATION.—The Commission shall publish 

14 an explanation of how the application review process under 

15 this paragraph will ensure an equitable and objective eval16 uation based on the criteria described in subsection (a). 

17 SEC. 204. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro19 priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 

20 2017 and each succeeding fiscal year to carry out this 

21 title. 

22 (b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—From the amount 

23 made available to carry out this title for a fiscal year, the 

24 Commission may reserve not more than 10 percent of such 

25 amount to carry out activities related to— 


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1 (1) technical assistance; and 

2 (2) outreach and dissemination. 

3 TITLE III—ENCOURAGING AUTO4 MATIC VOTER REGISTRATION 

5 SEC. 301. INCENTIVES FOR STATES TO IMPLEMENT AUTO6 MATIC VOTER REGISTRATION. 

7 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—From the amounts made 

9 available under section 303 for a fiscal year and not 

10 reserved under section (b) of section 303, the Elec11 tion Assistance Commission (hereafter in this title 

12 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’) shall award 

13 grants, on a competitive basis, to States in accord14 ance with section 302. 

15 (2) NUMBER OF GRANTS.—A State may not re16 ceive more than 1 grant under this section per grant 

17 period. 

18 (3) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 

19 (A) IN GENERAL.—A grant under this sec20 tion shall be awarded for a period of not more 

21 than 4 years. 

22 (B) CONTINUATION OF GRANTS.—A State 

23 that is awarded a grant under this section shall 

24 not receive grant funds under this section for 

25 the second or any subsequent year of the grant 


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1 unless the State demonstrates to the Commis2 sion, at such time and in such manner as deter3 mined by the Commission, that the State is— 

4 (i) making progress in implementing 

5 the plan for the implementation of auto6 matic voter registration in the State, as de7 scribed in section 302(c), at a rate that the 

8 Commission determines will result in the 

9 State fully implementing such plan during 

10 the remainder of the grant period; or 

11 (ii) making progress against the per12 formance measures established under sec13 tion 401 at a rate that the Commission de14 termines will result in the State reaching 

15 its targets and achieving the objectives of 

16 the grant during the remainder of the 

17 grant period. 

18 (b) USE OF FUNDS.—Each State that receives a 

19 grant under this title shall use the funds provided by the 

20 grant to carry out the State’s plan for the implementation 

21 of automatic voter registration in the State, as described 

22 in section 302(c). 

23 SEC. 302. APPLICATIONS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State that desires to receive 

25 a grant under this title shall submit an application to the 


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1 Commission at such time, in such manner, and containing 

2 such information as the Commission may reasonably re3 quire. At a minimum, each such application shall include 

4 the following: 

5 (1) A detailed plan for the implementation of 

6 automatic voter registration in the State. 

7 (2) Annual performance measures and targets 

8 for the activities carried out with the grant. 

9 (3) A description of the State’s plan to conduct 

10 a rigorous evaluation of the effectiveness of the ac11 tivities carried out with the grant. 

12 (b) SELECTION OF RECIPIENTS.—The Commission 

13 shall award grants to States under this title on a competi14 tive basis, based on the quality of the State’s application 

15 submitted under subsection (a). 

16 (c) AUTOMATIC VOTER REGISTRATION DE17 SCRIBED.—In this title, ‘‘automatic voter registration’’ 

18 means a system under which a State registers individuals 

19 to vote in elections for Federal office who are eligible to 

20 vote in such elections by electronically transferring the in21 formation necessary for registration from government 

22 agencies to election officials of the State so that, unless 

23 the individual affirmatively declines to be registered, the 

24 individual will be registered to vote in such elections. 


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1 SEC. 303. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be appro3 priated such sums as may be necessary for fiscal year 

4 2017 and each succeeding fiscal year to carry out this 

5 title. 

6 (b) RESERVATION OF FUNDS.—From the amount 

7 made available to carry out this title for a fiscal year, the 

8 Commission may reserve not more than 10 percent of such 

9 amount to carry out activities related to— 

10 (1) technical assistance; and 

11 (2) outreach and dissemination. 

12 TITLE IV—GENERAL 

13 PROVISIONS 

14 SEC. 401. ESTABLISHMENT OF PERFORMANCE MEASURES 

15 AND TARGETS. 

16 Each State receiving a grant under this Act shall es17 tablish performance measures and targets, approved by 

18 the Election Assistance Commission (hereafter in this title 

19 referred to as the ‘‘Commission’’), for the programs and 

20 activities carried out with the funds provided by the grant. 

21 SEC. 402. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

22 Each State receiving a grant under this Act shall sub23 mit to the Commission, at such time and in such manner 

24 as the Commission may require, an annual report includ25 ing— 


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1 (1) data on the State’s progress in achieving 

2 the targets for the performance measures established 

3 under section 401; 

4 (2) a description of the challenges the State has 

5 faced in implementing the programs and activities 

6 funded by the grant and how it has addressed or 

7 plans to address those challenges; and 

8 (3) findings from the evaluation plan for the 

9 grant. 

10 SEC. 403. STATE DEFINED. 

11 In this Act, the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the sev12 eral States and the District of Columbia. 

Æ 


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