II 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1970 

To establish national procedures for automatic voter registration for elections 

for Federal office. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

AUGUST 5, 2015 

Mr. SANDERS introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To establish national procedures for automatic voter 

registration for elections for Federal office. 

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 ‘‘Raising Enrollment 

5 with a Government Initiated System for Timely Electoral 

6 Registration (REGISTER) Act of 2015’’. 

7 SEC. 2. TRANSMISSION OF INFORMATION TO STATE OR 

8 LOCAL ELECTION OFFICIALS. 

9 (a) DESIGNATION OF SOURCE AGENCIES.— 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1970 IS

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall designate 

2 agencies for purposes of providing source informa3 tion for voter registration for elections for Federal 

4 office under this Act (in this Act referred to as a 

5 ‘‘source agency’’). 

6 (2) SOURCE AGENCY.— 

7 (A) IN GENERAL.—Source agencies des8 ignated under paragraph (1) shall include the 

9 following: 

10 (i) The State motor vehicle authority. 

11 (ii) Any office in the State designated 

12 as a voter registration agency pursuant to 

13 section 7(a) of the National Voter Reg14 istration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 

15 20506(a)). 

16 (B) DESIGNATION OF ADDITIONAL AGEN17 CIES.—In addition to the agencies described in 

18 subparagraph (A), a State may designate as a 

19 source agency an agency that collects (as of the 

20 date of enactment of this Act) information nec21 essary to determine eligibility to vote in an elec22 tion for Federal office. 

23 (b) REQUIRED TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO

24 ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1970 IS

1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not less frequently than 

2 every 14 days, subject to paragraph (2), a source 

3 agency shall transfer electronically to State or local 

4 election officials certain basic information collected 

5 since the preceding transfer of information under 

6 this subsection with respect to individuals. Such in7 formation shall be transferred in a format that can 

8 be reviewed by those officials and translated and 

9 uploaded onto the computerized statewide voter reg10 istration database. 

11 (2) DAILY TRANSFER DURING 14 DAYS PRE12 CEDING VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE FOR GEN13 ERAL ELECTION.—During the 14-day period pre14 ceding the voter registration deadline for a general 

15 election, a source agency shall transfer such infor16 mation under paragraph (1) not less frequently than 

17 on a daily basis. 

18 (c) NOTIFICATION OF INDIVIDUALS.—A source agen19 cy shall, with respect to any individual disclosing informa20 tion to the agency that may be relied upon to determine 

21 eligibility to register to vote in elections for Federal of22 fice— 

23 (1) notify the individual that such information 

24 will be transferred in accordance with subsection (b); 

25 and 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1970 IS

1 (2) provide the individual the opportunity to opt 

2 out of automatic voter registration. 

3 SEC. 3. ADMINISTRATION OF VOTER REGISTRATION. 

4 (a) REGISTRATION OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS NOT PRE5 VIOUSLY REGISTERED.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the information trans7 ferred under section 2(b) reflects an individual not 

8 included on the voter registration list, and if the ap9 propriate election official determines that the indi10 vidual meets the qualifications to vote in an election 

11 for Federal office and is not otherwise ineligible to 

12 vote in such an election (or has not elected to opt 

13 out of automatic voter registration pursuant to sec14 tion 2(c)(2)), the State shall ensure that the eligible 

15 voter is registered to vote in accordance with this 

16 subsection and is added to the voter registration list. 

17 (2) NOTIFICATION.—If State or local election 

18 officials determine, in accordance with paragraph 

19 (1), that an individual is an eligible voter, State elec20 tion officials shall— 

21 (A) notify the individual in writing that 

22 they have been registered to vote; and 

23 (B) inform the individual of the process to 

24 adopt a political party affiliation. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1970 IS

1 (b) UPDATING OF INFORMATION OF REGISTERED

2 VOTERS.—If the information transferred under section 

3 2(b) reflects an individual already included on the voter 

4 registration list, and if the information reliably indicates 

5 a more recent change to the name or address of the indi6 vidual, the State shall ensure that the records of the indi7 vidual on the voter registration list are updated accord8 ingly. 

9 (c) NOTHING PRECLUDING REGISTRATION.—Noth10 ing in this section shall preclude a person who has pre11 viously declined voter registration from subsequently reg12 istering. 

13 (d) NO IMPACT ON APPLICATION OF NVRA.—Each 

14 State shall maintain all obligations applicable as of the 

15 date of enactment of this Act to register voters upon re16 ceipt of a valid voter registration application through 

17 means provided by the National Voter Registration Act 

18 of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.). 

19 SEC. 4. VOTER REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS. 

20 (a) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to amend 

21 the substantive qualifications of a voter in a State. 

22 (b) Nothing in this Act shall be construed to interfere 

23 with the authority or obligation of any election official, 

24 under State or Federal law, to— 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1970 IS

1 (1) determine whether an individual is eligible 

2 to vote; or 

3 (2) conduct regular, nondiscriminatory list 

4 maintenance designed to ensure that individuals who 

5 are not eligible to vote are not reflected as voters on 

6 the statewide voter registration list in accordance 

7 with the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 

8 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.). 

9 SEC. 5. PROTECTIONS AGAINST LIABILITY OF INDIVID10 UALS. 

11 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any indi12 vidual who is not eligible to vote and who becomes reg13 istered to vote under this Act shall not be found on that 

14 basis to have made a false claim to citizenship or to have 

15 committed an act involving moral turpitude under Federal 

16 law, unless such individual affirmatively asserts that he 

17 or she is a United States citizen by signing a document 

18 that so states after the date of enactment of this Act. 

19 SEC. 6. PRIVACY AND SECURITY STANDARDS. 

20 (a) PRIVACY AND SECURITY POLICY.—The State 

21 shall publish and enforce a privacy and security policy 

22 specifying each class of users who shall have authorized 

23 access to the computerized statewide voter registration 

24 list, specifying for each such class the permission and lev25 els of access to be granted, and setting forth other safeVerDate Sep 11 2014 00:38 Aug 12, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1970.IS S1970

asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 1970 IS

1 guards to protect the privacy and security of the informa2 tion on the list. Such policy shall include security safe3 guards to protect personal information in the data trans4 fer process. This policy shall— 

5 (1) prohibit public disclosure of certain voter in6 formation, including the source of a voter’s registra7 tion and any information not necessary to voter reg8 istration; 

9 (2) protect against public disclosure of Social 

10 Security numbers and digits, driver’s license num11 bers, and signatures; 

12 (3) prohibit public disclosure of an individual’s 

13 decision not to register to vote; 

14 (4) prohibit agencies from transmitting to elec15 tion officials information other than that required 

16 for voter registration or specified information rel17 evant to the administration of elections, including 

18 language preference and demographic information; 

19 and 

20 (5) prohibit the disclosure of information relat21 ing to persons in categories designated confidential 

22 by Federal or State law. 

23 (b) NO UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS.—The State shall 

24 establish polices and enforcement procedures to prevent 

25 unauthorized access to the statewide voter registration 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 1970 IS

1 database and to any list provided by a source agency or 

2 list maintenance source. 

3 (c) INTER-AGENCY TRANSFERS.—The State shall es4 tablish policies and enforcement procedures to maintain 

5 security during inter-agency transfers of information re6 quired or permitted under this Act. Each source agency 

7 participating in such inter-agency transfers of information 

8 shall facilitate and comply with such policies. Nothing in 

9 this subsection shall prevent a source agency from estab10 lishing and enforcing additional security measures to pro11 tect the confidentiality and integrity of inter-agency data 

12 transfers. 

13 (d) RECORDS RETENTION.—The State shall, as pro14 vided in this subsection, establish standards and proce15 dures to maintain all election records required for pur16 poses of this Act, including for the purpose of determining 

17 the eligibility of individuals casting provisional ballots. 

18 Records for voters who have been retained on the state19 wide voter registration database but identified as ineligible 

20 to vote within the State, or removed from the statewide 

21 voter registration list due to ineligibility, shall be main22 tained and kept available until at least the date of the 

23 second general election for Federal office that occurs after 

24 the date that the voter was identified as ineligible. 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 1970 IS

1 SEC. 7. PROTECTIONS AGAINST MISUSE OF INFORMATION. 

2 (a) RESTRICTION ON USE OF REGISTRATION

3 RECORDS.—No person acting under color of law may use 

4 the statewide voter registration list to attempt to deter5 mine the citizenship status of any individual for any pur6 pose other than voter registration, election administration, 

7 or the enforcement of laws against election crimes. 

8 (b) RESTRICTION ON USE OF INFORMATION.—No in9 formation relating to an individual’s absence from the 

10 statewide voter registration list or an individual’s declina11 tion to supply information for voter registration purposes 

12 at a source may be disclosed to the public, or used for 

13 any purpose other than voter registration, election admin14 istration, or the enforcement of laws against election 

15 crimes. 

16 (c) NONDISCRIMINATION.—No person acting under 

17 color of law may discriminate against any individual on 

18 the basis of the individual’s absence from the statewide 

19 voter registration list, the information supplied by the in20 dividual for voter registration purposes at a source, or the 

21 individual’s declination to supply such information, except 

22 as required to administer elections or enforce election 

23 laws. 

24 SEC. 8. SPECIAL PROCEDURES RELATING TO TRANSITION. 

25 (a) INITIAL NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 180 days 

26 following the date of enactment of this Act, each State 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 1970 IS

1 shall mail information regarding automatic voter registra2 tion, including the process to opt out of automatic voter 

3 registration, to any individual in the State who has pro4 vided information necessary to determine eligibility to vote 

5 in an election for Federal office to a designated source 

6 agency within the 2 years preceding such date of enact7 ment and who is not already registered to vote in the 

8 State. 

9 (b) OPPORTUNITY TO OPT OUT.—Any individual re10 ceiving such information shall have 21 calendar days to 

11 opt out of automatic voter registration under this Act. 

12 (c) AUTOMATIC REGISTRATION.—If the State does 

13 not receive an opt-out notification from an individual by 

14 the end of such 21-day period, the individual shall be reg15 istered to vote in the State. 

Æ 


asabaliauskas on DSK5VPTVN1PROD with BILLS