II 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2939 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to support State and local 

governments making a transition to ranked choice voting. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

OCTOBER 5, 2021 

Mr. BENNET (for himself and Mr. KING) introduced the following bill; which 

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

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to support 

State and local governments making a transition to 

ranked choice voting. 

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 ‘‘Voter Choice Act’’. 

5 SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR TRANSITION TO RANKED CHOICE 

6 VOTING. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title V of the Help America Vote 

8 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21121 et seq.) is amended by add9 ing at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘Subtitle B—Ranked Choice Voting 

2 Program 

3 ‘‘SEC. 511. RANKED CHOICE VOTING PROGRAM. 

4 ‘‘(a) DEFINITION OF RANKED CHOICE VOTING SYS5 TEM.—For purposes of this subtitle, the term ‘ranked 

6 choice voting system’ means a set of election methods 

7 which allow each voter to rank contest options in order 

8 of the voter’s preference, in which votes are counted in 

9 rounds using a series of runoff tabulations to defeat con10 test options with the fewest votes, and which elects a win11 ner with a majority of final round votes in a single-winner 

12 contest and provides proportional representation in multi13 winner contests. 

14 ‘‘(b) PROGRAM.—The Commission shall establish a 

15 program under which the Commission— 

16 ‘‘(1) provides technical assistance to State and 

17 local governments that are considering whether to 

18 make, or that are in the process of making, a transi19 tion to a ranked choice voting system for Federal, 

20 State, or local elections; and 

21 ‘‘(2) awards grants to States and local govern22 ment to support the transition to a ranked choice 

23 voting system, including through the acquisition of 

24 voting equipment and tabulation software, approVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Oct 06, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2939.IS S2939

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1 priate ballot design, the development and publication 

2 of educational materials, and voter outreach. 

3 ‘‘(c) RULES FOR GRANTS.— 

4 ‘‘(1) SELECTION OF GRANT RECIPIENTS.—To 

5 the extent possible, the Commission shall award 

6 grants under subsection (b)(2) to areas that rep7 resent a diversity of jurisdictions with respect to ge8 ography, population characteristics, and population 

9 density. 

10 ‘‘(2) AWARD LIMITATION.—The amount of any 

11 grant awarded under subsection (b)(2) shall not ex12 ceed 50 percent of the cost of the activities covered 

13 by the grant. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 512. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

15 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—In addition to any funds author16 ized to be appropriated to the Commission under section 

17 210, there are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 

18 this subtitle $40,000,000 for fiscal year 2021. 

19 ‘‘(b) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—Amounts appro20 priated pursuant to the authorization under this section 

21 shall remain available, without fiscal year limitation, until 

22 expended.’’. 

23 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

24 (1) Section 202(6) of the Help America Vote 

25 Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 20922) is amended by strikVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:54 Oct 06, 2021 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2939.IS S2939

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1 ing ‘‘the Help America Vote College Program under 

2 title V’’ and inserting ‘‘the programs under title V’’. 

3 (2) Title V of the Help America Vote Act of 

4 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21121 et seq.) is amended by strik5 ing the matter preceding section 501 and inserting 

6 the following: 

7 ‘‘TITLE V—ELECTION 

8 ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS 

9 ‘‘Subtitle A—Help America Vote 

10 College Program’’. 

11 (3) Section 503 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21123) 

12 is amended by striking ‘‘title’’ and inserting ‘‘sub13 title’’. 

14 (4) The table of sections of the Help America 

15 Vote Act of 2002 is amended— 

16 (A) by striking the item relating to title V 

17 and inserting the following: 

‘‘TITLE V—ELECTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS 

‘‘Subtitle A—Help America Vote College Program’’; and 

18 (B) by inserting after the item relating to 

19 section 503 the following: 

‘‘Subtitle B—Ranked Choice Voting Program 

‘‘Sec. 511. Ranked choice voting program. 

‘‘Sec. 512. Authorization of appropriations.’’. 

Æ 


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