I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1343 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to meet 

standards for the location and operation of polling places used in elections for Federal office, including a standard requiring States to ensure 

that no individual waits for longer than 30 minutes to cast a vote 

at a polling place, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 25, 2021 

Mr. GRIJALVA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require 

States to meet standards for the location and operation 

of polling places used in elections for Federal office, 

including a standard requiring States to ensure that 

no individual waits for longer than 30 minutes to cast 

a vote at a polling place, 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 ‘‘Voting Access Act’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 1343 IH

1 SEC. 2. REQUIRING STATES TO MEET STANDARDS FOR LO2 CATION AND OPERATION OF POLLING 

3 PLACES USED IN ELECTIONS FOR FEDERAL 

4 OFFICE. 

5 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Title III of the Help Amer7 ica Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21081 et seq.) is 

8 amended by inserting after section 303 the following 

9 new section: 

10 ‘‘SEC. 303A. COMPLIANCE WITH STANDARDS FOR LOCATION 

11 AND OPERATION OF POLLING PLACES. 

12 ‘‘(a) COMPLIANCE.—Each State shall comply with 

13 the standards established by the Commission under this 

14 section for the location and operation of polling places 

15 used in elections for Federal office. 

16 ‘‘(b) ESTABLISHMENT OF STANDARDS.— 

17 ‘‘(1) STANDARDS DESCRIBED.—In consultation 

18 with the chief State election officials of the States, 

19 the Commission shall establish national standards 

20 for the location and operation of polling places used 

21 in elections for Federal office (other than sites used 

22 as polling places on dates other than the date of the 

23 election), including the following: 

24 ‘‘(A) A requirement that no individual 

25 shall be required to wait for longer than 30 

26 minutes in order to cast a vote at a polling 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 1343 IH

1 place except in the event of an emergency or 

2 natural disaster. 

3 ‘‘(B) Standards for determining the num4 ber of polling places within a jurisdiction on the 

5 basis of the voting age population of the juris6 diction, taking into consideration factors which 

7 include the linguistic preferences of voters in 

8 the jurisdiction, the availability of same-day 

9 voter registration in the jurisdiction, and other 

10 relevant factors. 

11 ‘‘(C) Standards for the nondiscriminatory 

12 placement and location of polling places within 

13 a jurisdiction, including standards to ensure 

14 that polling places are accessible to voters with 

15 disabilities and voters using public transpor16 tation. 

17 ‘‘(D) Standards for ensuring that each 

18 polling place has sufficient resources, including 

19 voting systems, ballots, and election officials, to 

20 meet the requirement described in subpara21 graph (A). 

22 ‘‘(E) Standards for ensuring that voters 

23 are given timely, accurate, and current informa24 tion in clear and concise language regarding 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 1343 IH

1 ballot information and the location of polling 

2 places. 

3 ‘‘(F) Best practices for preventing viola4 tions of laws prohibiting the intimidation or 

5 harassment of voters at polling places. 

6 ‘‘(G) Standards for ensuring and improv7 ing the security of voting systems and polling 

8 places. 

9 ‘‘(2) PROCESS FOR ESTABLISHMENT OF STAND10 ARDS.—The establishment of the standards under 

11 this section shall be carried out by the Commission 

12 in a manner that provides for each of the following: 

13 ‘‘(A) Publication of notice of the proposed 

14 standards in the Federal Register. 

15 ‘‘(B) An opportunity for public comment 

16 on the proposed standards. 

17 ‘‘(C) Publication of the final standards in 

18 the Federal Register. 

19 ‘‘(c) DEADLINE; EFFECTIVE DATE.—The Commis20 sion shall establish the standards under this section not 

21 later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this 

22 section, and each State shall comply with the standards 

23 with respect to all elections for Federal office held on or 

24 after the expiration of the 180-day period which begins 

25 on the date the Commission establishes the standards.’’. 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 1343 IH

1 (2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con2 tents of such Act is amended by inserting after the 

3 item relating to section 303 the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 303A. Compliance with standards for location and operation of polling 

places.’’. 

4 (b) ENFORCEMENT.—Section 401 of such Act (52 

5 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ‘‘and 303’’ and in6 serting ‘‘303, and 303A’’. 

7 (c) FUNDING.—Section 257(a) of such Act (52 

8 U.S.C. 21007(a)) is amended by adding at the end the 

9 following new paragraph: 

10 ‘‘(5) For the first fiscal year during which 

11 States are subject to the requirements of section 

12 303A (relating to standards established by the Com13 mission for the location and operation of polling 

14 places), such sums as are necessary for requirements 

15 of payments to enable the States to meet the re16 quirements of such section.’’. 

17 SEC. 3. STUDIES AND REPORTS ON MISIDENTIFICATION OF 

18 INDIVIDUAL POLITICAL PARTY REGISTRA19 TION AND PURGING OF VOTER REGISTRA20 TION LISTS. 

21 (a) STUDIES.— 

22 (1) MISIDENTIFICATION OF POLITICAL PARTY

23 REGISTRATION.—The Election Assistance Commis24 sion shall conduct a study of instances of the 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 1343 IH

1 misidentification by election officials of the political 

2 party registration of individuals attempting to vote 

3 in primary elections for Federal office, including an 

4 analysis of the frequency of such misidentification 

5 among various jurisdictions. 

6 (2) PURGING OF VOTER ROLLS.—The Election 

7 Assistance Commission shall conduct a study of in8 stances in which States carry out purges of the offi9 cial voter registration list or implement similar ‘‘use 

10 it or lose it’’ policies which automatically remove in11 dividuals who fail to vote from the official voter reg12 istration list. 

13 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

14 of the enactment of this Act, the Commission shall submit 

15 to Congress a report on the studies conducted under sub16 section (a), and shall include in the report such rec17 ommendations as the Commission considers appropriate— 

18 (1) to prevent and respond to the misidentifica19 tion of an individual’s political party registration, in20 cluding recommendations to permit individuals to 

21 correct their political party registration at the poll22 ing place on the date of voting; and 

23 (2) to respond to purges of official voter reg24 istration lists, including recommendations for noti25 fying a registrant when a State initiates a process 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 1343 IH

1 to remove the registrant from the list and providing 

2 instructions on how the registrant may renew the 

3 registrant’s registration. 

Æ 


pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS