I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8924 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to treat the lease 

for a dwelling unit under certain federally assisted housing programs 

as a simultaneous application for voter registration in elections for Federal office, to designate owners of dwelling units under certain federally 

assisted housing programs as voter registration agencies for purposes 

of such Act, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 9, 2020 

Mr. GARCI ́A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. FOSTER, 

Ms. NORTON, Ms. LEE of California, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Ms. 

MENG, Ms. JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. NADLER, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. 

CICILLINE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. DEMINGS, Ms. VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Mr. 

LOWENTHAL, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mrs. TORRES of California, and Mr. 

SCHIFF) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration 

A BILL 

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to 

treat the lease for a dwelling unit under certain federally 

assisted housing programs as a simultaneous application 

for voter registration in elections for Federal office, to 

designate owners of dwelling units under certain federally 

assisted housing programs as voter registration agencies 

for purposes of such Act, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘Our Homes, Our Votes 

5 Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROMOTING VOTER REGISTRATION FOR RESI7 DENTS OF UNITS UNDER CERTAIN FEDER8 ALLY ASSISTED HOUSING PROGRAMS. 

9 (a) TREATMENT OF LEASE AS SIMULTANEOUS AP10 PLICATION FOR VOTER REGISTRATION.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—The National Voter Reg12 istration Act of 1993 is amended by inserting after 

13 section 5 (52 U.S.C. 20504) the following new sec14 tion: 

15 ‘‘SEC. 5A. SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION FOR VOTER REG16 ISTRATION AND LEASE FOR PHA-ASSISTED 

17 HOUSING. 

18 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 

19 ‘‘(1) APPLICATION FOR VOTER REGISTRA20 TION.—Each lease for a PHA-assisted dwelling unit 

21 (as such term is defined in subsection (e)) submitted 

22 to the applicable public housing agency for such unit 

23 shall serve as an application for voter registration 

24 with respect to elections for Federal office for each 


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1 lessee who signs the lease unless the lessee fails to 

2 sign the voter registration application. 

3 ‘‘(2) UPDATE.—An application for voter reg4 istration submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall 

5 be considered as updating any previous voter reg6 istration by the applicant. 

7 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION ON USE OF INFORMATION.—No in8 formation relating to the failure of a lessee of PHA-as9 sisted dwelling unit to sign a voter registration application 

10 may be used for any purpose other than voter registration. 

11 ‘‘(c) FORMS AND PROCEDURES.— 

12 ‘‘(1) INCLUSION.—Each owner of a PHA-as13 sisted dwelling unit shall include a voter registration 

14 application form for elections for Federal office as 

15 part of a lease for such dwelling unit. 

16 ‘‘(2) INCLUDED INFORMATION.—The voter reg17 istration application portion of a lease for a PHA18 assisted dwelling unit— 

19 ‘‘(A) may not require any information that 

20 duplicates information required in the lease por21 tion of the form (other than a second signature 

22 or other information necessary under subpara23 graph (C)); 

24 ‘‘(B) may require only the minimum 

25 amount of information necessary to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) prevent duplicate voter registra2 tions; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) enable State election officials to 

4 assess the eligibility of the applicant and to 

5 administer voter registration and other 

6 parts of the election process; 

7 ‘‘(C) shall include a statement that— 

8 ‘‘(i) states each eligibility requirement 

9 (including citizenship); 

10 ‘‘(ii) contains an attestation that the 

11 applicant meets each such requirement; 

12 and 

13 ‘‘(iii) requires the signature of the ap14 plicant, under penalty of perjury; 

15 ‘‘(D) shall include, in print that is identical 

16 to that used in the attestation portion of the 

17 application— 

18 ‘‘(i) the information required in sub19 paragraphs (A) and (B) of section 8(a)(5) 

20 of this Act; 

21 ‘‘(ii) a statement that, if an applicant 

22 declines to register to vote, the fact that 

23 the applicant has declined to register will 

24 remain confidential and will be used only 

25 for voter registration purposes; and 


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1 ‘‘(iii) a statement that if an applicant 

2 does register to vote, the office at which 

3 the applicant submits a voter registration 

4 application will remain confidential and 

5 will be used only for voter registration pur6 poses; and 

7 ‘‘(E) shall be made available (as submitted 

8 by the applicant, or in machine readable or 

9 other format) to the appropriate State election 

10 official as provided by State law. 

11 ‘‘(d) TRANSMITTAL.— 

12 ‘‘(1) BY OWNER.—In the case of lease for a 

13 PHA-assistance dwelling unit described in subsection 

14 (e)(1)(B), the owner of the dwelling unit shall trans15 mit a completed voter registration portion of a lease 

16 to the public housing agency providing assistance 

17 with respect to such unit not later than 10 days 

18 after the date of acceptance. 

19 ‘‘(2) BY PHA.—Subject to paragraph (3), a 

20 completed voter registration portion of a lease for a 

21 PHA-assisted dwelling unit accepted by the public 

22 housing agency as owner of such a dwelling unit, or 

23 pursuant to paragraph (1), shall be transmitted to 

24 the appropriate State election official not later than 

25 10 days after the date of acceptance. 


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1 ‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED WITHIN 5 DAYS

2 OF REGISTRATION DEADLINE.—If a registration ap3 plication is accepted by a public housing agency pur4 suant to paragraph (2) within 5 days before the last 

5 day for registration to vote in an election, the appli6 cation shall be transmitted to the appropriate State 

7 election official not later than 5 days after the date 

8 of acceptance. 

9 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

10 ‘‘(1) PHA-ASSISTED DWELLING UNIT.—The 

11 term ‘PHA-assisted dwelling unit’ means a dwelling 

12 unit— 

13 ‘‘(A) in public housing, as such term is de14 fined in section 3(b) of the United States Hous15 ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); or 

16 ‘‘(B) that is assisted under the program 

17 for tenant-based rental assistance under section 

18 8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 

19 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), including the program 

20 under paragraph (13) of such section 8(o). 

21 ‘‘(2) PUBLIC HOUSING AGENCY.—The term 

22 ‘public housing agency’ has the meaning given such 

23 term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 

24 Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 


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1 ‘‘(3) OWNER.—The term ‘owner’ means, with 

2 respect to a PHA-assisted dwelling unit— 

3 ‘‘(A) in the case of a unit described in 

4 paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection, the public 

5 housing agency that owns or operates such unit; 

6 or 

7 ‘‘(B) in the case of a unit described in 

8 paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, the private 

9 person or entity having the legal right to lease 

10 such unit.’’. 

11 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 

12 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to leases 

13 entered into on or after the expiration of the 90-day 

14 period beginning on the date of the enactment of 

15 this Act. 

16 (b) TREATMENT OF OWNERS OF UNITS AS VOTER

17 REGISTRATION AGENCIES.— 

18 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of such Act (52 

19 U.S.C. 20506) is amended— 

20 (A) in subsection (a)(2)— 

21 (i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 

22 ‘‘and’’ at the end; 

23 (ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 

24 the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 

25 and’’; and 


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1 (iii) by adding at the end the fol2 lowing new subparagraph: 

3 ‘‘(C) each owner (as such term is defined in 

4 subsection (e)) of a dwelling unit assisted under a 

5 covered federally assisted housing program (as such 

6 term is defined in such subsection) located within 

7 such State, subject to section 5A in the case of an 

8 owner described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of sub9 section (e)(1), except that such an owner shall be a 

10 voter registration agency for purposes of this section 

11 only with respect to lessees of such dwelling units of 

12 such owner located within such State.’’; and 

13 (B) by adding at the end the following new 

14 subsection: 

15 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 

16 ‘‘(1) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING

17 PROGRAM.—The term ‘covered federally assisted 

18 housing program’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) the public housing program under 

20 title I of the United States Housing Act of 

21 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.); 

22 ‘‘(B) the programs for rental housing as23 sistance under section 8 of the United States 

24 Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), includ25 ing— 


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1 ‘‘(i) the program for tenant-based 

2 rental assistance under subsection (o) of 

3 such section 8; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) the program for project-based 

5 rental assistance under such section 8; 

6 ‘‘(C) the program for supportive housing 

7 for the elderly under section 202 of the Hous8 ing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); 

9 ‘‘(D) the program for supportive housing 

10 for persons with disabilities under section 811 

11 of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 

12 Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); 

13 ‘‘(E) the program for housing opportuni14 ties for persons with AIDS under subtitle D of 

15 title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 

16 Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et 

17 seq.); 

18 ‘‘(F) the program under subtitle A of title 

19 IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 

20 Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.); 

21 ‘‘(G) the HOME Investment Partnerships 

22 Program under subtitle A of title II of the 

23 Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Hous24 ing Act (42 U.S.C. 12741 et seq.); 


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1 ‘‘(H) the program under paragraph (3) of 

2 section 221(d) of the National Housing Act (12 

3 U.S.C. 1715l(d)(3)) that bears interest at a 

4 rate determined under the proviso under para5 graph (5) of such section 221(d); 

6 ‘‘(I) the rental assistance program under 

7 section 236 of the National Housing Act (12 

8 U.S.C. 1715z–1); 

9 ‘‘(J) the programs for rural housing assist10 ance provided under sections 514, 515, 516, 

11 522, and 538 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 

12 U.S.C. 1484, 1485, 1486, 1490m, and 1490p– 

13 2); 

14 ‘‘(K) the low income housing tax credit 

15 program under section 42 of the Internal Rev16 enue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 42); 

17 ‘‘(L) the program for rural housing vouch18 ers under section 542 of the Housing Act of 

19 1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490r); and 

20 ‘‘(M) the program for assistance from the 

21 Housing Trust Fund established under section 

22 1338 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Fi23 nancial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (12 

24 U.S.C. 4568). 


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1 ‘‘(2) OWNER.—The term ‘owner’ means, with 

2 respect to a dwelling unit assisted under a covered 

3 federally assisted housing program— 

4 ‘‘(A) in the case of a dwelling unit assisted 

5 under a program specified in subparagraph (A) 

6 or (B)(1) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, 

7 the public housing agency that owns or operates 

8 such unit or provides rental assistance with re9 spect to such unit, as applicable; or 

10 ‘‘(B) in the case of a dwelling unit assisted 

11 under any other covered federally assisted hous12 ing program, the private person or entity hav13 ing the legal right to lease such unit.’’. 

14 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 

15 by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to assist16 ance provided on or after the expiration of the 90- 

17 day period beginning on the date of the enactment 

18 of this Act. 

Æ 


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