I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 642 

To direct the Attorney General to establish a voter information response 

system and hotline to respond to the questions and complaints of voters 

in elections for Federal office, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 1, 2021 

Mr. BROWN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on House Administration, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each 

case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of 

the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To direct the Attorney General to establish a voter information response system and hotline to respond to the questions and complaints of voters in elections for Federal 

office, 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 ‘‘Voter Information 

5 Hotline Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VOTER INFORMATION RESPONSE SYSTEMS AND 

2 HOTLINE. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT AND OPERATION OF SYSTEMS

4 AND SERVICES.— 

5 (1) STATE-BASED RESPONSE SYSTEMS.—The 

6 Attorney General shall coordinate the establishment 

7 of a State-based response system for responding to 

8 questions and complaints from individuals voting or 

9 seeking to vote, or registering to vote or seeking to 

10 register to vote, in elections for Federal office. Such 

11 system shall provide— 

12 (A) State-specific, same-day, and imme13 diate assistance to such individuals, including 

14 information on how to register to vote, the loca15 tion and hours of operation of polling places, 

16 and how to obtain absentee ballots; and 

17 (B) State-specific, same-day, and imme18 diate assistance to individuals encountering 

19 problems with registering to vote or voting, in20 cluding individuals encountering intimidation or 

21 deceptive practices. 

22 (2) HOTLINE.—The Attorney General, in con23 sultation with State election officials, shall establish 

24 and operate a toll-free telephone service, using a 

25 telephone number that is accessible throughout the 

26 United States and that uses easily identifiable nuVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:01 Feb 20, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H642.IH H642

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1 merals, through which individuals throughout the 

2 United States— 

3 (A) may connect directly to the State4 based response system described in paragraph 

5 (1) with respect to the State involved; 

6 (B) may obtain information on voting in 

7 elections for Federal office, including informa8 tion on how to register to vote in such elections, 

9 the locations and hours of operation of polling 

10 places, and how to obtain absentee ballots; and 

11 (C) may report information to the Attor12 ney General on problems encountered in reg13 istering to vote or voting, including incidences 

14 of voter intimidation or suppression. 

15 (3) COLLABORATION WITH STATE AND LOCAL

16 ELECTION OFFICIALS.— 

17 (A) COLLECTION OF INFORMATION FROM

18 STATES.—The Attorney General shall coordi19 nate the collection of information on State and 

20 local election laws and policies, including infor21 mation on the statewide computerized voter reg22 istration lists maintained under title III of the 

23 Help America Vote Act of 2002, so that indi24 viduals who contact the free telephone service 

25 established under paragraph (2) on the date of 


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1 an election for Federal office may receive an 

2 immediate response on that day. 

3 (B) FORWARDING QUESTIONS AND COM4 PLAINTS TO STATES.—If an individual contacts 

5 the free telephone service established under 

6 paragraph (2) on the date of an election for 

7 Federal office with a question or complaint with 

8 respect to a particular State or jurisdiction 

9 within a State, the Attorney General shall for10 ward the question or complaint immediately to 

11 the appropriate election official of the State or 

12 jurisdiction so that the official may answer the 

13 question or remedy the complaint on that date. 

14 (4) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENTS FOR DE15 VELOPMENT OF SYSTEMS AND SERVICES.—The At16 torney General shall ensure that the State-based re17 sponse system under paragraph (1) and the free 

18 telephone service under paragraph (2) are each de19 veloped in consultation with civil rights organiza20 tions, voting rights groups, State and local election 

21 officials, voter protection groups, and other inter22 ested community organizations, especially those that 

23 have experience in the operation of similar systems 

24 and services. 


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1 (b) USE OF SERVICE BY INDIVIDUALS WITH DIS2 ABILITIES AND INDIVIDUALS WITH LIMITED ENGLISH

3 LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY.—The Attorney General shall 

4 design and operate the telephone service established under 

5 this section in a manner that ensures that individuals with 

6 disabilities are fully able to use the service, and that as7 sistance is provided in any language in which the State 

8 (or any jurisdiction in the State) is required to provide 

9 election materials under section 203 of the Voting Rights 

10 Act of 1965. 

11 (c) VOTER HOTLINE TASK FORCE.— 

12 (1) APPOINTMENT BY ATTORNEY GENERAL.— 

13 The Attorney General shall appoint individuals (in 

14 such number as the Attorney General considers ap15 propriate but in no event fewer than 3) to serve on 

16 a Voter Hotline Task Force to provide ongoing anal17 ysis and assessment of the operation of the tele18 phone service established under this section, and 

19 shall give special consideration in making appoint20 ments to the Task Force to individuals who rep21 resent civil rights organizations. At least one mem22 ber of the Task Force shall be a representative of 

23 an organization promoting voting rights or civil 

24 rights which has experience in the operation of simi25 lar telephone services or in protecting the rights of 


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1 individuals to vote, especially individuals who are 

2 members of racial, ethnic, or linguistic minorities or 

3 of communities who have been adversely affected by 

4 efforts to suppress voting rights. 

5 (2) ELIGIBILITY.—An individual shall be eligi6 ble to serve on the Task Force under this subsection 

7 if the individual meets such criteria as the Attorney 

8 General may establish, except that an individual may 

9 not serve on the task force if the individual has been 

10 convicted of any criminal offense relating to voter in11 timidation or voter suppression. 

12 (3) TERM OF SERVICE.—An individual ap13 pointed to the Task Force shall serve a single term 

14 of 2 years, except that the initial terms of the mem15 bers first appointed to the Task Force shall be stag16 gered so that there are at least 3 individuals serving 

17 on the Task Force during each year. A vacancy in 

18 the membership of the Task Force shall be filled in 

19 the same manner as the original appointment. 

20 (4) NO COMPENSATION FOR SERVICE.—Mem21 bers of the Task Force shall serve without pay, but 

22 shall receive travel expenses, including per diem in 

23 lieu of subsistence, in accordance with applicable 

24 provisions under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 

25 5, United States Code. 


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1 (d) BI-ANNUAL REPORT TO CONGRESS.—Not later 

2 than March 1 of each odd-numbered year, the Attorney 

3 General shall submit a report to Congress on the operation 

4 of the telephone service established under this section dur5 ing the previous 2 years, and shall include in the report— 

6 (1) an enumeration of the number and type of 

7 calls that were received by the service; 

8 (2) a compilation and description of the reports 

9 made to the service by individuals citing instances of 

10 voter intimidation or suppression, together with a 

11 description of any actions taken in response to such 

12 instances of voter intimidation or suppression; 

13 (3) an assessment of the effectiveness of the 

14 service in making information available to all house15 holds in the United States with telephone service; 

16 (4) any recommendations developed by the 

17 Task Force established under subsection (c) with re18 spect to how voting systems may be maintained or 

19 upgraded to better accommodate voters and better 

20 ensure the integrity of elections, including but not 

21 limited to identifying how to eliminate coordinated 

22 voter suppression efforts and how to establish effec23 tive mechanisms for distributing updates on changes 

24 to voting requirements; and 


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1 (5) any recommendations on best practices for 

2 the State-based response systems established under 

3 subsection (a)(1). 

4 (e) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

5 (1) AUTHORIZATION.—There are authorized to 

6 be appropriated to the Attorney General for fiscal 

7 year 2021 and each succeeding fiscal year such sums 

8 as may be necessary to carry out this section. 

9 (2) SET-ASIDE FOR OUTREACH.—Of the 

10 amounts appropriated to carry out this section for a 

11 fiscal year pursuant to the authorization under para12 graph (1), not less than 15 percent shall be used for 

13 outreach activities to make the public aware of the 

14 availability of the telephone service established under 

15 this section, with an emphasis on outreach to indi16 viduals with disabilities and individuals with limited 

17 proficiency in the English language. 

Æ 


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