II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2751 

To provide payments to States for activities to expand early voting access, 

provide for an equitable distribution of early voting polling locations, 

including early voting polling locations on Indian tribal land, and to 

implement voter registration reforms for elections for Federal office, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 31, 2014 

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

to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To provide payments to States for activities to expand early 

voting access, provide for an equitable distribution of 

early voting polling locations, including early voting polling locations on Indian tribal land, and to implement 

voter registration reforms for 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 ‘‘Rural and Tribal Voter 

5 Rights Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

2 In this Act: 

3 (1) CHIEF STATE ELECTION OFFICIAL.—The 

4 term ‘‘chief State election official’’ means, with re5 spect to a State, the individual designated by the 

6 State under section 10 of the National Voter Reg7 istration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–8) to be 

8 responsible for coordination of the State’s respon9 sibilities under such Act. 

10 (2) COMMISSION.—The term ‘‘Commission’’ 

11 means the Election Assistance Commission estab12 lished under section 201 of the Help America Vote 

13 Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15321). 

14 SEC. 3. PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR ACTIVITIES TO EXPAND 

15 EARLY VOTING ACCESS, PROVIDE FOR EQUI16 TABLE DISTRIBUTION OF EARLY VOTING 

17 POLLING LOCATIONS, AND VOTER REGISTRA18 TION REFORMS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall make a re20 quirements payment each fiscal year in an amount deter21 mined under subsection (b) to each State that the Com22 mission determines meets the requirements described in 

23 section 4(b). 

24 (b) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 

25 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (c), 

26 the amount of a payment made to a State for a fisVerDate Mar 15 2010 20:36 Aug 09, 2014 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2751.IS S2751

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1 cal year under this section shall be equal to the 

2 product of— 

3 (A) the total amount appropriated for pay4 ments for the fiscal year pursuant to the au5 thorization under subsection (h) minus the total 

6 amount of all of the minimum payment 

7 amounts determined under subsection (c); and 

8 (B) the State allocation percentage for the 

9 State (as determined under paragraph (2)). 

10 (2) STATE ALLOCATION PERCENTAGE DE11 FINED.—The ‘‘State allocation percentage’’ for a 

12 State is the amount (expressed as a percentage) 

13 equal to the quotient of— 

14 (A) the voting age population of the State 

15 (as reported in the most recent decennial cen16 sus); and 

17 (B) the total voting age population of all 

18 States (as reported in the most recent decennial 

19 census). 

20 (c) GUARANTEED MINIMUM PAYMENT AMOUNT.— 

21 The amount of a payment made to a State for a fiscal 

22 year under this section may not be less than— 

23 (1) in the case of any of the several States or 

24 the District of Columbia, one-half of 1 percent of the 

25 total amount appropriated for payments under the 


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1 authorization under subsection (h) for the fiscal 

2 year; or 

3 (2) in the case of the Commonwealth of Puerto 

4 Rico, Guam, American Samoa, or the United States 

5 Virgin Islands, one-tenth of 1 percent of such total 

6 amount. 

7 (d) STATE RECEIPT OF FUNDS.—A State is eligible 

8 to receive a payment under this section for a fiscal year 

9 if the chief executive officer of the State, or designee, in 

10 consultation and coordination with the chief State election 

11 official, has filed with the Commission a statement certi12 fying that the State is in compliance with the require13 ments of section 4(b). 

14 (e) USE OF PAYMENT.— 

15 (1) IN GENERAL.—A State shall use the funds 

16 provided under a payment made under this section 

17 to carry out the requirements of this Act, including 

18 the following: 

19 (A) Training and hiring election officials, 

20 poll workers, and election volunteers. 

21 (B) Establishing early voting locations. 

22 (C) Implementing the State plan described 

23 in section 4(b). 


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1 (D) Acquiring, leasing, improving, modi2 fying, or replacing voting technology to imple3 ment the requirements of this Act. 

4 (E) Establishing online registration sys5 tems. 

6 (F) Educating voters about voting oppor7 tunities, voter registration, voting procedures, 

8 and voting rights. 

9 (2) USE FOR OTHER PURPOSES.—Subject to 

10 paragraph (3), a State may use the funds provided 

11 under a payment made under this section to improve 

12 the administration of elections for Federal office if 

13 the chief State election official certifies that the re14 quirements of this Act have been met. 

15 (3) LIMITATION.—A State may not use any 

16 portion of a payment under this section— 

17 (A) to pay costs associated with any litiga18 tion; or 

19 (B) for the payment of any judgment. 

20 (f) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a pay21 ment under this section notwithstanding that State legis22 lation is required to carry out an activity under this Act 

23 and the State legislation has not been enacted at the time 

24 this Act takes effect. 


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1 (g) DEPOSIT OF AMOUNTS IN STATE ELECTION

2 FUND.—A State shall deposit any funds provided under 

3 this section in the State election fund described in section 

4 254(b) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 U.S.C. 

5 15404(b)). 

6 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—There are authorized to be 

8 appropriated to carry out this section such sums as 

9 may be necessary to provide grants to States to 

10 carry out the requirements of this Act. 

11 (2) CONTINUING AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS

12 AFTER APPROPRIATION.—Any payment made to a 

13 State under this section shall be available to the 

14 State without fiscal year limitation. 

15 SEC. 4. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF EARLY VOTING 

16 POLLING LOCATIONS. 

17 (a) TRIBAL EARLY VOTING LOCATIONS.—A State or 

18 local election official shall provide at least one early voting 

19 location on tribal land when requested by the applicable 

20 Tribal government. 

21 (b) STATE EARLY VOTING LOCATION DISTRIBUTION

22 PLAN DEVELOPMENT.— 

23 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall, after rea24 sonable notice and public hearings, adopt and sub25 mit to the Commission, not later than the date that 


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1 is 2 years after the date of enactment of this Act, 

2 a plan which provides for the equitable distribution 

3 of early voting locations. 

4 (2) STATE PLAN DEVELOPMENT.—The chief ex5 ecutive officer of each State, or designee, in con6 sultation and coordination with the chief State elec7 tion official, shall develop the State plan through a 

8 committee of appropriate individuals, including the 

9 local election officials of the two most populous ju10 risdictions in the State, other local election officials 

11 in the State, stakeholders, and other citizens, ap12 pointed for such purpose by the chief State election 

13 official. 

14 (3) STATE PLAN REQUIREMENTS.—A State 

15 plan shall ensure that eligible voters have adequate 

16 access to early voting locations, taking into consider17 ation each of the following: 

18 (A) Population density. 

19 (B) Travel time to local election offices. 

20 (C) Travel time to permanent or tem21 porary early voting locations. 

22 (D) The potential use of alternate early 

23 voting locations, including public buildings, city 

24 and county government buildings, tribal govern25 ment offices, public libraries, fairgrounds, civic 


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1 centers, courthouses, senior centers, community 

2 centers, and private places of business. 

3 (E) The extent to which members of a 

4 class protected by section 2(a) of the Voting 

5 Rights of Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973(a)) have 

6 an equal opportunity to participate in early vot7 ing and have an equal opportunity to access 

8 early voting locations. 

9 (F) The potential use of temporary early 

10 voting locations, including mobile voting sys11 tems. 

12 (4) REVISION OF STATE PLAN.—Each State 

13 plan shall provide for revision of the plan from time 

14 to time as may be necessary to take account of 

15 changes in voter populations. 

16 (5) PUBLICATION BY COMMISSION.—The Com17 mission shall publish in the Federal Register each 

18 State plan submitted to the Commission under this 

19 subsection. 

20 (6) EXEMPTION FOR STATES THAT PROVIDE

21 FOR EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION OF EARLY VOTING

22 LOCATIONS.—The requirements of this subsection 

23 shall not apply to a State that, under State law that 

24 is in effect continuously on and after June 1, 2016, 

25 provides for the equitable distribution of early voting 


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1 locations in the State with respect to elections for 

2 Federal office (as determined by the Commission). 

3 SEC. 5. EXPANDING EARLY VOTING ACCESS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall make early vot5 ing available to any eligible voter for at least ten days be6 fore an election for Federal office. An eligible voter may 

7 cast their early voting ballots in person at an early voting 

8 location during that 10-day period in the same manner 

9 as any ballot would be cast in the precinct on election day. 

10 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be required 

11 to comply with the requirements of this section on and 

12 after the date that is one year after the date of enactment 

13 of this Act. 

14 SEC. 6. DESIGNATION OF CERTAIN FEDERAL FACILITIES AS 

15 VOTER REGISTRATION AGENCIES. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Veterans Af17 fairs, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the 

18 Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, the 

19 Postmaster General, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the 

20 Secretary of the Interior shall permit a State to designate 

21 facilities of the respective agencies located in the State as 

22 voter registration agencies under section 7 of the National 

23 Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–5). 


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1 (b) ACTIVITIES.—A voter registration agency des2 ignated under subsection (a) shall carry out the following 

3 activities: 

4 (1) Offer with each application to the agency 

5 for service or assistance, and with each recertifi6 cation, renewal, or change of address form relating 

7 to such service or assistance, the mail voter registra8 tion application form described in section 9 of the 

9 National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 

10 1973gg–7(a)(2)) or the agency’s own form if it is 

11 equivalent to the form described in such section, un12 less the applicant declines to register to vote or up13 date their voter registration in writing. 

14 (2) Provide a form that includes the following: 

15 (A) The question, ‘‘If you are not reg16 istered to vote where you live now, would you 

17 like to apply to register to vote here today?’’. 

18 (B) If the agency provides public assist19 ance, the statement, ‘‘Applying to register or 

20 declining to register to vote will not affect the 

21 amount of assistance that you will be provided 

22 by this agency.’’. 

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1 cline to register or update their registration to 

2 vote. 

3 (3) Provide assistance to applicants in com4 pleting the voter registration application forms, un5 less the applicant refuses such assistance in writing. 

6 (4) Accept completed voter registration applica7 tion forms for transmittal to the appropriate State 

8 or local election official. 

9 (c) TRANSMITTAL.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), a 

11 completed voter registration application accepted at 

12 a voter registration agency designated under sub13 section (a) shall be electronically transmitted, in a 

14 format that can be translated and uploaded into the 

15 Statewide voter database established pursuant to 

16 section 303(a) of the Help America Vote Act of 

17 2002 (42 U.S.C. 15483(a)), to the appropriate State 

18 or local election official not later than 10 days after 

19 the date of acceptance. 

20 (2) EXCEPTION.—If a voter registration appli21 cation is accepted within 5 days before the last day 

22 for registration to vote in an election for Federal of23 fice, the application shall be transmitted to the ap24 propriate State or local election official not later 

25 than 5 days after the date of acceptance. 


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1 (3) UPDATED REGISTRATION.—If an applica2 tion is an updated voter registration, the voter reg3 istration agency shall label the updated registration 

4 accordingly. 

5 (d) CLARIFICATION REGARDING APPLICATION.—The 

6 requirements of this section shall only apply to a voter 

7 registration agency designated under subsection (a). Noth8 ing in this section shall affect the application of section 

9 7 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 

10 U.S.C. 1973gg–5) to a voter registration agency not des11 ignated under such subsection. 

12 (e) INTEGRATION WITH STATE ELECTRONIC VOTER

13 REGISTRATION SYSTEMS.—The Commission shall imple14 ment an online system that, to the extent practicable— 

15 (1) provides an electronic means for a voter 

16 registration agency designated under subsection (a) 

17 to carry out the requirements of this section; 

18 (2) transmits a completed voter registration ap19 plication to the appropriate State or local election 

20 official; and 

21 (3) in the case of an individual registering to 

22 vote in a State that operates its own electronic voter 

23 registration system, directs an applicant to that sys24 tem. 


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1 SEC. 7. SAME DAY AND ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION. 

2 (a) SAME DAY REGISTRATION.—Notwithstanding 

3 section 8(a)(1)(D) of the National Voter Registration Act 

4 of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6), each State shall permit 

5 any eligible individual on the day of an election for Federal 

6 office and on any day when voting, including early voting, 

7 is permitted for an election for Federal office— 

8 (1) to register to vote in such election using a 

9 form that meets the requirements under section 9(b) 

10 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993; and 

11 (2) to cast a vote in such election. 

12 (b) ELECTRONIC REGISTRATION.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each State shall provide a 

14 secure online interface available to the public on a 

15 public, government website that allows any eligible 

16 individual to register to vote or to update their voter 

17 registration with an online voter registration applica18 tion that meets the requirements of the mail voter 

19 registration application form described in section 9 

20 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 

21 U.S.C. 1973gg–7(a)(2)). The online application shall 

22 be processed in the same manner as a mail voter 

23 registration application form is processed, subject to 

24 the requirements of section 303(b) of the Help 

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1 cept that the absence of a written signature shall not 

2 preclude the registration of an eligible individual. 

3 (2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Each State shall be re4 quired to comply with the requirements of this sub5 section on and after the date that is one year after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act. 

7 (c) ELIGIBLE INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes of this sec8 tion, the term ‘‘eligible individual’’ means, with respect to 

9 an election for Federal office, an individual who is other10 wise qualified to vote in that election. 

11 (d) EXCEPTION.—This section shall not apply to a 

12 State in which, under a State law in effect continuously 

13 on and after the date of the enactment of this section, 

14 there is no voter registration requirement for individuals 

15 in the State with respect to elections for Federal office. 

16 SEC. 8. ENFORCEMENT. 

17 (a) ATTORNEY GENERAL.—The Attorney General 

18 may bring a civil action in an appropriate district court 

19 for such declaratory or injunctive relief as is necessary to 

20 carry out this Act. 

21 (b) PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.— 

22 (1) NOTICE.—A person who is aggrieved by a 

23 violation of this Act may provide written notice of 

24 the violation to the chief State election official of the 

25 State involved. 


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1 (2) CIVIL ACTION.—If the violation is not cor2 rected within 90 days after receipt of a notice under 

3 paragraph (1), or within 20 days after receipt of the 

4 notice if the violation occurred within 120 days be5 fore the date of an election for Federal office, the 

6 aggrieved person may bring a civil action in an ap7 propriate district court for declaratory or injunctive 

8 relief with respect to the violation. 

9 (3) EXCEPTION TO NOTICE IF VIOLATION WITH10 IN 30 DAYS OF ELECTION.—If the violation occurred 

11 within 30 days before the date of an election for 

12 Federal office, the aggrieved person need not provide 

13 notice to the chief State election official under para14 graph (1) before bringing a civil action under para15 graph (2). 

16 (c) RELATION TO OTHER LAWS.— 

17 (1) IN GENERAL.—The rights and remedies es18 tablished by this Act are in addition to all other 

19 rights and remedies provided by law, and neither the 

20 rights and remedies established by this section nor 

21 any other provision of this Act shall supersede, re22 strict, or limit the application of the Voting Rights 

23 Act of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.). 

24 (2) NO AUTHORIZATION OR REQUIREMENT FOR

25 CONDUCT PROHIBITED BY THE VOTING RIGHTS


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1 ACT.—Nothing in this Act authorizes or requires 

2 conduct that is prohibited by the Voting Rights Act 

3 of 1965 (42 U.S.C. 1973 et seq.). 

Æ 


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