I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1556 
To secure the Federal voting rights of non-violent persons when released 
from incarceration. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 23, 2015 
Ms. WILSON of Florida introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To secure the Federal voting rights of non-violent persons 
when released from incarceration. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Civil Rights Voting 
Restoration Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) CORRECTIONAL
INSTITUTION
OR
FACIL-
ITY.—The term ‘‘correctional institution or facility’’ 
means any prison, penitentiary, jail, or other institu-
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tion or facility for the confinement of individuals 
convicted of criminal offenses, whether publicly or 
privately operated, except that such term does not 
include any residential community treatment center 
(or similar public or private facility). 
(2) ELECTION.—The term ‘‘election’’ means— 
(A) a general, special, primary, or runoff 
election; 
(B) a convention or caucus of a political 
party held to nominate a candidate; 
(C) a primary election held for the selec-
tion of delegates to a national nominating con-
vention of a political party; or 
(D) a primary election held for the expres-
sion of a preference for the nomination of per-
sons for election to the office of President. 
(3) FEDERAL OFFICE.—The term ‘‘Federal of-
fice’’ means the office of President or Vice President 
of the United States, or of Senator or Representa-
tive in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to, 
the Congress of the United States. 
(4) NON-VIOLENT
CRIMINAL
OFFENSE.—The 
term ‘‘non-violent criminal offense’’ means any of-
fense that is not a crime of violence (as defined in 
section 16 of title 18, United States Code). 
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(5) PROBATION.—The term ‘‘probation’’ means 
probation or parole supervision, imposed by a Fed-
eral, State, or local court or parole board, with or 
without a condition on the individual involved con-
cerning— 
(A) the individual’s freedom of movement; 
(B) the payment of damages by the indi-
vidual; 
(C) periodic reporting by the individual to 
an officer of the court or parole board; or 
(D) supervision of the individual by an of-
ficer of the court or parole board. 
SEC. 3. RIGHTS OF CITIZENS. 
(a) RIGHT TO VOTE.—The right of an individual who 
is a citizen of the United States to vote in any election 
for Federal office shall not be denied or abridged because 
the individual has been convicted of a non-violent criminal 
offense, unless, at the time of the election, the individual— 
(1) is serving a sentence in a correctional insti-
tution or facility; or 
(2) subject to subsection (b), is serving a term 
of probation. 
(b) RESTORATION OF VOTING RIGHTS FOR INDIVID-
UALS ON PROBATION.—An individual who is serving a 
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