I 
117TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2215 
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 Fed-
eral 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 
MARCH 26, 2021 
Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois (for himself, Ms. SCANLON, Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia, 
Ms. TLAIB, Mr. FOSTER, Ms. NORTON, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. 
MENG, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mrs. 
DEMINGS, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. CLARKE of 
New York, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. LARSON of Connecticut, Mr. 
SUOZZI, Mr. HASTINGS, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. JONES, Mr. 
LYNCH, Ms. PRESSLEY, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. SIRES, Mr. 
AUCHINCLOSS, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, and Mr. SAN 
NICOLAS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
mittee 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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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 ‘‘Our Homes, Our Votes 
Act’’. 
SEC. 2. PROMOTING VOTER REGISTRATION FOR RESI-
DENTS OF UNITS UNDER CERTAIN FEDER-
ALLY ASSISTED HOUSING PROGRAMS. 
(a) TREATMENT OF LEASE AS SIMULTANEOUS AP-
PLICATION FOR VOTER REGISTRATION.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The National Voter Reg-
istration Act of 1993 is amended by inserting after 
section 5 (52 U.S.C. 20504) the following new sec-
tion: 
‘‘SEC. 5A. SIMULTANEOUS APPLICATION FOR VOTER REG-
ISTRATION AND LEASE FOR PHA-ASSISTED 
HOUSING. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.— 
‘‘(1) APPLICATION
FOR
VOTER
REGISTRA-
TION.—Each lease and annual income recertification 
for a PHA-assisted dwelling unit (as such term is 
defined in subsection (e)) submitted to the applicable 
public housing agency for such unit shall serve as an 
application for voter registration with respect to 
elections for Federal office for each lessee who signs 
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‘‘(iii) a statement that if an applicant 
does register to vote, the office at which 
the applicant submits a voter registration 
application will remain confidential and 
will be used only for voter registration pur-
poses; and 
‘‘(E) shall be made available (as submitted 
by the applicant, or in machine readable or 
other format) to the appropriate State election 
official as provided by State law. 
‘‘(d) TRANSMITTAL.— 
‘‘(1) BY OWNER.—In the case of lease or an-
nual income recertification for a PHA-assistance 
dwelling unit described in subsection (e)(1)(B), the 
owner of the dwelling unit shall transmit a com-
pleted voter registration portion of a lease or annual 
income recertification to the public housing agency 
providing assistance with respect to such unit not 
later than 10 days after the date of acceptance. 
‘‘(2) BY
PHA.—Subject to paragraph (3), a 
completed voter registration portion of a lease or an-
nual income recertification for a PHA-assisted dwell-
ing unit accepted by the public housing agency as 
owner of such a dwelling unit, or pursuant to para-
graph (1), shall be transmitted to the appropriate 
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State election official not later than 10 days after 
the date of acceptance. 
‘‘(3) APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED WITHIN 5 DAYS 
OF REGISTRATION DEADLINE.—If a registration ap-
plication is accepted by a public housing agency pur-
suant to paragraph (2) within 5 days before the last 
day for registration to vote in an election, the appli-
cation shall be transmitted to the appropriate State 
election official not later than 5 days after the date 
of acceptance. 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 
‘‘(1) PHA-ASSISTED
DWELLING
UNIT.—The 
term ‘PHA-assisted dwelling unit’ means a dwelling 
unit— 
‘‘(A) in public housing, as such term is de-
fined in section 3(b) of the United States Hous-
ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)); or 
‘‘(B) that is assisted under the program 
for tenant-based rental assistance under section 
8(o) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 
(42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)), including the program 
under paragraph (13) of such section 8(o). 
‘‘(2) PUBLIC
HOUSING
AGENCY.—The term 
‘public housing agency’ has the meaning given such 
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term in section 3(b) of the United States Housing 
Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a(b)). 
‘‘(3) OWNER.—The term ‘owner’ means, with 
respect to a PHA-assisted dwelling unit— 
‘‘(A) in the case of a unit described in 
paragraph (1)(A) of this subsection, the public 
housing agency that owns or operates such unit; 
or 
‘‘(B) in the case of a unit described in 
paragraph (1)(B) of this subsection, the private 
person or entity having the legal right to lease 
such unit.’’. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 
by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to leases 
entered into on or after the expiration of the 90-day 
period beginning on the date of the enactment of 
this Act. 
(b) TREATMENT OF OWNERS OF UNITS AS VOTER 
REGISTRATION AGENCIES.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Section 7 of such Act (52 
U.S.C. 20506) is amended— 
(A) in subsection (a)(2)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘and’’ at the end; 
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(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 
the period at the end and inserting ‘‘; 
and’’; and 
(iii) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing new subparagraph: 
‘‘(C) each owner (as such term is defined in 
subsection (e)) of a dwelling unit assisted under a 
covered federally assisted housing program (as such 
term is defined in such subsection) located within 
such State, subject to section 5A in the case of an 
owner described in subparagraph (A) or (B) of sub-
section (e)(1), except that such an owner shall be a 
voter registration agency for purposes of this section 
only with respect to lessees of such dwelling units of 
such owner located within such State.’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following new 
subsection: 
‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—As used in this section: 
‘‘(1) COVERED FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING 
PROGRAM.—The term ‘covered federally assisted 
housing program’ means— 
‘‘(A) the public housing program under 
title I of the United States Housing Act of 
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437 et seq.); 
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‘‘(B) the programs for rental housing as-
sistance under section 8 of the United States 
Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f), includ-
ing— 
‘‘(i) the program for tenant-based 
rental assistance under subsection (o) of 
such section 8; and 
‘‘(ii) the program for project-based 
rental assistance under such section 8; 
‘‘(C) the program for supportive housing 
for the elderly under section 202 of the Hous-
ing Act of 1959 (12 U.S.C. 1701q); 
‘‘(D) the program for supportive housing 
for persons with disabilities under section 811 
of the Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable 
Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 8013); 
‘‘(E) the program for housing opportuni-
ties for persons with AIDS under subtitle D of 
title VIII of the Cranston-Gonzalez National 
Affordable Housing Act (42 U.S.C. 12901 et 
seq.); 
‘‘(F) the program under subtitle A of title 
IV of the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance 
Act (42 U.S.C. 11360 et seq.); 
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‘‘(G) the HOME Investment Partnerships 
Program under subtitle A of title II of the 
Cranston-Gonzalez National Affordable Hous-
ing Act (42 U.S.C. 12741 et seq.); 
‘‘(H) the program under paragraph (3) of 
section 221(d) of the National Housing Act (12 
U.S.C. 1715l(d)(3)) that bears interest at a 
rate determined under the proviso under para-
graph (5) of such section 221(d); 
‘‘(I) the rental assistance program under 
section 236 of the National Housing Act (12 
U.S.C. 1715z–1); 
‘‘(J) the programs for rural housing assist-
ance provided under sections 514, 515, 516, 
522, and 538 of the Housing Act of 1949 (42 
U.S.C. 1484, 1485, 1486, 1490m, and 1490p– 
2); 
‘‘(K) the low income housing tax credit 
program under section 42 of the Internal Rev-
enue Code of 1986 (26 U.S.C. 42); 
‘‘(L) the program for rural housing vouch-
ers under section 542 of the Housing Act of 
1949 (42 U.S.C. 1490r); and 
‘‘(M) the program for assistance from the 
Housing Trust Fund established under section 
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1338 of the Federal Housing Enterprises Fi-
nancial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 (12 
U.S.C. 4568). 
‘‘(2) OWNER.—The term ‘owner’ means, with 
respect to a dwelling unit assisted under a covered 
federally assisted housing program— 
‘‘(A) in the case of a dwelling unit assisted 
under a program specified in subparagraph (A) 
or (B)(1) of paragraph (1) of this subsection, 
the public housing agency that owns or operates 
such unit or provides rental assistance with re-
spect to such unit, as applicable; or 
‘‘(B) in the case of a dwelling unit assisted 
under any other covered federally assisted hous-
ing program, the private person or entity hav-
ing the legal right to lease such unit.’’. 
(2) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made 
by paragraph (1) shall apply with respect to assist-
ance provided on or after the expiration of the 90- 
day period beginning on the date of the enactment 
of this Act. 
Æ 
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