with respect to individuals who are residents of the 
State in which the agency is located (except as pro-
vided in subparagraph (C)): 
(A) The Social Security Administration, 
the Department of Veterans Affairs, the De-
fense Manpower Data Center of the Depart-
ment of Defense, the Employee and Training 
Administration of the Department of Labor, 
and the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Serv-
ices of the Department of Health and Human 
Services. 
(B) The Bureau of Citizenship and Immi-
gration Services, but only with respect to indi-
viduals who have completed the naturalization 
process. 
(C) In the case of an individual who is a 
resident of a State in which an individual 
disenfranchised by a criminal conviction under 
Federal law may become eligible to vote upon 
completion of a criminal sentence or any part 
thereof, or upon formal restoration of rights, 
the Federal agency responsible for admin-
istering that sentence or part thereof (without 
regard to whether the agency is located in the 
same State in which the individual is a resi-
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dent), but only with respect to individuals who 
have completed the criminal sentence or any 
part thereof. 
(D) Any other agency of the Federal Gov-
ernment which the State designates as a con-
tributing agency, but only if— 
(i) the State, in consultation with the 
head of the agency, determines that the 
agency collects information sufficient to 
carry out the responsibilities of a contrib-
uting agency under this section; and 
(ii) the head of the agency agrees to 
the designation. 
(3) INSTITUTIONS
OF
HIGHER
EDUCATION.— 
Each institution of higher education that receives 
Federal funds shall be treated as a contributing 
agency in the State in which it is located, but only 
with respect to students of the institution (including 
students who attend classes online) who reside in the 
State. An institution of higher education described 
in the previous sentence shall be exempt from the 
voter registration requirements of section 487(a)(23) 
of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
1094(a)(23)) if the institution is in compliance with 
the applicable requirements of this Act. 
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(4) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 180 days 
prior to the date of each election for Federal office 
held in the State, the chief State election official 
shall publish on the public Web site of the official 
an updated list of all contributing agencies in that 
State. 
(5) PUBLIC EDUCATION.—The chief State elec-
tion official of each State, in collaboration with each 
contributing agency, shall take appropriate measures 
to educate the public about voter registration under 
this section. 
SEC. 4. ONE-TIME CONTRIBUTING AGENCY ASSISTANCE IN 
REGISTRATION OF ELIGIBLE VOTERS IN EX-
ISTING RECORDS. 
(a) INITIAL TRANSMITTAL OF INFORMATION.—For 
each individual already listed in a contributing agency’s 
records as of the date of enactment of this Act, and for 
whom the agency retains all information listed in subpara-
graphs (A) through (J) of section 3(b)(3), the agency shall 
promptly transmit that information to the appropriate 
State election official in accordance with section 3(b)(3) 
not later than the effective date described in section 11(a). 
(b) TRANSITION.—For each individual already listed 
in a contributing agency’s records as of the effective date 
described in section 11(a) (but who was not already listed 
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in a contributing agency’s records as of the date of enact-
ment of this Act), and for whom the agency retains all 
information listed in subparagraphs (A) through (J) of 
section 3(b)(3), the Agency shall promptly transmit that 
information to the appropriate State election official in ac-
cordance with section 3(b)(3) not later than 6 months 
after the effective date described in section 11(a). 
SEC. 5. VOTER PROTECTION AND SECURITY IN AUTOMATIC 
REGISTRATION. 
(a) PROTECTIONS FOR ERRORS IN REGISTRATION.— 
An individual shall not be prosecuted under any Federal 
law, or adversely affected in any civil adjudication con-
cerning immigration status or naturalization, or by an al-
legation in any legal proceeding that an individual who 
is not a citizen of the United States is removable or inad-
missible— 
(1) for notifying an election official of such in-
dividual’s automatic registration; 
(2) on the grounds that the individual is not an 
eligible voter and has been automatically registered 
to vote under this Act; or 
(3) because the individual has been automati-
cally registered to vote at the incorrect address. 
(b) LIMITS
ON USE
OF AUTOMATIC REGISTRA-
TION.—The automatic registration of any individual may 
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not be used as evidence against that individual in any 
State or Federal law enforcement proceeding, and an indi-
vidual’s lack of knowledge or willfulness of such registra-
tion may be demonstrated by the individual’s testimony 
alone. 
(c) PROTECTION OF ELECTION INTEGRITY.—Noth-
ing in subsection (a) or (b) may be construed to prohibit 
or restrict any action under color of law against an indi-
vidual who— 
(1) knowingly and willfully makes a false state-
ment to effectuate or perpetuate automatic voter 
registration by any individual; or 
(2) casts a ballot knowingly and willfully in vio-
lation of State law or the laws of the United States. 
(d) CONTRIBUTING AGENCIES’ PROTECTION OF IN-
FORMATION.—Nothing in this Act authorizes a contrib-
uting agency to collect, retain, transmit, or publicly dis-
close any of the following: 
(1) An individual’s decision to decline to reg-
ister to vote or not to register to vote. 
(2) An individual’s decision not to affirm his or 
her citizenship. 
(3) Any information that a contributing agency 
transmits pursuant to section 3(b)(3), except in pur-
suing the agency’s ordinary course of business. 
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(e) ELECTION OFFICIALS’ PROTECTION OF INFOR-
MATION.— 
(1) DISCLOSURE PROHIBITED.—For any indi-
vidual for whom the appropriate State election offi-
cial receives information from a contributing agency, 
that State election official shall not publicly disclose 
any of the following: 
(A) The identity of the contributing agen-
cy. 
(B) Any information not necessary to voter 
registration. 
(C) Any voter information otherwise shield-
ed from disclosure under State law or section 
8(a) of the National Voter Registration Act of 
1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507(a)). 
(2) DISCLOSURE
REQUIRING
VOTER
CON-
SENT.—For any individual for whom the appropriate 
State election official receives information from a 
contributing agency, that official shall not publicly 
disclose any of the following absent the individual’s 
express permission: 
(A) Any portion of the individual’s social 
security number. 
(B) Any portion of the individual’s motor 
vehicle driver’s license number. 
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(C) The individual’s signature. 
(D) The individual’s phone number. 
(E) The individual’s e-mail address. 
(3) VOTER
RECORD
CHANGES.—Each State 
shall maintain for at least 2 years and shall make 
available for public inspection and, where available, 
photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records of 
changes to voter records, including removals and up-
dates. 
(4) DATABASE
MANAGEMENT
STANDARDS.— 
The Director of the National Institute of Standards 
and Technology shall— 
(A) establish standards governing the com-
parison of data for voter registration list main-
tenance purposes, identifying as part of such 
standards the specific data elements, the 
matching rules used, and when a State may use 
the data to determine and deem that an indi-
vidual is ineligible under State law to vote in an 
election, or to deem a record to be a duplicate 
or outdated; 
(B) ensure that the standards developed 
pursuant to this paragraph are drafted and ap-
plied in a uniform and nondiscriminatory way; 
and 
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(C) publish the standards developed pursu-
ant to this paragraph on the Director’s Web 
site and make those standards available in writ-
ten form upon request. 
(5) SECURITY
POLICY.—The Director of the 
National Institute of Standards and Technology 
shall publish privacy and security standards for 
voter registration information. The standards shall 
require the chief State election official of each State 
to adopt a policy that shall specify— 
(A) each class of users who shall have au-
thorized access to the computerized statewide 
voter registration list, specifying for each class 
the permission and levels of access to be grant-
ed, and setting forth other safeguards to pro-
tect the privacy and security of the information 
on the list; and 
(B) security safeguards to protect personal 
information transmitted through the informa-
tion transmittal processes of section 3 or sec-
tion 4, the online system used pursuant to sec-
tion 7, any telephone interface, the maintenance 
of the voter registration database, and the audit 
procedure to track access to the system. 
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(6) 
STATE
COMPLIANCE
WITH
NATIONAL 
STANDARDS.— 
(A) CERTIFICATION.—The chief executive 
officer of the State shall annually file with the 
Election Assistance Commission a statement 
certifying to the Director of the National Insti-
tute of Standards and Technology that the 
State is in compliance with the standards re-
ferred to in paragraphs (4) and (5). A State 
may meet the requirement of the previous sen-
tence by filing with the Commission a statement 
which reads as follows: ‘‘lllll hereby 
certifies that it is in compliance with the stand-
ards referred to in paragraphs (4) and (5) of 
section 5(e) of the Automatic Voter Registra-
tion Act of 2016.’’ (with the blank to be filled 
in with the name of the State involved). 
(B) PUBLICATION OF POLICIES AND PRO-
CEDURES.—The chief State election official of a 
State shall publish on the official’s Web site the 
policies and procedures established under this 
section, and shall make those policies and pro-
cedures available in written form upon public 
request. 
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(C) FUNDING
DEPENDENT
ON
CERTIFI-
CATION.—If a State does not timely file the cer-
tification required under this paragraph, it shall 
not receive any payment under this Act for the 
upcoming fiscal year. 
(D) COMPLIANCE
OF
STATES
THAT
RE-
QUIRE CHANGES TO STATE LAW.—In the case 
of a State that requires State legislation to 
carry out an activity covered by any certifi-
cation submitted under this paragraph, the 
State shall be permitted to make the certifi-
cation notwithstanding that the legislation has 
not been enacted at the time the certification is 
submitted, and such State shall submit an addi-
tional certification once such legislation is en-
acted. 
(f) RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF INFORMATION.—No 
person acting under color of law may discriminate against 
any individual based on, or use for any purpose other than 
voter registration, election administration, or enforcement 
relating to election crimes, any of the following: 
(1) Voter registration records. 
(2) An individual’s declination to register to 
vote or complete an affirmation of citizenship under 
section 3(b). 
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(3) An individual’s voter registration status. 
(g) PROHIBITION ON THE USE OF VOTER REGISTRA-
TION INFORMATION FOR COMMERCIAL OR NONGOVERN-
MENTAL PURPOSES.—Voter registration information col-
lected under this Act shall not be used for commercial pur-
poses, including for comparison with any existing commer-
cial list or database. 
SEC. 6. REGISTRATION PORTABILITY AND CORRECTION. 
(a) CORRECTING REGISTRATION INFORMATION AT 
POLLING PLACE.—Notwithstanding section 302(a) of the 
Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(a)), if 
an individual is registered to vote in elections for Federal 
office held in a State, the appropriate election official at 
the polling place for any such election (including a location 
used as a polling place on a date other than the date of 
the election) shall permit the individual to— 
(1) update the individual’s address for purposes 
of the records of the election official; 
(2) correct any incorrect information relating to 
the individual, including the individual’s name and 
political party affiliation, in the records of the elec-
tion official; and 
(3) cast a ballot in the election on the basis of 
the updated address or corrected information, and to 
have the ballot treated as a regular ballot and not 
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