Title: To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and other questionable challenges.
Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement

Summary:
This bill prohibits voter caging and establishes penalties for violations. Voter caging is a practice of preventing or challenging voter registration, oftentimes by sending direct mail to individuals on the voter rolls, compiling a list of the undeliverable mail (voter caging list), and using the list to remove or challenge voter registrations.
First, the bill generally prohibits state or local election officials from preventing an individual from registering or voting in any federal election, or from permitting a formal challenge under state law to an individual's registration status or eligibility to vote, if the decision is based on certain evidence. Such evidence includes (1) a voter caging document or voter caging list, (2) an unverified match list, (3) an error or omission on a voter document that is immaterial to the individual's eligibility to vote, or (4) other evidence as designated by the Election Assistance Commission (EAC).
Additionally, it requires a private individual who challenges the right of another citizen to vote to set forth in writing, under penalty of perjury, a good faith factual basis for the ineligibility.
Further, it prohibits certain challenges to an individual's eligibility to vote in a federal election within 10 days of the election.
A violator is subject to penalties—a fine, up to one year in prison, or both.
Finally, the EAC must develop and publish best practices for preventing voter caging, and include such practices in voter information materials.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1460 Introduced in House (IH)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1460

  To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and 
                     other questionable challenges.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2019

 Ms. Mucarsel-Powell (for herself, Mr. Cohen, Ms. Garcia of Texas, Mr. 
 Cooper, Ms. Haaland, Ms. Norton, Mr. Soto, Ms. Wasserman Schultz, Ms. 
    Shalala, and Mr. Rush) introduced the following bill; which was 
  referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 
  Committee on House Administration, 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 amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and 
                     other questionable challenges.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. VOTER CAGING AND OTHER QUESTIONABLE CHALLENGES PROHIBITED.

    (a) In General.--Chapter 29 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
``Sec. 612. Voter caging and other questionable challenges
    ``(a) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `voter caging document' means--
                    ``(A) a nonforwardable document that is returned to 
                the sender or a third party as undelivered or 
                undeliverable despite an attempt to deliver such 
                document to the address of a registered voter or 
                applicant; or
                    ``(B) any document with instructions to an 
                addressee that the document be returned to the sender 
                or a third party but is not so returned, despite an 
                attempt to deliver such document to the address of a 
                registered voter or applicant, unless at least two 
                Federal election cycles have passed since the date of 
                the attempted delivery;
            ``(2) the term `voter caging list' means a list of 
        individuals compiled from voter caging documents; and
            ``(3) the term `unverified match list' means a list 
        produced by matching the information of registered voters or 
        applicants for voter registration to a list of individuals who 
        are ineligible to vote in the registrar's jurisdiction, by 
        virtue of death, conviction, change of address, or otherwise; 
        unless one of the pieces of information matched includes a 
        signature, photograph, or unique identifying number ensuring 
        that the information from each source refers to the same 
        individual.
    ``(b) Prohibition Against Voter Caging.--No State or local election 
official shall prevent an individual from registering or voting in any 
election for Federal office, or permit in connection with any election 
for Federal office a formal challenge under State law to an 
individual's registration status or eligibility to vote, if the basis 
for such decision is evidence consisting of--
            ``(1) a voter caging document or voter caging list;
            ``(2) an unverified match list;
            ``(3) an error or omission on any record or paper relating 
        to any application, registration, or other act requisite to 
        voting, if such error or omission is not material to an 
        individual's eligibility to vote under section 2004 of the 
        Revised Statutes, as amended (52 U.S.C. 10101(a)(2)(B)); or
            ``(4) any other evidence so designated for purposes of this 
        section by the Election Assistance Commission,
except that the election official may use such evidence if it is 
corroborated by independent evidence of the individual's ineligibility 
to register or vote.
    ``(c) Requirements for Challenges by Persons Other Than Election 
Officials.--
            ``(1) Requirements for challenges.--No person, other than a 
        State or local election official, shall submit a formal 
        challenge to an individual's eligibility to register to vote in 
        an election for Federal office or to vote in an election for 
        Federal office unless that challenge is supported by personal 
        knowledge regarding the grounds for ineligibility which is--
                    ``(A) documented in writing; and
                    ``(B) subject to an oath or attestation under 
                penalty of perjury that the challenger has a good faith 
                factual basis to believe that the individual who is the 
                subject of the challenge is ineligible to register to 
                vote or vote in that election, except a challenge which 
                is based on the race, ethnicity, or national origin of 
                the individual who is the subject of the challenge may 
                not be considered to have a good faith factual basis 
                for purposes of this paragraph.
            ``(2) Prohibition on challenges on or near date of 
        election.--No person, other than a State or local election 
        official, shall be permitted--
                    ``(A) to challenge an individual's eligibility to 
                vote in an election for Federal office on Election Day, 
                or
                    ``(B) to challenge an individual's eligibility to 
                register to vote in an election for Federal office or 
                to vote in an election for Federal office less than 10 
                days before the election unless the individual 
                registered to vote less than 20 days before the 
                election.
    ``(d) Penalties for Knowing Misconduct.--Whoever knowingly 
challenges the eligibility of one or more individuals to register or 
vote or knowingly causes the eligibility of such individuals to be 
challenged in violation of this section with the intent that one or 
more eligible voters be disqualified, shall be fined under this title 
or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both, for each such violation. 
Each violation shall be a separate offense.
    ``(e) No Effect on Related Laws.--Nothing in this section is 
intended to override the protections of the National Voter Registration 
Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20501 et seq.) or to affect the Voting Rights 
Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 29 of 
title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the 
following:

``612. Voter caging and other questionable challenges.''.

SEC. 2. DEVELOPMENT AND ADOPTION OF BEST PRACTICES FOR PREVENTING VOTER 
              CAGING.

    (a) Best Practices.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Election Assistance Commission shall develop 
and publish for the use of States recommendations for best practices to 
deter and prevent violations of section 612 of title 18, United States 
Code, as added by section 1(a), including practices to provide for the 
posting of relevant information at polling places and voter 
registration agencies, the training of poll workers and election 
officials, and relevant educational measures. For purposes of this 
subsection, the term ``State'' includes the District of Columbia, the 
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United States 
Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
    (b) Inclusion in Voting Information Requirements.--Section 
302(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21082(b)(2)) 
is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of subparagraph (E);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of subparagraph (F) 
        and inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new subparagraph:
                    ``(G) information relating to the prohibition 
                against voter caging and other questionable challenges 
                (as set forth in section 612 of title 18, United States 
                Code), including information on how individuals may 
                report allegations of violations of such 
                prohibition.''.
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