Reducing Barriers for Military Voters Act

Bill: 117-s-2328
Sponsor: full_name: Sen. Duckworth, Tammy [D-IL]
Introduced: 2021-07-13
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics
Subjects: Diplomacy, foreign officials, Americans abroad

Elections, voting, political campaign regulation

Military personnel and dependents

Postal service

Public contracts and procurement

State and local government operations
Latest action: action_date: 2021-07-13
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.

Summaries:
action_date: 2021-07-13
action_desc: Introduced in Senate
text: <p><strong>Reducing Barriers for Military Voters Act</strong></p> <p>This bill requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop a plan for providing end-to-end electronic voting services (e.g., services for registering to vote and returning a ballot) in participating states for absent uniformed service members who are deployed or mobilized in locations with limited or no postal service.</p> <p>Specifically, DOD must develop the plan by consulting with state and local election officials. Further, the plan must include (1) methods to ensure that voters have the opportunity to verify that their ballots are received and tabulated, (2) methods to generate a verifiable and auditable vote trail, and (3) an assessment of whether commercially available technologies may be used to carry out the plan.</p> <p>DOD must implement the plan for a trial group of voters in participating states for the 2024 federal elections. The plan must be implemented for all voters in participating states for the 2026 federal elections and subsequent years.</p>

tv_txt: II 117th CONGRESS 1st Session S. 2328 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES July 13, 2021 Ms. Duckworth (for herself, Mr. Cornyn , Mrs. Murray , Mr. Sanders , Ms. Baldwin , Mrs. Feinstein , Ms. Hirono , and Mr. Kelly ) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration A BILL To direct the Presidential designee under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act to develop and implement a plan to provide end-to-end electronic voting services for absent uniformed services voters under such Act who are deployed or mobilized to locations with limited or immature postal service.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Reducing Barriers for Military Voters Act . 2. Providing end-to-end electronic voting services for absent uniformed services voters in locations with limited or immature postal service (a) Plan (1) Development In consultation with the Chief Information Officer of the Department of Defense, the Presidential designee under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act ( 52 U.S.C. 20301 et seq. ) shall develop a plan for providing end-to-end electronic voting services (including services for registering to vote, requesting an electronic ballot, completing the ballot, and returning the ballot) in participating States for absent uniformed services voters under such Act who are deployed or mobilized to locations with limited or immature postal service (as determined by the Presidential designee). (2) Specifications The Presidential designee shall include in the plan developed under paragraph (1)— (A) methods to ensure that voters have the opportunity to verify that their ballots are received and tabulated correctly by the appropriate State and local election officials; (B) methods to generate a verifiable and auditable vote trail for the purposes of any recount or audit conducted with respect to an election; and (C) an assessment of whether commercially available technologies may be used to carry out any of the elements of the plan. (3) Consultation with State and local election officials The Presidential designee shall develop the plan under paragraph (1) in consultation with appropriate State and local election officials to ensure that the plan may be implemented successfully in any State which agrees to participate in the plan. (4) Use of contractors To the extent the Presidential designee determines to be appropriate, the Presidential designee may include in the plan developed under paragraph (1) provisions for the use of contractors to carry out any of the elements of the plan. (5) Submission Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Presidential designee shall submit the plan developed under paragraph (1) to the Committees on Armed Services of the House of Representatives and Senate. (b) Implementation The Presidential designee shall implement the plan developed under subsection (a)— (1) for a trial group of voters in participating States for elections for Federal office held in 2024; and (2) for all such voters in participating States for elections for Federal office held in 2026 and any succeeding year.