Native American Voting Rights Act of 2015
Latest action · Jul 30, 2015 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedJul 30, 2015
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Native American Voting Rights Act of 2015
This bill prohibits states and local governments from:
- eliminating the only polling place or voter registration site on an Indian reservation;
- moving or consolidating a polling place or voter registration site located on an Indian reservation to a location one mile or further from the existing one;
- moving or consolidating a polling place on an Indian reservation to a location across a natural boundary if that makes travel difficult for a voter, regardless of distance;
- eliminating in-person voting on an Indian reservation by designating an Indian reservation as a permanent absentee voting location, unless the entire state is or becomes a permanent absentee voting state or the Indian tribe requests such a designation;
- removing an early voting location or otherwise diminishing early voting opportunities on an Indian reservation; or
- decreasing the number of days or hours that an in-person or early voting location is open on an Indian reservation or changing the dates of in-person or early voting on an Indian reservation.
Requirements for exceptions to such prohibitions are prescribed.
Each of the states whose territory contains all or part of an Indian reservation shall designate, for each Indian tribe of each Indian reservation, an officer within that state responsible for compliance with this Act.
Any state whose territory contains all or part of an Indian reservation shall provide one or more polling places for each Indian tribe satisfying certain obligations.
In states that provide for early voting a state or local election official shall provide upon request at least one early voting location on an Indian reservation.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is amended to require the Office of Personnel Management to assign an appropriate number of observers whenever the Attorney General receives a written complaint from an Indian tribe that efforts to deny or abridge the right to vote under the color of law on account of race or color, or in contravention of specified guarantees, are likely to occur.
Cosponsors 4
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Jul 30, 2015 to Aug 4, 2015, with 3 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-MN | Al Franken | Original | Jul 30, 2015 |
| D-ND | Heidi Heitkamp | Original | Jul 30, 2015 |
| D-NM | Tom Udall | Original | Jul 30, 2015 |
| D-HI | Mazie K. Hirono | Aug 4, 2015 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Jul 30, 2015Introduced in Senate
- Jul 30, 2015Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Government Operations and Politics.
- Alaska Natives and Hawaiians
- Civil actions and liability
- Elections, voting, political campaign regulation
- Federal-Indian relations
- Foreign language and bilingual programs
- General Native American affairs matters
- Government Operations and Politics
- Indian lands and resources rights
- Racial and ethnic relations
- State and local government operations
- Voting rights
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Jul 30, 2015Introduced in Senate
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.