To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit voter caging and other questionable challenges.
Latest action · Apr 8, 2019 Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
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.
- IntroducedFeb 28, 2019
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
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.
Cosponsors 11
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 28, 2019 to Mar 8, 2019, with 9 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-IL | Bobby L. Rush | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-FL | Darren Soto | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-FL | Debbie Wasserman Schultz | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-NM | Debra A. Haaland | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-FL | Donna E. Shalala | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-DC | Eleanor Holmes Norton | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-TN | Jim Cooper | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-TN | Steve Cohen | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-TX | Sylvia R. Garcia | Original | Feb 28, 2019 |
| D-FL | Charlie Crist | Mar 8, 2019 | |
| D-OR | Earl Blumenauer | Mar 8, 2019 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Apr 8, 2019Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security.
- Apr 8, 2019Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
- Feb 28, 2019Introduced in House
- Feb 28, 2019Referred 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.
Related bills 4
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 1 | For the People Act of 2019 | Related bill | Mar 14, 2019 |
| S 549 | Voter Empowerment Act of 2019 | Related bill | Feb 25, 2019 |
| S 949 | For the People Act of 2019 | Related bill | Mar 28, 2019 |
| HR 1275 | Voter Empowerment Act of 2019 | Related bill | Mar 22, 2019 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 28, 2019Introduced in House
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.