Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires all states to authorize automatic voter registration, make Election Day a federal holiday, create independent redistricting commissions for the drawing of congressional districts, and require nonprofit organizations to disclose their large donors.

Highlights:

• • Requires each state to ensure that the following services are available to the public at any time on the official public websites of the appropriate State and local election officials (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1001):

  • Online application for voter registration;

  • Online assistance to applicants in applying to register to vote; and

  • Online completion and submission by applicants of the mail voter registration application form prescribed by the Election Assistance Commision.

  • Requires the chief State election official of each State to establish and operate a system of automatic voter registration for eligible individuals to vote for elections for Federal office in the State (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1012).

  • Prohibits States from refusing to accept or process an individual’s application to register to vote in elections for Federal office on the grounds that the individual is under 18 years of age at the time the individual submits the application, as long as the individual is at least 16 years of age at the time (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1094).

  • Requires each state to permit any eligible individual on the day of a federal election and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a Federal election (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1031).

  • Requires each State to allow individuals to vote in an election for Federal office during an early voting period which occurs prior to the date of the election, in the same manner as voting is allowed on such date (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1611).

  • Requires the early voting period to consist of a period of consecutive days which begins on the 15th day before the date of the election and ends on the date of the election (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1611).

  • Requires each State to permit any eligible individual on the day of a Federal election, and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a federal election, to register to vote in such election at the polling place using a form that meets the requirements, and to cast a vote in such election (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1031).

  • Requires each State to permit individuals with disabilities to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot in elections for Federal office (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1101). 

  • Prohibits denying or abridging the right of a citizen to vote in any election for Federal office because of a criminal offense unless such individual is serving a felony sentence in a correctional institution or facility at the time of the election (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1402).

  • Amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 so that the deadlines are consistent with the timing of legal public holidays, and will apply to elections held in 2020 or any succeeding years (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1052)

  • Requires congressional redistricting to be conducted through the plane of an independent state commission (Division A, Sec. 2401). 

  • Requires the nonpartisan agency within a State to establish an independent redistricting commission for the State (Division A, Title II, Sec. 2411).

  • Establishes the National Commission to Protect United States Democratic Institutions within the legislative branch to counter efforts to undermine the democratic institutions within the United States (Division A, Title III, Sec. 3202).

  • Prohibits any individual, whether acting under color of law or otherwise, to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from registering to vote or to corruptly hinder, interfere with, or prevent another person from helping another person in registering to vote (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1071).

  • Prohibits the State from imposing any additional conditions or requirements on the eligibility of an individual in casting an absentee ballot vote through mail in such an election, except to the extent that the State imposes a deadline for requesting the ballot and related voting materials from the appropriate State or local election official and for returning the ballot to the appropriate state or local election official (Division A, Title I, Sec. 1621).

  • Prohibits a separate segregated fund established by a corporation from making a contribution or expenditure during a year unless the fund has certified to the Election Assistance Commission the following during the year (Division C,  Title IV, Sec. 4102):

  • Each individual who manages the fund and has exercising decision making authority for the fund, is a citizen of the United States or is lawfully admitted for permanent residence in the United States;

  • There is no foreign national in any way in the decision making processes of the fund with regard to contributions or expenditures;

  • The fund does not solicit or accept recommendations from any foreign national with respect to the contributions or expenditures made by the fund; and

  • No member of the board of directors of the corporation who is a foreign national votes on matters concerning the fund or its activities.

  • Requires any covered organization that makes campaign-related disbursements aggregating more than $10,000 in an election reporting cycle to file a statement with the Commission made under penalty of perjury (Division B, Title IV, Sec. 4111).

  • Prohibits contributions and expenditures by foreign nationals to domestic corporations, limited liability corporations, and partnerships that are foreign-controlled, foreign-influenced, and foreign-owned (Division B, Title IV, Sec. 4101).

  • Requires that if a candidate for election to the office of Representative in, or Delegate or Resident Commissioner to Congress is certified as a participating candidate with respect to an election for such office, the candidate is to be entitled to payments as provided under this title (Division B, Title V, Sec. 5111). 

  • Specifies that the ban on fundraising for super PACs by federal candidates and officeholders includes soliciting, receiving, directing, or transferring funds to or on behalf of any political committee which accepts donations or contributions that do not comply with the limitations, prohibitions, and reporting of this Act (Division B, Title V, Sec. 5111).

  • Prohibits any Member, officer, or employee of a committee or either chamber of Congress from knowingly using their position to introduce or aid the progress or passage of legislation, for furthering only their monetary interest, only the financial interest of their immediate family, or only the monetary interest of a limited class of persons or enterprises, when they, their immediate family, or enterprises controlled by them, are members of the affected class (Division C, Sec. 9102).

  • Requires Members of Congress to reimburse the Treasury for amounts paid as settlements and awards under the Congressional Accountability Act of 1995 in cases of employment discrimination acts by these members (Division C, Sec. 9001).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text