[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1986 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1986

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide 
                       for same day registration.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            October 28, 2009

 Mr. Feingold (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Tester, Mr. Harkin, and 
  Mr. Kerry) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
         referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to require States to provide 
                       for same day registration.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Same Day Registration Act''.

SEC. 2. SAME DAY REGISTRATION.

    (a) In General.--Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (42 
U.S.C. 15481 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as sections 305 
        and 306, respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after section 303 the following new 
        section:

``SEC. 304. SAME DAY REGISTRATION.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Registration.--Notwithstanding section 8(a)(1)(D) of 
        the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg-
        6), each State shall 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--
                    ``(A) to register to vote in such election at the 
                polling place using a form that meets the requirements 
                under section 9(b) of the National Voter Registration 
                Act of 1993; and
                    ``(B) to cast a vote in such election.
            ``(2) Exception.--The requirements under paragraph (1) 
        shall not apply to a State in which, under a State law in 
        effect continuously on and after the date of the enactment of 
        this section, there is no voter registration requirement for 
        individuals in the State with respect to elections for Federal 
        office.
    ``(b) Eligible Individual.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`eligible individual' means, with respect to any election for Federal 
office, an individual who is otherwise qualified to vote in that 
election.
    ``(c) Effective Date.--Each State shall be required to comply with 
the requirements of subsection (a) for the regularly scheduled general 
election for Federal office occurring in November 2010 and for any 
subsequent election for Federal office.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 401 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15511) is amended by 
        striking ``and 303'' and inserting ``303, and 304''.
            (2) The table of contents of such Act is amended--
                    (A) by redesignating the items relating to sections 
                304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 306, 
                respectively; and
                    (B) by inserting after the item relating to section 
                303 the following new item:

``Sec. 304. Same day registration.''.
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