[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2843 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2843

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 19, 2023

     Ms. Klobuchar (for herself, Mr. King, Ms. Cortez Masto, Mrs. 
 Gillibrand, Mr. Padilla, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Durbin, 
 Ms. Warren, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Merkley, Ms. Smith, Mr. Carper, 
   Mr. Booker, Mr. Sanders, Mr. Murphy, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Bennet, Mr. 
    Markey, Mr. Casey, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Brown, and Mr. Menendez) 
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 voter 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 (52 
U.S.C. 21081 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.--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 (or, if the individual is already 
                registered to vote, to revise any of the individual's 
                voter registration information); 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) Ensuring Availability of Forms.--The State shall ensure that 
each polling place has copies of any forms an individual may be 
required to complete in order to register to vote or revise the 
individual's voter registration information under this section.
    ``(d) Effective Date.--
            ``(1) In general.--Subject to paragraph (2), each State 
        shall be required to comply with the requirements of this 
        section for the regularly scheduled general election for 
        Federal office occurring in November 2024 and for any 
        subsequent election for Federal office.
            ``(2) Special rules for elections before november 2028.--
                    ``(A) Elections prior to november 2026 general 
                election.--A State shall be deemed to be in compliance 
                with the requirements of this section for the regularly 
                scheduled general election for Federal office occurring 
                in November 2024 and subsequent elections for Federal 
                office occurring before the regularly scheduled general 
                election for Federal office in November 2026 if at 
                least one location for each 15,000 registered voters in 
                each jurisdiction in the State meets such requirements, 
                and such location is reasonably located to serve voting 
                populations equitably across the jurisdiction.
                    ``(B) Additional elections prior to november 2028 
                general election.--If a State certifies to the 
                Commission not later than November 3, 2026, that the 
                State will not be in compliance with the requirements 
                of this section for the regularly scheduled general 
                election for Federal office occurring in November 2026 
                because it would be impracticable to do so and includes 
                in the certification the reasons for the failure to 
                meet such requirements, the State shall be deemed to be 
                in compliance with the requirements of this section for 
                the regularly scheduled general election for Federal 
                office in November 2026 and subsequent elections for 
                Federal office occurring before the regularly scheduled 
                general election for Federal office in November 2028, 
                if at least one location for each 15,000 registered 
                voters in each jurisdiction in the State meets such 
                requirements, and such location is reasonably located 
                to serve voting populations equitably across the 
                jurisdiction.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment Relating to Enforcement.--Section 401 of 
such Act (52 U.S.C. 21111) is amended by striking ``sections 301, 302, 
and 303'' and inserting ``subtitle A of title III''.
    (c) Clerical Amendments.--The table of contents of such Act is 
amended--
            (1) by redesignating the items relating to sections 304 and 
        305 as relating to sections 305 and 306, respectively; and
            (2) by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the 
        following new item:

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