Streamlined and Improved Methods at Polling Locations and Early (SIMPLE) Voting Act of 2019

Streamlined and Improved Methods at Polling Locations and Early (SIMPLE) Voting Act of 2019

This bill allows for early voting in elections for federal office and for reduced waiting times for voters at polling places used in such elections.

States must

• allow early voting in a federal election each day during the 15-day period ending on the second day before election day in the same manner as voting is allowed on election day;
• ensure that each polling place that allows early voting in a federal election is located within reasonable walking distance of a stop on a public transportation route;
• provide a sufficient number of voting systems, poll workers, and other election resources at polling places used in a federal election to ensure an equitable waiting time, not longer than one hour, for all voters in the state;
• plan to provide polling places whose waiting times exceed one hour on election day with additional poll workers, machines, ballots, and other equipment and supplies.

The Election Assistance Commission shall issue standards for the administration of early voting in a federal election.

The bill establishes requirements for the counting of provisional ballots that will be treated as votes.

The bill allows civil money penalties, intervention by aggrieved parties, and private actions to address Help America Vote Act of 2002 violations by a state or jurisdiction.

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov