H.R. 1573 · 116th Congress
Disability Voting Rights Act
Key: what the circles and colors mean
Each circle is a bill. The ring fills as it moves through Congress:
Under the number: the Yea · Nay count of its final (or latest) recorded vote. On a member's page, the small badge is how that member voted: Y Yea / Aye, N Nay / No, P Present, – Not voting.
Gold and violet are only for Yea and Nay; they never mean a party. A member's party is the letter on their photo.
Never voted on. It didn't reach a floor vote before the 116th Congress ended, so it expired. A bill has to be introduced again to be considered in a new Congress.
D
ScanlonSponsor4 cosponsors · 4 D
1 signed on when it was introduced; the rest joined later. Cosponsors who withdrew aren't shown.
This bill requires each state to allow individuals with disabilities to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections.
What it does: CRS summary · Introduced in House · Mar 6, 2019
Disability Voting Rights Act
This bill requires each state to allow individuals with disabilities to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections.
Among other things, each state must
- accept and process any otherwise valid voter registration and absentee ballot applications from individuals with disabilities if such applications are received within 30 days of the federal election;
- establish procedures for individuals with disabilities to request, and for the state to send, voter registration and absentee ballot applications by mail and through electronic means;
- create procedures for securely transmitting blank absentee ballots by mail and through electronic means to individuals with disabilities;
- designate a single office to provide information on voter registration and absentee ballot procedures for individuals with disabilities; and
- specify a means of electronic communication for individuals with disabilities to request, and for the state to send, voter registration and absentee ballot applications.
Further, each state must transmit a validly requested absentee ballot to an individual with a disability within 45 days of an election. However, the bill establishes a procedure for a state to apply to the Department of Justice for a waiver of this requirement.
The bill also permanently reauthorizes and expands a program under which the Department of Health and Human Services makes payments to eligible states and units of local government to assure voting access for individuals with disabilities.
Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov
About this bill and sources
Official title: Disability Voting Rights Act
Latest action (Mar 6, 2019): Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
Policy area: Government Operations and Politics · Origin: House · Introduced: Mar 6, 2019
Official page on Congress.gov · Bill text (GovInfo) · Status record (XML)
No recorded floor vote found.