Streamlined and Improved Methods at Polling Locations and Early (SIMPLE) Voting Act of 2017
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
Streamlined and Improved Methods at Polling Locations and Early (SIMPLE) Voting Act of 2017
This bill amends the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (HAVA) to require each state to allow individuals to vote in a federal election on each day during the 15-day period ending on the second day immediately preceding the election date in the same manner as voting is allowed on election day.
A state shall 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.
The Election Assistance Commission shall issue standards for the administration of early voting in a federal election.
Each state shall provide a sufficient number of voting systems, poll workers, and other election resources (including physical resources) at a polling place used in a federal election to ensure: (1) a fair and equitable waiting time for all voters in the state, and (2) that no individual will be required to wait longer than one hour to cast a ballot at the polling place.
Each state shall develop, and implement to the greatest extent practicable, a contingency plan under which it shall provide any polling place on a federal election day whose waiting times exceed one hour with additional poll workers, machines, ballots, and other equipment and supplies.
Requirements are prescribed for the counting of provisional ballots that will be treated as votes.
Civil money penalties, intervention by aggrieved parties, and private actions to address HAVA violations by a state or jurisdiction are allowed.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 1, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 1, 2017: Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Steve Cohen (D-TN) introduced it on February 1, 2017, and 32 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 32 Democrats.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 1, 2017, 3508 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3508 days ago, on February 1, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers