Voter Empowerment Act of 2017
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Voter Empowerment Act of 2017
Voter Registration Modernization Act of 2017
This bill amends the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to require states to make available online voter registration.
The federal criminal code is amended to prohibit hindering, interfering with, or preventing voter registration.
The Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended to require states to promote access to voter registration and voting for individuals with disabilities.
The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) must support pilot programs enabling individuals with disabilities to register and vote at their residences.
The bill reauthorizes support for state and local governments to ensure voting access for individuals with disabilities.
States must notify individuals convicted of a criminal offense under state law, upon release or upon sentence to probation, of their right to vote in federal elections.
Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act of 2017
This bill revises auditing requirements for voting systems.
Voting systems must use individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballots.
The National Science Foundation must support the study and development of accessible ballot voting and best practices to enhance the accessibility of voting for certain individuals.
With exceptions, states must audit federal election results.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act is amended to extend the guarantee of voting residency to family members of absent military personnel.
The EAC must support poll-worker recruitment and training and develop materials for a model program.
The Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971 is amended to prohibit a chief state election administration official, unless the official or a family member is a candidate, from taking part in political management or in a political campaign for federal office over which the official has supervisory authority.
The EAC is reauthorized and its exemption from certain contracting requirements is repealed.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on June 26, 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 June 26, 2017: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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?
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) introduced it on June 26, 2017, and 16 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 14 Democrats, 2 independents.
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 June 26, 2017, 3363 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3363 days ago, on June 26, 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers