Rural and Tribal Voter Rights Act
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.
Rural and Tribal Voter Rights Act - Directs the Election Assistance Commission to make a payment each fiscal year to each state which meets early voting location distribution plan development requirements for ensuring that eligible voters have adequate access to early voting locations.
Requires a state or local election official to provide at least one one early voting location on tribal land when requested by the tribal government.
Requires each state to, after reasonable notice and public hearings, adopt and submit to the Commission a plan which provides for the equitable distribution of early voting locations.
Requires each state to make early voting available to any eligible voter for at least 10 days before an election for federal office.
Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Commissioner of the Social Security Administration, the Postmaster General, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the Secretary of the Interior to permit a state to designate facilities of the respective agencies located in the state as voter registration agencies.
Requires each state to permit any eligible individual on the same day as a federal election and on any day when voting, including early voting, is permitted for a federal election to: (1) register to vote in the election, and (2) cast a vote in it.
Requires each state to provide a secure online interface available to the public on a public, government website that allows any eligible individual to register electronically to vote or to update their voter registration.
Authorizes the Attorney General to bring a civil action in an appropriate district court for declaratory or injunctive relief as necessary to carry out this Act. Allows any aggrieved person a private right of action, too.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on July 31, 2014. 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 July 31, 2014: 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 113th Congress (2013-14), 296 of the 9,091 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.3 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?
John Walsh (D-MT) introduced it on July 31, 2014. No cosponsors are recorded.
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 July 31, 2014, 4424 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 4424 days ago, on July 31, 2014.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 113th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2015 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