Sec. 5. Voter protection and security in automatic registration
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An individual shall not be prosecuted under any Federal law, or adversely affected in any civil adjudication concerning immigration status or naturalization, or by an allegation in any legal proceeding that an individual who is not a citizen of the United States is removable or inadmissible— for notifying an election official of such individual’s automatic registration; on the grounds that the individual is not an eligible voter and has been automatically registered to vote under this Act; or because the individual has been automatically registered to vote at the incorrect address.
The automatic registration of any individual may not be used as evidence against that individual in any State or Federal law enforcement proceeding, and an individual’s lack of knowledge or willfulness of such registration may be demonstrated by the individual’s testimony alone. Nothing in subsection
(a)or
(b)may be construed to prohibit or restrict any action under color of law against an individual who— knowingly and willfully makes a false statement to effectuate or perpetuate automatic voter registration by any individual; or casts a ballot knowingly and willfully in violation of State law or the laws of the United States. Nothing in this Act authorizes a contributing agency to collect, retain, transmit, or publicly disclose any of the following: An individual’s decision to decline to register to vote or not to register to vote. An individual’s decision not to affirm his or her citizenship. Any information that a contributing agency transmits pursuant to section 3(b)(3), except in pursuing the agency’s ordinary course of business. For any individual for whom the appropriate State election official receives information from a contributing agency, that State election official shall not publicly disclose any of the following: The identity of the contributing agency. Any information not necessary to voter registration. Any voter information otherwise shielded from disclosure under State law or section 8(a) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ( 52 U.S.C. 20507(a) ). For any individual for whom the appropriate State election official receives information from a contributing agency, that official shall not publicly disclose any of the following absent the individual’s express permission: Any portion of the individual’s social security number. Any portion of the individual’s motor vehicle driver’s license number. The individual’s signature. The individual’s phone number. The individual’s e-mail address. Each State shall maintain for at least 2 years and shall make available for public inspection and, where available, photocopying at a reasonable cost, all records of changes to voter records, including removals and updates. The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall— establish standards governing the comparison of data for voter registration list maintenance purposes, identifying as part of such standards the specific data elements, the matching rules used, and when a State may use the data to determine and deem that an individual is ineligible under State law to vote in an election, or to deem a record to be a duplicate or outdated; ensure that the standards developed pursuant to this paragraph are drafted and applied in a uniform and nondiscriminatory way; and publish the standards developed pursuant to this paragraph on the Director’s Web site and make those standards available in written form upon request. The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology shall publish privacy and security standards for voter registration information. The standards shall require the chief State election official of each State to adopt a policy that shall specify— each class of users who shall have authorized access to the computerized statewide voter registration list, specifying for each class the permission and levels of access to be granted, and setting forth other safeguards to protect the privacy and security of the information on the list; and security safeguards to protect personal information transmitted through the information transmittal processes of section 3 or section 4, the online system used pursuant to section 7, any telephone interface, the maintenance of the voter registration database, and the audit procedure to track access to the system. The chief executive officer of the State shall annually file with the Election Assistance Commission a statement certifying to the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology that the State is in compliance with the standards referred to in paragraphs
(4)and (5). A State may meet the requirement of the previous sentence by filing with the Commission a statement which reads as follows: _____ hereby certifies that it is in compliance with the standards referred to in paragraphs
(4)and
(5)of section 5(e) of the Automatic Voter Registration Act of 2016. (with the blank to be filled in with the name of the State involved). The chief State election official of a State shall publish on the official’s Web site the policies and procedures established under this section, and shall make those policies and procedures available in written form upon public request. If a State does not timely file the certification required under this paragraph, it shall not receive any payment under this Act for the upcoming fiscal year. In the case of a State that requires State legislation to carry out an activity covered by any certification submitted under this paragraph, the State shall be permitted to make the certification notwithstanding that the legislation has not been enacted at the time the certification is submitted, and such State shall submit an additional certification once such legislation is enacted. No person acting under color of law may discriminate against any individual based on, or use for any purpose other than voter registration, election administration, or enforcement relating to election crimes, any of the following: Voter registration records. An individual’s declination to register to vote or complete an affirmation of citizenship under section 3(b). An individual’s voter registration status. Voter registration information collected under this Act shall not be used for commercial purposes, including for comparison with any existing commercial list or database.
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Sec. 5
Voter protection and security in automatic registration
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