Sec. 3. Requirements for no-excuse absentee voting, early in-person voting, and plan to ensure polling places implement CDC guidance for Federal elections in 2020
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For purposes of this section, the term applicable Federal election means any election for Federal office which occurs on or after the date that is 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act and before January 1, 2021. In the case of any applicable Federal election, each State and local jurisdiction shall— permit no-excuse mail-in absentee voting as described in subsection (c); maintain an early in-person voting period as described in subsection (d); and establish a plan as described in subsection
(e)with respect to in-person voting, including during early voting periods and on the day of the election. No-excuse mail-in absentee voting meets the requirements described in this subsection with respect to an applicable Federal election, if the State— provides a no-excuse mail-in ballot to every registered voter who requests such a ballot (or, in the case of any State that does not register voters, to every individual who is eligible to vote and requests such a ballot); allows voters to request a mail-in ballot online; requires a signature for absentee ballots, allows voters to sign the ballot by providing a mark or signature stamp or by providing a signature with the use of an assistant because of age, disability, or other need; accepts and counts ballots received before the state’s certification deadline if the ballot— is postmarked by the date of the election; or includes an indication that it was mailed by the date of the election; provides a pre-paid and self-sealing return envelope for each ballot furnished by mail; beginning with the date that is 45 days before the date of the election and ending with the time that polls close on the date of the election, provides in-person, secured drop boxes; before discarding any absentee ballot for error or technicalities (including the failure to meet any signature matching requirement that is unrelated to voter qualification)— notifies the voter of any such defects; and provides the voter an opportunity to cure such defects that— is uniform among all voters in the State; and in the case of any error relating to a signature requirement, meets the requirements of paragraph (2); in the case of any voter with disabilities— provides the voter with access to Remote Access Vote By Mail (RAVBM) systems, ballot marking software, and screen reading software; and allows the voter to receive assistance from a person of their choosing to complete and submit a mail-in ballot; and ensures adequate support for language minority voters, including multilingual versions of vote-by-mail materials and language assistance services. The requirements of this paragraph relating to any defect described in paragraph (1)(G)(ii)(II) are the following: Except as provided in subparagraph (B), the voter shall be allowed to cure the defect through the same form of communication with respect to which the notice of such defect is provided. In any case in which a required signature is missing, the voter shall be provided an opportunity to provide such signature on a form provided by the State. Any determination of the validity of the ballot shall be made by a group of 2 or more election officials. The voter shall have the opportunity to appeal any rejection of the ballot based on the defect. The early in-person voting period described in this subsection with respect to an applicable Federal election is a period of at least 20 days. Such period must include at least 1 Saturday and 1 Sunday. For each day of early in-person voting during such period, polls must be open for a minimum of 10 hours, including hours before and after the standard work day. The requirement described in this subsection with respect to in person voting is met if the State establishes a plan to ensure that polling places are implementing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance relating to COVID-19 preparedness. Such plan must be finalized and approved by the State within 30 days of the date of enactment of this Act. At a minimum, a State plan established under this subsection must include a plan— to keep as many voting locations as possible open during the pandemic; to prepare polling locations to implement social distancing protocols in lines and at voting booths; to provide sufficient quantities of hygiene and cleaning supplies at polling locations; to increase the number of— paper ballots and provisional ballots (including the numbers of such ballots that are translated, multilingual, or in-language ballots) available at each polling place; and disposable ballot marking utensils available at each polling place; to provide masks and other personal protective equipment to poll workers; to provide additional compensation to poll workers during the pandemic; to increase the number of poll workers who can reliably staff voting locations; to provide training to poll workers on pandemic conditions and COVID-19 preparedness; and to educate voters on changes to procedures or voting opportunities during the pandemic. Any person aggrieved by a violation of paragraph
(1)or
(2)of subsection
(a)(relating to requirements for no-excuse mail-in absentee voting and early in-person voting period) may bring an action for all appropriate remedies, including injunctive relief and compensatory and punitive damages, in a Federal district court of competent jurisdiction. The Election Assistance Commission shall makes a payment to each State to carry out the requirements under this section. Such payments shall be made not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. The amount of payment made to a State under this subsection shall be the voting age population proportion amount described in subparagraph (B). The voting age population proportion amount described in this paragraph is the product of— the amount made available for payments under paragraph
(3)of this subsection; and the voting age population proportion for the State (as defined in clause (ii)). The term voting age population proportion means, with respect to any State, the amount equal to the quotient of— the voting age population of the State (as determined by the most recent American Community Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census); and the total voting age population of all States (as determined by the most recent American Community Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census). There are authorized to be appropriated to make payments under this subsection $2,500,000,000 for fiscal year 2020.