Sec. 3. Preventing unreasonable voter waiting times
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Title III of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( 52 U.S.C. 20901 et seq.) is amended— by redesignating sections 304 and 305 as sections 305 and 306; and by inserting after section 303 the following new section: Not later than 60 days before each election for Federal office, each State shall make public (including through the website of the State on which election information is normally published) and submit to the Commission a written plan which meets the public notice and comment requirements of paragraph
(2)and describes the measures it is implementing to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, an equitable waiting time for all voters in the State, and a waiting time of less than 30 minutes at any polling place in the election. The public notice and comment requirements of this paragraph are met if— not later than 30 days prior to the submission of the plan to the Commission, the State made a preliminary version of the plan available for public inspection and comment; the State publishes notice that the preliminary version of the plan is so available; and the State took the public comments made regarding the preliminary version of the plan into account in preparing the plan which was submitted to the Commission under paragraph (1). Each State shall ensure that no person voting in an election for Federal office shall wait for more than 30 minutes at any polling place for purposes of casting a vote in such election. After each election for Federal office, the Commission shall review voter waiting times for each jurisdiction for which voting in such election took place and make publicly available a report on its findings. Notwithstanding section 209, each jurisdiction for which the Commission, after the review conducted under paragraph (1), determines that a substantial number of voters waited more than 60 minutes to cast a vote, or in which there were substantial violations of the standards established under section 299, shall comply with a State remedial plan established by the Commission to provide for the effective allocation of resources to administer elections for Federal office held in the State and to reduce the waiting time of voters. Each remedial plan established by the Commission shall provide for coordination between the Commission, the Attorney General, and the State involved to monitor the compliance of the State with the remedial plan during the period leading up to the election and on the date of the election and to respond to serious delays in the ability of voters to cast their ballots at polling places. A jurisdiction shall not be required to comply with a State remedial plan required under subparagraph
(A)if the Commission determines that the voter waiting times were less than 60 minutes for 2 consecutive regularly scheduled general elections for Federal office. For purposes of this subsection, the term jurisdiction has the meaning given the term registrar's jurisdiction in section 8(j) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 ( 42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6(j) ). Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Commission shall establish standards for conducting the review under paragraph
(1)and for establishing remedial plans under paragraph (2)(A). In addition to other amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Commission, there are authorized to be appropriated for each of the fiscal years 2021 through 2031, $5,000,000 for each such year for the Commission to carry out this subsection. In the event of a failure of voting equipment or other circumstance at a polling place that causes an unreasonable delay, any individual who is waiting at the polling place to cast a ballot in an election for Federal office at the time of the failure shall be advised immediately of the individual's right to use an emergency paper ballot, and upon request shall be provided with such an emergency paper ballot for the election and the supplies necessary to mark the ballot. Any emergency paper ballot provided under paragraph
(1)shall— include the names of each candidate for each Federal office for which voting occurs at such polling place; and be available in each language for which other ballots provided at the polling place are available. Any emergency paper ballot which is cast by an individual under this subsection shall be counted in the same manner as a regular ballot, unless the individual casting the ballot would have otherwise been required to cast a provisional ballot in the absence of the delay, in which case that ballot shall be treated in the same manner as a provisional ballot. . Title IV of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 ( 52 U.S.C. 21111 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following new section: In the case of a violation of section 304(b), section 402 shall not apply and any person who is aggrieved by such violation may commence a civil action in any appropriate district court of the United States for relief. In any civil action commenced under subsection (a): If the court finds a violation of section 304(a), the court shall assess a civil penalty equal to the sum of— $50; plus an additional $50 for each additional hour the person waited at the polling place to cast a vote. If the court determines that the violation was due to an intentional action to suppress votes or was made with reckless disregard of the requirements of section 304— paragraph (1)(A) shall be applied by substituting $650 for $50 ; and paragraph (1)(B) shall be applied by substituting $150 for $50 . . Section 202 of such Act ( 52 U.S.C. 20922 ) is amended— by redesignating paragraphs
(5)and
(6)as paragraphs
(6)and (7), respectively; and by inserting after paragraph
(4)the following new paragraph: carrying out the duties described in section 304(c); . The table of contents of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 is amended— by redesignating the items relating to sections 304 and 305 as relating to sections 305 and 306, and by inserting after the item relating to section 303 the following new item: Sec. 304. Unreasonable voter waiting times. ; and by inserting after the item relating to section 402 the following new item: Sec. 403. Private right of action for unreasonable voter waiting time. . The amendments made by this section shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.
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- 42 USC 1973gg–6(j)
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Sec. 3
Preventing unreasonable voter waiting times
Cite42 USC 1973gg–6(j)
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