Congresswoman Grace Meng wants to bring the U.S. voting system “into the 21st century.”
Meng announced legislation that she said would “modernize and streamline” the voting process. The bill would also make Election Day a national holiday.
Called the “21st Century Voting Act” (H.R. 893), the legislation would create a Commission on Voting tasked with proposing legislation to accomplish these goals:
- Make Election Day a national holiday
- Initiate automatic voter registration
- Restore voting rights to formerly incarcerated persons
- Make voter registration portable
- Allow voting information, such as polling place and registration status, to be available online
- Strengthen and streamline voting cybersecurity procedures
- Provide additional federal resources to state and local election boards
- Establish a quadrennial review of voting in America
“It is way past time that Congress pass meaningful voting reform,” Meng said. “It is ridiculous that in this day and age such troublesome hurdles exist that restrict access to the ballot box.”
The Commission would be comprised of 15 members appointed, in equal number by: the President, the Senate Majority Leader, the Senate Minority Leader, the House Speaker, and the House Minority Leader.
H.R. 893 has been referring to the Committee on House Administration and the Committee on Rules.
“These commonsense reforms would allow every American the opportunity to participate in our electoral process, which is one of the hallmarks of our democracy,” Meng said. “We must finally overhaul our disparate and complicated voting systems.”
To see the full text of the bill, click here.