H.R. 10802 — ASSURE Act

This section requires the heads of appropriate agencies to evaluate and report on methods to promote voter registration and participation, including by providing election information during public services, linking agency websites to state voter registration systems, distributing registration and vote-by-mail forms, expanding multilingual access, and issuing identity documents that satisfy state voter ID requirements. It directs submission of strategic plans to the President and Congress within 200 days, requires modernization of federal election websites for accessibility to individuals with disabilities and limited English proficiency, and authorizes United States Digital Service support for implementation.

This section requires federal agencies to agree, to the greatest extent practicable, to designation as voter registration agencies under the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 when requested by a state. It further directs agency heads to evaluate public-facing services and notify states where such services are provided of their willingness to accept designation, and to submit a written explanation to the President and Congress if they decline a request.

This section directs the Administrator of the General Services Administration to modernize and improve the user experience of Vote.gov in coordination with the Election Assistance Commission, other federal agencies, election administrators, civil rights and disability rights advocates, Tribal Nations, and nonprofit groups. It requires Vote.gov to meet the accessibility standards of sections 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act and to be translated into each language spoken by a language minority group under section 203 of the Voting Rights Act, and it requires submission of a strategic plan to the President and Congress within 200 days of enactment.

This section directs the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, within 200 days of enactment, to coordinate with executive agency heads and recommend to the President strategies to expand federal employee time off to vote in Federal, State, local, Tribal, and territorial elections, including early voting, and to better support employees volunteering as nonpartisan poll workers or observers during early or extended voting periods.

This section directs the National Institute of Standards and Technology to publish, within 270 days of enactment, steps to make Vote.gov accessible to people with disabilities and recommendations, developed with the Department of Justice, Election Assistance Commission, and other agencies, on barriers to private and independent voting for people with disabilities, including voter registration, voting technology, mail voting, polling locations, and poll worker training.

This section directs the Secretary of Defense to establish annual procedures offering each active-duty Armed Forces member the opportunity to register to vote in federal elections, update registration information, or request an absentee ballot, and to evaluate an online system for those services, both within 200 days of enactment. It also requires the Secretary, in coordination with the Department of State, Military Postal Service Agency, and United States Postal Service, to establish an end-to-end ballot tracking system for absentee ballots cast by absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters, with a strategic plan due within 200 days, and requires each federal agency with overseas employees to designate a staff member to coordinate voter registration and voting services with the Federal Voting Assistance Program.

This section directs the Attorney General to establish procedures that provide voter registration and voting educational materials to all eligible individuals in Federal Bureau of Prisons custody, incorporate the materials into reentry planning, and notify each person of any state-law voting restrictions and the date they end. It further requires the inclusion of similar educational and mail-voting facilitation requirements in U.S. Marshals Service jail contracts and coordination with the Probation and Pretrial Services Office to deliver the same materials and assistance to supervised individuals, while supporting formerly incarcerated persons in obtaining state-compliant voter identification.

This section establishes an Interagency Steering Group on Native American Voting Rights, chaired by the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and including the Attorney General and the Secretaries of the Interior, Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Veterans Affairs. The group must consult with Tribal Nations and Native leaders, issue a public report within one year on best practices and recommendations for protecting voting rights in seven specified areas, receive administrative support from the Department of the Interior, and terminate the day after the report is released.

This section requires the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to permit covered nonprofit organizations to provide voter registration applications and general voting information to new citizens at administrative naturalization ceremonies.

This section defines "agency" for purposes of the Act as any agency under 44 U.S.C. 3502, excluding independent regulatory agencies. It also defines "covered nonprofit organization" as a tax-exempt entity under section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code that commits to refrain from any political activity at administrative naturalization ceremonies or while providing voter registration services on agency premises.