Title II — Provision of voter assistance to members of the Armed Forces

“1566b. Annual voter assistance

“(a) In general—The Secretary of Defense shall carry out the following activities:

“(1) In coordination with the Secretary of each military department—

“(A) affirmatively offer, on an annual basis, each member of the armed forces on active duty (other than active duty for training) the opportunity, through the online system developed under paragraph (2), to—

“(i) register to vote in an election for Federal office;

“(ii) update the member's voter registration information; or

“(iii) request an absentee ballot;

“(B) provide services to such members for the purpose of carrying out the activities in clauses (i), (ii), and (iii) of subparagraph (A); and

“(C) require any such member who declines the offer for voter assistance under subparagraph (A) to indicate and record that decision.

“(2) Implement an online system that, to the extent practicable, is integrated with the existing systems of each of the military departments and that—

“(A) provides an electronic means for carrying out the requirements of paragraph (1);

“(B) in the case of an individual registering to vote in a State that accepts electronic voter registration and operates its own electronic voter registration system using a form that meets the requirements for mail voter registration forms under section 9(b) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (42 U.S.C. 1973gg–7(b)), directs such individual to that system; and

“(C) in the case of an individual using the official postcard form prescribed under section 101(b)(2) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff(b)(2)) to register to vote and request an absentee ballot—

“(i) pre-populates such official postcard form with the personal information of such individual, and

“(ii)

“(I) produces the pre-populated form and a pre-addressed envelope for use in transmitting such official postcard form; or

“(II) transmits the completed official postcard form electronically to the appropriate State or local election officials.

“(3) Implement a system (either independently or in conjunction with the online system under paragraph (2)) by which any change of address by a member of the armed forces on active duty who is undergoing a permanent change of station, deploying overseas for at least six months, or returning from an overseas deployment of at least six months automatically triggers, through the Defense Enrollment and Eligibility Registration System or related systems, a notification via electronic means to such member that—

“(A) indicates that such member's voter registration or absentee mailing address should be updated with the appropriate State or local election officials; and

“(B) includes instructions on how to update such voter registration using the online system developed under paragraph (2).

“(b) Data collection—The online system developed under subsection (a)(2) shall collect and store all data required to meet the reporting requirements of section 201(b) of the Safeguarding Elections for our Nation's Troops through Reforms and Improvements (SENTRI) Act and section 105A(b)(2) of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (42 U.S.C. 1973ff–4a(b)(2)) in a manner that complies with section 552a of title 5, United States Code, (commonly known as the Privacy Act of 1974) and imposes no new record management burden on any military unit or military installation.

“(c) Timing of voter assistance—To the extent practicable, the voter assistance under subsection (a)(1) shall be offered as a part of each servicemember’s annual training.

“(d) Regulations—Not later than 1 year after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary of Defense shall prescribe regulations implementing the requirements of subsection (a). Such regulations shall include procedures to inform those members of the armed forces on active duty (other than active duty for training) experiencing a change of address about the benefits of this section and the timeframe for requesting an absentee ballot to ensure sufficient time for State delivery of the ballot.”