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No One Can Take Away Your Right to Vote Act of 2016

H.R. 5352 · 114th Congress · May 26, 2016 · Lineage

A BILL

To amend the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 to prohibit States from disqualifying individuals convicted of criminal offenses, other than individuals convicted of murder, manslaughter, or sex crimes, from registering to vote or voting in elections for Federal office.

Section 1 Short title

This Act may be cited as the “No One Can Take Away Your Right to Vote Act of 2016”.

Sec. 2 Prohibiting disqualification of individuals convicted of certain criminal offenses from registering to vote or voting in Federal elections

(a)
Prohibiting States from disqualifying individuals from registering To vote or voting— Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507) is amended—
(1)
by redesignating subsection (j) as subsection (k); and
(2)
by inserting after subsection (i) the following new subsection:

“(j) Prohibiting disqualification of individuals convicted of certain criminal offenses from registering To vote or voting in elections for Federal office

“(1) Prohibition—Except as provided in paragraph (2), a State may not disqualify an individual who is not incarcerated from registering to vote or voting in an election for Federal office held in the State on the grounds that the individual is convicted of a criminal offense, or is on probation or parole related to such an offense.

“(2) Exception for certain offenses—Paragraph (1) does not apply to the criminal offenses of murder or manslaughter, or to any sex crime, as such offenses and crimes are defined under the laws of the State involved.”

(b)
Conforming amendment relating to procedures for removal of individuals from official list of eligible voters— Section 8(a)(3)(B) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 20507(a)(3)(B)) is amended by striking “by reason of criminal conviction” and inserting “by reason of conviction of a criminal offense or crime described in subsection (j)(2)”.

Sec. 3 Effective date

The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on the date of the enactment of this Act.