BRENNAN CENTER FOR JUSTICE

B. Roundup of Legislative Developments
Bills placing new restrictions on voter registration groups have been proposed in at least seven
states—California (passed in both houses; awaiting governor’s action), Florida, Illinois (pending),
Mississippi (failed), Nevada (restrictions removed by amendment), New Mexico (failed), North
Carolina (pending), and Texas.
These bills have been signed into law in Florida and Texas. Florida and Texas stand out as two states
that have long histories of restricting voter registration drives, and the new laws passed in this session
will make both states further outliers in limiting this activity. Neither state had reported cases of
registration fraud linked to voter registration drives in the past election cycle, nor any other apparent
precipitating cause for the further regulations imposed by these bills.
C. What the Bills Say
Although the bills seeking to regulate voter registration drives vary in their content, there are several
recurring elements. Almost universally, these bills would require citizen registration groups to register
with the state before undertaking a voter registration drive. 169 They may also require special training
for volunteers; the use of special forms, disclosure, and reporting systems; or short deadlines for
the submission of voter registration forms. Violation of these rules, or registering voters outside the
mandated system, usually carries criminal or civil penalties. The legislation that succeeded this year is
described below.
Florida. Florida’s House Bill 1355, a mammoth 158-page omnibus bill, was signed by Governor Rick
Scott on May 19th. 170 The new law requires voter registration groups to pre-register with the state
before engaging in any voter registration activity, requires every volunteer or employee to sign a sworn
affidavit under penalty of perjury listing all criminal penalties for false registration, and mandates that
every registration form collected by a voter registration group be physically received by county officials
within 48 hours of signature or face strict civil penalties and fines. In order to comply with this tight
turnaround time, groups must write the precise date and time when an individual completes a voter
registration form on each registration form. The law also requires voter registration groups to place
their government-issued organizational code on each form they obtain from elections officials or receive
from a voter, to track the precise numbers of both state and federal voter registration forms that each
group obtains or collects, and to submit those figures in monthly electronic reports to the state.
Texas. Texas introduced a series of bills that would limit the ability of persons to register others to vote,
two of which were signed into law (H.B. 1570 and H.B. 2194). 171 H.B. 1570 requires that anyone who
registers voters first be deputized and attend a mandatory training; the law delegates the development
of the training to the Secretary of State, and explicitly permits an “exam” at the end of the training. 172
H.B. 2194 requires anyone registering others to be a Texas resident and qualified voter, and prohibits
performance-based compensation for anyone who is paid to register voters. 173
voting LAW CHANGES | 21