S.Amdt. 1948

SA 1948. Ms. KLOBUCHAR submitted an amendment intended to be proposed
by her to the bill S. 4049, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year
2021 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy,
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

At the end of subtitle H of title V, add the following:

SEC. 593. STUDY ON IMPROVEMENT OF ACCESS TO VOTING FOR
MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES OVERSEAS.

(a) Study Required.--The Director of the Federal Voting
Assistance Program of the Department of Defense shall conduct
a study on means of improving access to voting for members of
the Armed Forces overseas.
(b) Report.--Not later than September 30, 2022, the
Director shall submit to Congress a report on the results of
the study conducted under subsection (a). The report shall
include the following:
(1) The results of a survey, undertaken for purposes of the
study, of Voting Assistance Officers and members of the Armed
Forces overseas on means of improving access to voting for
such members, including through the establishment of unit-
level assistance mechanisms or permanent voting assistance
offices.
(2) An estimate of the costs and requirements in connection
with an expansion of the number of Voting Assistance Officers
in order to fully meet the needs of members of the Armed
Forces overseas for access to voting.
(3) A description and assessment of various actions to be
undertaken under the Federal Voting Assistance Program in
order to increase the capabilities of the Voting Assistance
Officer program.
(c) Funding.--Of the amount authorized to be appropriated
for fiscal year 2021 for the Department of Defense by section
301 and available for operation and maintenance, Defense-wide
activities, as specified in the funding table in section
4301, $1,300,000 may be available for the study required by
subsection (a).
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