Homeless Voters Assistance Act

Prior to task force meetings, ALEC posts these legislative member-submitted draft model policies to our website. The draft model policies are then discussed, debated, and voted on by ALEC task force members. Policies that receive final approval by legislators on the ALEC Board of Directors become official ALEC model policy. Draft model policies that fail to become official ALEC model policy are removed from the website.

Policy Status

  • Type: Model Policy
  • Status: Draft
  • Date Introduced: July 23, 2026

Task Forces

  • Process and Procedures

    • Tags

  • 2026 Annual Meeting

    • Summary

    This model policy protects vulnerable but eligible voters in care facilities and homeless voters while reducing the risk of undue influence, ballot capture, and chain-of-custody failures. It draws on supervised absentee voting approaches used in some states for long-term care and similar facilities. 
    Draft

    Homeless Voters Assistance Act

    Section 1: Special Procedures for Vulnerable and Homeless Voters.  

    • (A) The State shall establish procedures to protect the voting rights of:  
      1. homeless individuals;  
      2. residents of medical or rehabilitation facilities and hospitals;  
      3. residents of group homes for persons with mental disabilities who have not been adjudicated mentally incapacitated; and  
      4. residents of facilities for elderly citizens.  
    • (B) The State shall not permit any person, group, or organization to exert undue influence over, or effectively capture the ballots of, mentally incapacitated individuals, residents of memory-care units, or other vulnerable voters.  
    • (C) The [Chief Election Official] shall establish a program of special voting deputies to deliver absentee ballots to residents of the facilities described in subsection (A). Each bipartisan or multipartisan team of special voting deputies shall:  
      1. deliver ballots to eligible residents and provide assistance and instructions without advising on candidate or ballot-measure choices;  
      2. review the photo identification or other eligibility documents required under state law for each voter;  
      3. observe the voter insert the completed ballot into a security envelope and deposit the envelope into a secure ballot container that may not be opened by team members; and  
      4. return the secured container to the election office.  
    • (D) Special voting deputies shall maintain chain of custody for each ballot issued and returned and shall complete a log documenting each step in the process.  
    • (E) Homeless voters may register and vote in person at an election office or designated government facility, but not at advocacy centers or homeless shelters.