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The Open Our Democracy Act is a bill introduced in the
United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...
by U.S. Representative John Delaney. The bill would establish
Election Day Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...
as a
federal holiday Federal holidays in the United States are the eleven calendar dates that are designated by the U.S. government as holidays. On U.S. federal holidays, non-essential federal government offices are closed and federal government employees are paid ...
, mandate
open Open or OPEN may refer to: Music * Open (band), Australian pop/rock band * The Open (band), English indie rock band * Open (Blues Image album), ''Open'' (Blues Image album), 1969 * Open (Gotthard album), ''Open'' (Gotthard album), 1999 * Open (C ...
and top-two
primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...
s so that all eligible voters can participate in them, and end
gerrymandering In representative democracies, gerrymandering (, originally ) is the political manipulation of electoral district boundaries with the intent to create undue advantage for a party, group, or socioeconomic class within the constituency. The m ...
by requiring independent commissions to draw the districts in each state.


History

The bill has been cosponsored by House representatives
John Yarmuth John Allan Yarmuth ( ; born November 4, 1947) is an American politician and former newspaper editor serving as the U.S. representative for since 2007. His district encompasses the vast majority of the Louisville Metro Area. Since 2013, he has b ...
,
Derek Kilmer Derek Christian Kilmer (born January 1, 1974) is an American politician who has been the U.S. representative for Washington's 6th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the Washington Hous ...
,
Jared Polis Jared Schutz Polis (; born May 12, 1975) is an American politician, entrepreneur, businessman, and philanthropist, serving as the 43rd governor of Colorado since January 2019. He served one term on the Colorado State Board of Education from 20 ...
, and Scott Peters. The most recently documented action on it was a review by the United States House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution and Civil Justice. It has not yet been voted on or gone on the House Calendar. Delaney submitted the current version of the bill on July 21, 2017, in the
115th Congress The 115th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C., from January 3, 2017, to January ...
. Delaney had previously proposed two similar bills, one in 2015 (H.R. 2655 of the
114th Congress The 114th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States of America federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from Ja ...
), and another 2014 (H.R. 5334 of the
113th Congress The 113th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, from January 3, 2013, to January 3, 2015, during the fifth and sixth years of Barack Obama's presidency. It was composed of the ...
). In both cases, the House did not bring the bill to a vote.


See also

*
Electoral reform in the United States Electoral reform in the United States refers to efforts to change American elections and the electoral system used in the United States. Most elections in the U.S. select one person; elections with multiple candidates selected by proportion ...
*
Redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral distri ...
*
United States congressional apportionment United States congressional apportionment is the process by which seats in the United States House of Representatives are distributed among the 50 states according to the most recent decennial census mandated by the United States Constitution ...


References

{{Reflist, 30em


External links


Full text of the bill


- Washington Post Proposed legislation of the 113th United States Congress Proposed legislation of the 114th United States Congress Proposed legislation of the 115th United States Congress United States proposed federal government administration legislation Electoral reform in the United States