The D.C. Council on Tuesday pushed forward two bills that could make it easier for residents in the District of Columbia to vote. The bills passed through committee and will now be referred to a council wide vote.

The Paid Leave to Vote Amendment Act, introduced by Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh in June 2019, would grant two hours of leave from employment or school to give residents time to vote. The bill would especially benefit residents in lower-income communities who can’t take time off work to vote, preventing them from fully participating in the election process.

“Voting should not be a luxury only to those who can afford it,”  Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen said at Tuesday’s meeting of the Committee of the Judiciary and Public Safety. “Paid leave to vote removes the choice some voters must make between their livelihoods and exercising their fundamental right to vote.”

The bill would make it illegal “for any employer to interfere with, restrain, or deny any attempt to exercise the right to take leave … or to discriminate against a qualified elector in any manner for taking leave.” It would be up to employers to determine which part of Election Day and early voting periods could be used for the paid leave.

Cheh introduced similar legislation  in 2018, but it didn’t pass through committee.

Another bill, the Improving Voter Registration for New Tenants and Homeowners Amendment Act, would require that the Board of Elections create a voter registration packet to be given to every D.C. tenant when they sign a new lease or buy a home. Under the bill—introduced by Allen, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, At-large Councilmembers Anita Bonds and Robert White, and (former) member Jack Evans—the D.C. Housing Authority and other government-funded housing programs would be required to make voter registration information easily available to renters and buyers.

The informational packets would include: a voter registration application; information on how to register online, update a home address, and the voting rights of returning citizens; dates for the next election; polling place locations; names and positions of current elected officials; and how to search for a person’s councilmember and ANC commissioner based on the ward where they reside.

Both of these bills will be voted on by the Committee of the Whole next Tuesday, March 4. Given their broad support at the time of introduction, both are likely to pass. After next week’s vote, the council must vote on the bills a second time before they are sent to the mayor for signature.

The two bills that moved forward on Tuesday aren’t the only pieces of legislation focused on voting currently under review. At-large Councilmember David Grosso introduced legislation last year to create ranked choice voting. He hopes to put an end to elections in which “victors emerge from a crowded field with far less than a majority of the vote,” he wrote in a statement. Also called instant runoff voting, the new measure would allow voters to rank the choices on their ballots in order of preference.

Other voting bills currently under consideration would more substantially alter election processes. One bill would enfranchise permanent District residents who aren’t yet U.S. citizens. It’s a reintroduction of a bill from Grosso that allows “legal permanent residents who use our streets, send their children to our schools, and pay taxes just like any other resident,” the right to vote in local elections, he said in an October release. They “deserve a voice in our democracy.”

A similar bill faced harsh pushback in New York’s city council earlier this year.

Another D.C. bill, co-introduced by Councilmembers Grosso, Nadeau, and White in October, would create a two-branch legislature—forming a nine-seat Senate and a 27-member House of Representatives. The bill would also create a ninth election ward.

In June, the council introduced a pair of bills that would permit incarcerated felons to vote while serving sentences.

As for the bills that passed through the Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety on Tuesday, Councilmember Allen said the new bills will continue the District’s efforts to “increase voter registration and turnout, particularly among young people and historically disenfranchised communities.”

This article was updated to reflect that Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh introduced the Paid Leave to Vote Amendment Act.