• by Jess Nelson , March 1, 2016

As voters in a dozen primary states take to the polls this Super Tuesday, the House Judiciary Committee is also expected to vote on the Email Privacy Act in March.

American voters across the Southern United States, New England and abroad hold their primary election today, with a total of 641 delegates available for Republican candidates and 1,034 available delegates available for Democratic candidates.

The majority of Super Tuesday primaries are proportional, meaning that delegates will be awarded based on the percentage of votes each candidate receives. A total of 1,237 delegates are needed for the Republican nomination, while 2,382 delegates are needed for the Democratic nomination.

This month also marks a key voting day for the Email Privacy Act, which is expected to appear before the House Judiciary Committee by the end of March.

The Email Privacy Act is aimed at closing a loophole in the 1986 Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), an outdated bill that has not kept up with modern technology.

A subpoena can currently force electronic communications providers such at Google or Facebook to turn over any consumer communication that is over 180 days old. Originally passed at a time when technology companies did not keep extensive records, the rise of cloud storage and Big Data has made the ECPA’s 180-day policy antiquated.

The Email Privacy Act would require a warrant to be obtained as opposed to a subpoena, which would require proof of probable cause and would be more difficult to obtain.

The Email Privacy Act was originally introduced in Congress last year, but was defeated. It was reintroduced this year by Representative Kevin Yoder (R-KS) and is supported by a majority of the House and has 308 co-sponsors, per The Hill.

That being said, very few bills over the past several years have made it through Congress’ partisan gridlock.