Foundation analysis · Human Rights Strengthening
Foundation draft · Not enacted law
An integrated statutory and constitutional-renewal package establishing minimum national standards for election access, security, integrity, transparency, equal participation, voting-rights protections, and democratic renewal.
Federal Election Access, Security, Integrity, and Democratic Renewal Package
Congressional submission packet · 12,427 words · 9 titles + constitutional amendment
Foundation model docket. Identifiers and proposed referrals are internal and are not official congressional or legislative assignments.
A guide to this proposal
The act treats voting as rights infrastructure: national voting day, paid voting leave, automatic and same-day registration, mail and early voting access, disability and language access, truthful election information, cyber resilience, auditable paper records, redistricting reforms, ranked-choice voting, and anti-corruption safeguards.
Analysis is commentary. Model text is a proposal. Fiscal scenarios, where provided, are illustrative.
Foundation Analysis
The packet deliberately separates ordinary statutory reforms from age limits and national presidential and State election changes that require a constitutional amendment.
In plain language: The act treats voting as rights infrastructure: national voting day, paid voting leave, automatic and same-day registration, mail and early voting access, disability and language access, truthful election information, cyber resilience, auditable paper records, redistricting reforms, ranked-choice voting, and anti-corruption safeguards.
The draft treats access and security as reinforcing goals: national voting standards, registration, early and mail voting, disability and language access, paper records, audits, cybersecurity, campaign-finance safeguards, and preclearance sit in one framework.
Implementation depends on interoperable citizenship verification, Election Assistance Commission and State capacity, paper and audit upgrades, paid-leave administration, ranked-choice voting systems, cybersecurity support, and a workable grant program.
The preclearance formula, rules for digital election communications, and restrictions affecting outside political groups require close voting-rights and First Amendment review. Separating amendment-dependent changes from ordinary legislation is a disciplined risk-reducing choice.
The packet does not provide a comprehensive official score. Election-system grants, paper upgrades, paid-leave administration, cybersecurity, audits, enforcement, and public-financing provisions require CBO and agency estimates grounded in State implementation assumptions.
the package combines a strong rights-and-security architecture with a disciplined constitutional split. It still needs conforming United States Code amendments, a funding schedule, operational verification specifications, and current voting-rights and First Amendment review.
Model legislation for policy development; not enacted law or legal advice. Analysis reflects the supplied July 2026 packet and should be refreshed against current law before legislative use.
Full Text
Read the legislation.
LEGISLATIVE SUBMISSION PACKET
Federal Election Access, Security, Integrity, and Democratic Renewal Package
| Package | American Vote Act; American Democratic Renewal Amendment |
|---|---|
| Draft sponsor | [Insert sponsor] |
| Congress | 119th Congress |
| Committee referral | House Administration; Judiciary; Homeland Security; Energy and Commerce; Education and the Workforce; Oversight and Government Reform; Financial Services; Ways and Means; Appropriations. |
| Filing date | [Insert filing date] |
| Submission contents | Drafting overview; H.R. statutory instrument; conditional implementation title; H.J. Res. companion amendment; quality-check memorandum. |
To establish minimum national standards of access, security, integrity, transparency, and equal participation in elections for Federal office; to expand voting-rights protections; to require ranked-choice voting in congressional general and special elections; to protect voters from intimidation, deception, cyber threats, and foreign influence; and for other purposes.
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to authorize uniform national minimum standards, including ranked-choice voting, for Presidential and State elections, and to establish maximum age qualifications for certain Federal offices.
Prepared as a congressional submission packet from the attached draft. Bracketed metadata fields remain for filing-specific completion.
The access, verification, and security provisions below are built on current official frameworks: USCIS now states that SAVE can verify citizenship for naturalized, acquired, and U.S.-born citizens; USCIS and vote.gov already provide voter-registration pathways for new citizens; and EAC, NIST, CISA, DOJ, FTC, FCC, and FEC materials support the bill’s emphasis on paper records, auditable systems, cyber incident reporting, deception safeguards, AI-voice restrictions, and sponsor transparency. Recent polling also shows broad public support for early voting, automatic registration, same-day registration, paper backups, and making Election Day a holiday. The campaign-finance title uses neutral, objective rules for any foreign-influenced political committee rather than naming any one organization, because existing federal law already bans foreign-national election spending and a one-off named penalty would be more vulnerable to abuse and litigation.
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. __
To establish minimum national standards of access, security, integrity, transparency, and equal participation in elections for Federal office; to expand voting-rights protections; to require ranked-choice voting in congressional general and special elections; to protect voters from intimidation, deception, cyber threats, and foreign influence; and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
[Date]
Mr./Ms. ______ introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, Homeland Security, Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce, Oversight and Government Reform, Financial Services, Ways and Means, and Appropriations, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
A BILL
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
This Act may be cited as the “American Vote Act”.
The table of contents for this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Table of contents.
Sec. 3. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 4. Constitutional authority.
Sec. 5. Definitions.
Sec. 101. Election Day as legal public holiday.
Sec. 102. Paid voting leave for private-sector employees.
Sec. 103. Essential operations; Federal contractor compliance.
Sec. 104. Automatic voter registration.
Sec. 105. Online voter registration.
Sec. 106. Same-day registration and correction.
Sec. 107. Portable registration and interstate updates.
Sec. 108. Voter registration at naturalization ceremonies.
Sec. 109. Federal Citizenship Verification Interface.
Sec. 110. Non-burdensome proof of citizenship for Federal elections.
Sec. 111. List maintenance, quiet period, and anti-purge protections.
Sec. 112. Preregistration of 16- and 17-year-olds.
Sec. 113. Privacy and data minimization.
Sec. 201. Early voting.
Sec. 202. No-excuse mail voting.
Sec. 203. Ballot tracking, prepaid postage, secure drop boxes, and ballot-return assistance.
Sec. 204. Timely receipt, preprocessing, signature review, and cure.
Sec. 205. Provisional and fail-safe ballots.
Sec. 206. Accessibility for voters with disabilities.
Sec. 207. Language access and plain-language election materials.
Sec. 208. Tribal, rural, campus, and unhoused voter access.
Sec. 209. Polling-place allocation and line-management standards.
Sec. 210. Training of election workers.
Sec. 301. Nonpartisan civic participation program.
Sec. 302. Deceptive practices and voter-suppression communications.
Sec. 303. Corrective notice and emergency relief.
Sec. 304. Synthetic-media disclosure and materially deceptive synthetic media.
Sec. 305. Paid digital political advertising disclaimers, public files, and sensitive-targeting limits.
Sec. 306. Foreign-influence safeguards and inauthentic amplification.
Sec. 307. AI-generated robocalls, texts, and impersonation.
Sec. 308. Ethical voter-engagement standards for federally supported outreach.
Sec. 309. Rules of construction and First Amendment protections.
Sec. 401. Paper ballots and voter-verifiable paper records.
Sec. 402. Isolation of voting systems from the internet.
Sec. 403. Mandatory Federal security baseline for voting systems used in Federal elections.
Sec. 404. Vendor, software, and supply-chain security obligations.
Sec. 405. Cyber incident reporting.
Sec. 406. Continuity of operations and contingency planning.
Sec. 407. Risk-limiting audits.
Sec. 408. Recounts, public reporting, and chain of custody.
Sec. 409. Pilot program for secure remote ballot return.
Sec. 410. Protection of election workers and facilities.
Sec. 411. Official election information portals.
Sec. 412. Neutral administration of private support.
Sec. 413. Security and resilience grants.
Sec. 501. Requirement of ranked-choice voting in congressional general and special elections.
Sec. 502. Ballot format and voter instructions.
Sec. 503. Tabulation rules.
Sec. 504. Recounts, audits, and reporting.
Sec. 505. Minority voting-rights and language-access review.
Sec. 506. Implementation schedule and transition grants.
Sec. 507. State option grants for additional ranked-choice adoption.
Sec. 601. Relation to the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
Sec. 602. Small-donor public financing option.
Sec. 603. Real-time disclosure.
Sec. 604. True-source and beneficial-ownership disclosure.
Sec. 605. Foreign-influenced political committees and covered entities.
Sec. 606. Suspension, divestiture, dissolution, and wind-down procedures.
Sec. 607. Coordination and common-vendor rules.
Sec. 608. Candidate and officeholder separation from outside groups; leadership PAC reform.
Sec. 609. Bundling, contractor, and foreign-agent transparency.
Sec. 610. Digital ad purchaser verification.
Sec. 611. Enforcement and penalties.
Sec. 612. Federal Election Commission modernization.
Sec. 701. Modernized preclearance coverage formula.
Sec. 702. Practice-based preclearance for covered changes.
Sec. 703. Nationwide notice of election changes.
Sec. 704. Assistance rights.
Sec. 705. Anti-intimidation and anti-harassment protections.
Sec. 706. Standards for preliminary relief and expedited review.
Sec. 707. Private right of action and attorney’s fees.
Sec. 708. Data collection and public reporting.
Sec. 801. Election Assistance Commission modernization.
Sec. 802. Interagency Election Access and Security Council.
Sec. 803. Formula grants and authorized appropriations.
Sec. 804. Restrictions on use of funds.
Sec. 805. Data privacy, civil rights, and nondiscrimination.
Sec. 806. Whistleblower protections.
Sec. 807. Enforcement.
Sec. 808. Preemption; Federal floor, not ceiling.
Sec. 809. Severability.
Sec. 810. Effective dates.
Sec. 901. Condition precedent.
Sec. 911. Ranked-choice voting for appointment of Presidential electors.
Sec. 912. Ranked-choice voting for State executive, legislative, and judicial elections.
Sec. 913. Ballot-access and certification procedures for age qualifications.
Sec. 914. Judicial and executive transition rules.
(a) Findings.—Congress finds the following:
(1) The legitimacy of representative government depends upon the ability of qualified citizens to register, vote, receive truthful information about the voting process, and have lawfully cast ballots counted accurately.
(2) Elections for Federal office must be accessible, secure, auditable, transparent, neutral, and resistant to fraud, intimidation, cyber intrusion, foreign interference, and deceptive practices.
(3) Citizenship verification in Federal elections shall be accurate and secure, but shall not be administered through unnecessary documentary burdens when authoritative government records, sworn attestations under penalty of perjury, and prompt cure procedures are available.
(4) Modern election administration requires paper records, cyber resilience, transparent chain-of-custody rules, timely public notice of changes, disability access, language access, and remedies proportionate to proven risk.
(5) Voting-rights protections must be enforced under objective, neutral standards that do not advantage or disadvantage any political party, ideology, candidate, or region for partisan gain.
(b) Purposes.—The purposes of this Act are—
(1) to establish a national Federal floor for access, integrity, and equal participation in elections for Federal office;
(2) to modernize voter registration, automatic registration, same-day registration, and citizenship verification without undue burden;
(3) to guarantee early voting, no-excuse mail voting, ballot tracking, ballot cure, disability access, language access, and meaningful time to vote;
(4) to prevent deceptive election communications, materially deceptive synthetic media, undisclosed foreign digital influence, and coercive or manipulative voter-suppression tactics;
(5) to require auditable paper ballots, cyber hygiene, vendor accountability, mandatory incident reporting, and risk-limiting audits;
(6) to require ranked-choice voting in congressional general and special elections;
(7) to modernize voting-rights protections, including preclearance for demonstrated contemporary risks; and
(8) to provide adequate funding, independent administration, and enforceable safeguards against partisan abuse.
This Act is enacted pursuant to the powers granted to Congress by article I, section 4, article I, section 8, and the Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution of the United States; the Enforcement Clauses of the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-Fourth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments; the power to regulate interstate commerce; the spending power; and all other powers vested in Congress to protect the right to vote, to secure elections for Federal office, and to prevent discrimination, intimidation, corruption, and foreign influence in such elections.
In this Act:
(1) Authoritative government record means a record maintained by a Federal, State, Tribal, territorial, or local governmental entity that is ordinarily relied upon to establish identity, residence, citizenship, age, death, or eligibility.
(2) Appropriate State election official means the chief State election official designated under section 10 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002, or another State or local official designated by State law to perform the relevant function.
(3) Covered digital platform means an internet website, application, social network, search engine, ad exchange, video-sharing service, streaming platform, or comparable digital service that, during the preceding 12 months, had not fewer than 25,000,000 unique monthly users in the United States and sells, places, or displays paid public communications relating to elections.
(4) Covered public election communication means a public communication disseminated by broadcast, cable, satellite, radio, print, mail, text, robocall, internet platform, or other mass-distribution channel for a fee and relating to a candidate for Federal office, voting procedures, voter registration, ballot return, ballot cure, polling locations, vote counting, certification, or the administration of an election for Federal office.
(5) Election for Federal office means any primary, runoff, general, or special election for President, Vice President, Presidential electors, Senator, Representative in, Delegate to, or Resident Commissioner to the Congress, except that title V applies only as expressly provided.
(6) Election worker means any election administrator, poll worker, election judge, canvasser, ballot-board member, tabulator, observer lawfully present, contractor, or volunteer performing duties in connection with an election.
(7) Federal Citizenship Verification Interface means the secure interagency verification interface established by section 109.
(8) Mail ballot means any absentee, vote-by-mail, or mailed ballot issued to a voter.
(9) Ranked-choice voting means a voting method in which voters may rank candidates in order of preference and votes are tabulated in rounds under title V or title IX.
(10) Secure drop box means a ballot-receipt receptacle meeting the security standards of section 203.
(11) State includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to the extent such jurisdiction conducts a covered election.
(12) Synthetic media means audio, image, video, or multimedia content generated or materially altered by artificial intelligence, machine learning, or similar means so as to depict a real or apparently real person, event, or statement in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to believe the content to be authentic.
(13) Unitary voter registration system means a single voter-registration record used by a State for Federal and non-Federal elections.
(14) Voter-verifiable paper record means a durable paper ballot or paper record that the voter can inspect before casting and that constitutes the official ballot of record for recounts and audits.
(a) In General.—Section 6103(a) of title 5, United States Code, is amended by inserting after “Columbus Day, the second Monday in October;” the following: “Election Day, the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November in each even-numbered year;”.
(b) Construction.—Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude a State or employer from providing broader paid leave or a broader holiday observance.
(a) Each employer subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 shall provide each employee, with respect to each Election Day designated under section 101, either—
(1) the entire Election Day as paid leave; or
(2) at the election of the employee, not fewer than 4 consecutive hours of paid leave during the time polls are open on Election Day or during the early-voting period established under section 201.
(b) An employer may not require the use of vacation, sick leave, personal leave, or unpaid leave to satisfy subsection (a).
(c) An employee may elect whether to use leave under subsection (a) on Election Day or during the early-voting period, except that an employer engaged in essential operations under section 103 may designate a reasonable alternative time that does not materially burden the employee’s ability to vote.
(d) An employer may require reasonable advance notice, not to exceed 7 calendar days, unless the need for leave could not reasonably have been foreseen.
(e) An employer may not discharge, discipline, intimidate, threaten, reduce hours, change shifts punitively, or otherwise retaliate against an employee for requesting or using leave under this section.
(f) The Secretary of Labor shall enforce this section in the same manner as sections 6, 7, 15, 16, and 17 of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
(a) Not later than 180 days after enactment, the Secretary of Labor shall define essential operations for purposes of section 102 and shall require that employees in such operations receive a meaningful and non-burdensome opportunity for paid voting leave.
(b) Every contract entered into by an executive agency after the effective date of this title shall require the contractor to comply with section 102.
(c) Nothing in this title shall be construed to limit rights under a collective bargaining agreement or State law that provide equal or greater leave.
(a) Not later than 18 months after enactment, each State shall establish an automatic voter registration system for elections for Federal office under which each eligible individual interacting with a motor vehicle authority or designated voter registration agency shall be registered to vote or have registration updated unless the individual affirmatively declines.
(b) Designated voter registration agencies shall include—
(1) motor vehicle authorities;
(2) public assistance agencies;
(3) agencies administering disability services, Medicaid, or unemployment compensation;
(4) State institutions of higher education that enroll students in person;
(5) State veterans’ service offices; and
(6) naturalization ceremonies and offices participating under section 108.
(c) A State may designate additional agencies.
(d) Automatic voter registration shall—
(1) operate on an opt-out basis;
(2) be offered in accessible formats and in the languages required by title II and title VII;
(3) transmit data securely and promptly to the appropriate State election official;
(4) not register a person as affiliated with a political party unless the person affirmatively elects such affiliation; and
(5) provide a receipt confirming registration, update, or declination.
(e) Where citizenship or other eligibility cannot be conclusively verified at the point of agency transaction, the State shall create a pending Federal registration record and complete verification through section 109 or through the procedures under section 110 without imposing a documentary burden not required by this Act.
(a) Each State shall maintain a secure public online voter registration and voter-update portal for elections for Federal office.
(b) Such portal shall permit an eligible applicant to—
(1) register to vote;
(2) update name, address, email, telephone number, party affiliation where relevant, language preference, and accessibility needs; and
(3) track the status of the application.
(c) Online registration shall accept electronic signatures from motor vehicle records, other authoritative government records, or an electronic signature executed under penalty of perjury.
(d) No State shall reject an online registration solely because an applicant lacks a State motor vehicle record if the applicant otherwise provides sufficient information for verification.
(a) Each State shall permit any eligible individual to register to vote or correct an existing voter record on Election Day and throughout the early-voting period for elections for Federal office.
(b) A voter who registers or corrects a record under this section shall be permitted to cast a regular ballot if eligibility can be verified through authoritative records or sworn attestation under penalty of perjury. If immediate verification is not available, the voter shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot subject to the cure procedures of sections 110 and 205.
(c) A voter who appears at the wrong precinct within the correct county or unit of election administration shall be permitted to update the voter’s address and cast a ballot counting for all Federal races for which the voter is eligible.
(a) Each State shall treat a change of address submitted to a motor vehicle authority or designated registration agency as an update to the voter’s Federal registration unless the individual declines.
(b) The Election Assistance Commission shall establish a secure interstate voter update exchange for the limited purposes of—
(1) updating addresses;
(2) identifying duplicate active registrations;
(3) identifying reliable death information; and
(4) improving list accuracy in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner.
(c) No person shall be removed from the rolls solely because of an interstate match unless the match is supported by multiple reliable data points and the notice-and-cure procedures of section 111 are satisfied.
(a) At each administrative or judicial naturalization ceremony conducted within the United States, USCIS and any participating State election official shall provide an opportunity for newly naturalized citizens to register to vote for elections for Federal office.
(b) Except where the new citizen declines, USCIS shall transmit to the appropriate State election official, within 24 hours after administration of the oath of allegiance, the individual’s name, address, date of birth, digital signature where available, and confirmation of naturalization.
(c) Registration under this section shall take effect upon receipt by the State, subject only to ordinary residence-based assignment and any other eligibility requirement applicable under Federal law.
(d) No fee may be charged for registration under this section.
(a) The Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through USCIS, in coordination with the Commissioner of Social Security, the Secretary of State, and the Election Assistance Commission, shall establish a secure Federal Citizenship Verification Interface to permit States to verify, for elections for Federal office, whether an applicant is—
(1) a citizen by birth;
(2) a naturalized citizen;
(3) a citizen by acquisition or derivation; or
(4) not verifiable on the basis of presently available authoritative records.
(b) The Interface shall, to the maximum extent practicable, allow verification through existing authoritative datasets, including naturalization records, passport records, vital records available through participating jurisdictions, and other government records lawfully available for citizenship verification.
(c) Queries under this section shall be limited to voter registration, list maintenance, provisional-ballot resolution, election-administration auditing, or investigations authorized by court order relating to election crimes.
(d) Information obtained through this section may not be disclosed or used for civil immigration enforcement unrelated to election administration or election crimes.
(e) States shall receive technical assistance and reimbursement for reasonable implementation costs.
(a) No State shall require documentary proof of citizenship as a condition of registration or voting in an election for Federal office where citizenship can be verified through section 109 or other authoritative government records.
(b) Where such verification is unavailable or inconclusive, a State shall accept any of the following, singly or in combination, as sufficient evidence of citizenship:
(1) a United States passport;
(2) a State-certified birth certificate;
(3) a certificate of naturalization or certificate of citizenship;
(4) documentation of birth abroad establishing acquisition or derivation of citizenship;
(5) a Tribal citizenship or membership document recognized by Federal law; or
(6) a sworn attestation, executed under penalty of perjury, together with any corroborating information reasonably available to the applicant.
(c) No person shall be denied registration or a regular ballot solely because of a database mismatch, missing hyphen, clerical error, or incomplete government record without—
(1) prompt written and electronic notice where available;
(2) an explanation of the reason for the discrepancy;
(3) a meaningful opportunity to cure the discrepancy; and
(4) human review by a trained election official.
(d) A voter whose citizenship cannot be fully verified before the close of polls shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot, which shall be counted if the voter cures the issue not later than the tenth day after the election.
(e) A knowing false attestation under this section shall be punishable under applicable Federal and State law.
(f) No fee shall be imposed on an applicant to cure or prove citizenship for purposes of this Act.
(a) Any program of voter list maintenance used in connection with elections for Federal office shall be uniform, nondiscriminatory, transparent, and based on reliable evidence.
(b) No State shall conduct a systematic removal program during the 90-day period before an election for Federal office, except removals—
(1) at the voter’s written request;
(2) based on reliable death records;
(3) based on a final adjudication of ineligibility;
(4) because the voter has registered in another State and the match is supported by multiple reliable data points; or
(5) because the voter has moved out of jurisdiction and has confirmed the move in writing.
(c) No voter shall be removed solely for failure to vote.
(d) Before any removal based on change of residence, citizenship dispute, or duplicate registration, the State shall provide notice and a meaningful opportunity to contest or cure.
(e) Each State shall publish, on a quarterly basis, aggregate data concerning removals, pending removals, and the reasons therefor.
Each State shall permit an individual who is at least 16 years of age and otherwise qualified upon attaining the age of 18 to preregister for elections for Federal office. Such preregistration shall automatically convert to active status upon the individual attaining 18 years of age if the individual remains otherwise eligible.
(a) Personal information collected pursuant to this title shall be limited to information reasonably necessary to determine eligibility, assign precincts, provide ballot access, protect election integrity, and communicate with voters.
(b) No information collected under this title may be sold, licensed, transferred for commercial marketing, or used to build unrelated consumer profiles.
(c) Citizenship verification data shall be retained only as long as reasonably necessary for election administration, audit, or authorized investigation.
(d) Each State and Federal agency handling data under this title shall implement reasonable administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, including access controls, logging, and encryption.
(a) Each State shall provide in-person early voting for elections for Federal office during a period of not fewer than 14 consecutive days ending on the day immediately preceding Election Day.
(b) The early-voting period shall include at least 2 Saturdays and 2 Sundays.
(c) Each early-voting site shall be open—
(1) not fewer than 10 hours on each weekday; and
(2) not fewer than 8 hours on each Saturday or Sunday.
(d) Early-voting sites shall be located and distributed so as to provide equitable access, including for urban, suburban, rural, Tribal, campus, and disability communities.
(e) States may provide greater access than the minimum required by this section.
(a) Each State shall permit any eligible voter in an election for Federal office to request and cast a mail ballot without excuse.
(b) Each State shall also offer a permanent absentee or vote-by-mail list for voters who opt into recurring mail-ballot delivery for Federal elections.
(c) Mail-ballot applications shall be available online, by mail, in person, and in accessible formats.
(d) Except in special elections held on shorter timelines, States shall begin transmitting mail ballots not later than 31 days before Election Day for domestic voters and consistent with applicable Federal law for absent uniformed services and overseas voters.
(a) Each State shall provide prepaid postage for return of each mail ballot in an election for Federal office.
(b) Each State shall provide a ballot-tracking system enabling the voter to determine when the ballot was mailed, received, accepted, or rejected and the reason for any rejection.
(c) Each State shall provide secure drop boxes for returned mail ballots in an election for Federal office at a minimum ratio of—
(1) one drop box for every 25,000 active registered voters, or fraction thereof;
(2) not fewer than one drop box in each county or county-equivalent; and
(3) additional drop boxes, mobile or fixed, as reasonably necessary to serve Tribal reservations, islands, campuses, rural communities, and disability-access needs.
(d) Each secure drop box shall—
(1) be physically secured against tampering;
(2) be under continuous video surveillance or equivalent documented security measures;
(3) have a public chain-of-custody log;
(4) be emptied at regular intervals by bipartisan teams or comparably neutral procedures; and
(5) be accessible to voters with disabilities.
(e) A voter may designate another person to return the voter’s mail ballot, provided that such person—
(1) is not compensated on a per-ballot basis;
(2) does not coerce, alter, or inspect the ballot except as lawfully authorized to assist the voter;
(3) provides identifying information if required by uniform State procedures; and
(4) complies with chain-of-custody and receipt procedures established by the State.
(f) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit volunteer, family, household, caregiver, Tribal, faith-based, campus, disability-rights, labor, or community assistance so long as subsection (e) is satisfied.
(a) A mail ballot for an election for Federal office shall be timely if—
(1) it is received by the close of polls on Election Day;
(2) it is deposited in a secure drop box, election office, or polling place by the close of polls on Election Day; or
(3) it is postmarked on or before Election Day and received not later than 7 calendar days after Election Day.
(b) If a ballot lacks a legible postmark but is received not later than 3 calendar days after Election Day and there is no affirmative evidence that it was mailed late, it shall be presumed timely.
(c) States shall begin preprocessing mail ballots not later than 14 days before Election Day, but no results may be publicly disclosed before the close of polls.
(d) No mail ballot may be rejected for signature issues unless the determination is made pursuant to uniform statewide standards by at least 2 trained reviewers or an automated process subject to human review and audit.
(e) If a ballot is deficient or at risk of rejection, the voter shall be notified as soon as practicable, and in no event later than 24 hours after the deficiency is identified, by mail and by electronic means where available.
(f) A voter shall have until 5:00 p.m. local time on the fifth calendar day after Election Day to cure a rejected or deficient ballot.
(a) Any individual claiming to be duly registered and eligible to vote in an election for Federal office whose name does not appear on the rolls, or whose eligibility is otherwise questioned, shall be permitted to cast a provisional ballot.
(b) A voter who appears at an incorrect precinct within the correct county or unit of election administration shall be permitted to cast a ballot counting for all Federal offices for which the voter is eligible.
(c) Provisional ballots shall not be rejected for immaterial administrative errors.
(d) States shall provide free public tracking of provisional-ballot status and reasons for rejection, together with cure instructions.
(a) Each polling place used in an election for Federal office shall provide at least one accessible voting system that affords the same opportunity for privacy and independence as for other voters.
(b) Each State shall provide accessible absentee-ballot application, ballot-marking, and ballot-return options for voters with disabilities, including remote accessible ballot-marking technology where appropriate.
(c) If an accessible route is unexpectedly unavailable at a polling location, the jurisdiction shall provide curbside voting or an equally effective alternative that does not burden ballot secrecy.
(d) A voter with a disability may receive assistance from a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of such employer or an officer or agent of the voter’s union.
(e) States shall conduct periodic accessibility audits of polling locations and publish corrective action plans.
(a) Each jurisdiction covered by section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 shall provide all assistance required by that Act.
(b) In addition, each State receiving funds under this Act shall provide translated plain-language registration instructions, voting instructions, cure notices, and public election information in any language spoken by—
(1) at least 2 percent of voting-age citizens in the relevant jurisdiction; or
(2) at least 5,000 voting-age citizens in the relevant jurisdiction,
where the Commission determines that such assistance is feasible and necessary for meaningful access.
(c) All official election materials under this Act shall be written, to the maximum extent practicable, in plain language.
(a) Each State shall consult with federally recognized Tribal governments within the State regarding placement of polling sites, early-voting locations, mail-ballot pickup and drop-off options, language access, and the acceptance of Tribal identification documents.
(b) Each State shall accept valid Tribal identification documents for purposes of voting in an election for Federal office.
(c) Each State shall provide reasonable access measures for rural voters, including mobile election offices, satellite sites, or equivalent service where travel burdens would otherwise be substantial.
(d) Each public institution of higher education with residential enrollment exceeding 5,000 students and lacking a polling site within 2 miles shall have a polling site, vote center, or regularly scheduled mobile voting location reasonably accessible to students.
(e) A voter lacking a traditional residential address may register using a descriptive residence location together with a mailing address, shelter address, campus address, or other contact address.
(a) Each State shall maintain a sufficient number of polling places or vote centers so that, under ordinary conditions, voters are not required to wait more than 30 minutes to vote.
(b) In meeting subsection (a), a jurisdiction shall consider population, transit access, disability access, language needs, student populations, prior wait times, and historic disparities.
(c) Except in emergencies, a jurisdiction may not reduce the number of polling places serving a political subdivision by more than 10 percent from the number used in the most recent equivalent Federal election unless it publishes an equity analysis and mitigation plan at least 90 days before the election.
(d) Each jurisdiction shall maintain an emergency stock of paper ballots, provisional ballots, backup pollbooks, and standby equipment.
(e) Jurisdictions shall record and publish wait-time data for each polling place used in a Federal election.
(a) Each State shall provide standardized training for election workers in—
(1) disability access and assistance rights;
(2) language access;
(3) provisional-ballot administration;
(4) de-escalation and voter intimidation prevention;
(5) chain of custody;
(6) signature review and cure standards;
(7) cybersecurity hygiene and incident escalation; and
(8) ranked-choice voting, where applicable.
(b) Completion of such training shall be documented.
(a) The Election Assistance Commission shall establish a grant program to support nonpartisan, factual, and accessible voter-education and participation efforts.
(b) Eligible recipients may include States, local election offices, Tribal governments, public libraries, public educational institutions, and nonprofit organizations that certify they will not engage in partisan campaign activity using grant funds.
(c) Funds under this section may be used for voter-registration reminders, deadlines, polling-place information, ballot-tracking education, cure instructions, accessibility outreach, language assistance, and public-service announcements.
(a) It shall be unlawful for any person knowingly, or with reckless disregard for the truth, to communicate materially false information about—
(1) the time, place, manner, or means of voting;
(2) voter registration status or eligibility requirements, including citizenship requirements;
(3) the ability to vote by text message, social media post, or other nonexistent method;
(4) the legal consequences of voting or registering, including materially false claims of arrest, immigration action, debt collection, employment retaliation, or child-custody consequences; or
(5) the availability of ballot cure, accessibility accommodations, early voting, or absentee voting,
where such communication is reasonably foreseeable to prevent, deter, burden, or misdirect voting in an election for Federal office.
(b) It shall also be unlawful knowingly to impersonate, or falsely claim to speak on behalf of, an election official, election office, court, candidate, or political party for the purpose described in subsection (a).
(c) A violation of this section shall be punishable by—
(1) civil penalties not exceeding $100,000 per violation, or 3 times the amount expended for the communication, whichever is greater;
(2) injunctive relief; and
(3) in the case of a knowing and willful pattern or practice involving mass distribution, a fine under title 18, United States Code, imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both.
(a) The Attorney General, an appropriate State election official, or an aggrieved voter may bring a civil action for immediate injunctive relief to halt conduct prohibited by section 302.
(b) Upon finding a likely violation, a court may order such relief as is necessary and narrowly tailored, including—
(1) retraction or correction notices;
(2) platform-delivered corrective notices to persons reached by a paid communication;
(3) extensions of registration deadlines or cure deadlines;
(4) extensions of polling hours;
(5) emergency relocation or reopening of polling sites; or
(6) any other equitable relief necessary to protect voters from disenfranchisement.
(c) Proceedings under this section shall be expedited.
(a) Any covered public election communication distributed within 120 days before an election for Federal office that contains synthetic media depicting a candidate, election official, ballot, polling place, or voting procedure shall include a clear and conspicuous disclosure stating that the content has been generated or materially altered.
(b) It shall be unlawful knowingly to distribute materially deceptive synthetic media, without the disclosure required by subsection (a), within 60 days before an election for Federal office, where such media is reasonably likely to deceive voters regarding—
(1) a candidate’s conduct or statements; or
(2) the time, place, manner, or legitimacy of voting.
(c) This section shall not apply to parody, satire, or commentary that is obvious to a reasonable person or clearly labeled.
(a) A covered digital platform that displays a covered public election communication shall maintain a public, searchable, machine-readable archive for not fewer than 7 years containing—
(1) the content of the communication;
(2) the identity of the purchaser;
(3) the amount paid;
(4) the dates and times of dissemination;
(5) targeting parameters used;
(6) total impressions or estimated reach; and
(7) any disclaimer required by law.
(b) Every such communication shall include a clear and conspicuous disclaimer identifying the sponsor and, where applicable, the major donors or controlling persons required by title VI.
(c) No covered digital platform shall accept payment to disseminate a communication concerning voting procedures, turnout logistics, registration, or ballot return that is targeted on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, immigration status, disability status, health status, or precise geolocation around a polling place, drop box, election office, or campus residence hall.
(d) The Commission may by regulation extend subsection (c) to additional categories of sensitive targeting where necessary to prevent manipulative voter suppression and where consistent with the First Amendment.
(a) No foreign national, foreign principal, or foreign-influenced entity may purchase or finance a covered public election communication relating to an election for Federal office.
(b) No person shall knowingly use coordinated inauthentic accounts, bot networks, fake personas, or undisclosed paid influencers to disseminate materially false information prohibited by section 302 or to evade the sponsor-disclosure rules of this Act.
(c) Each covered digital platform shall maintain an expedited reporting channel for election officials to report communications that appear to violate sections 302 through 307.
(d) Upon receipt of a facially valid notice identifying a paid communication that appears to violate this title, the platform shall promptly review the matter and, if a violation is confirmed, remove, disable, or label the communication and preserve records for enforcement purposes.
(a) It shall be unlawful to originate or transmit a robocall, autodialed text, or comparable mass communication in connection with an election for Federal office that—
(1) uses artificial or synthetic voice or text to impersonate a candidate, campaign, political party, or election official without clear disclosure; or
(2) contains materially false information prohibited by section 302.
(b) The Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission shall jointly enforce this section, in addition to any other applicable law.
(a) Any person receiving funds under section 301 or any other Federal program for voter outreach shall—
(1) use factual and sourceable information;
(2) disclose the sponsoring organization;
(3) provide equal service without regard to party preference or political viewpoint;
(4) refrain from coercion, threats, or conditioning benefits on voting behavior;
(5) maintain accessibility and language access; and
(6) refrain from using personal data collected for voter outreach for unrelated commercial purposes.
(b) A material violation of this section shall be grounds for grant termination, repayment, and debarment from future grants under this Act.
(a) Nothing in this title shall be construed to prohibit or penalize opinion, editorial commentary, satire, ordinary political advocacy, or debate concerning public issues, except to the extent such communication is otherwise prohibited as a knowing materially false statement of fact about voting mechanics or a deceptive impersonation covered by this title.
(b) No liability shall attach to a covered digital platform solely for hosting unpaid third-party speech absent actual knowledge and a failure to take commercially reasonable action required by this title with respect to paid communications or impersonation notices.
(c) Relief under this title shall be narrowly tailored.
(a) Each vote cast in an election for Federal office shall be recorded on a paper ballot or voter-verifiable paper record that constitutes the official ballot of record for recounts and audits.
(b) A voting system that does not produce such a record shall not be used in an election for Federal office.
(a) No voting machine, ballot scanner, central tabulator, election-management system, or e-pollbook used to cast, scan, tally, or adjudicate ballots in an election for Federal office may be connected to the internet while such function is being performed.
(b) Wireless modems and remote-access functionality shall be prohibited in such systems, except that the Commission may authorize narrowly tailored emergency exceptions for non-tabulation functions if equivalent security and auditable isolation are maintained.
(a) Not later than 1 year after enactment, the Election Assistance Commission, in consultation with NIST and CISA, shall promulgate a mandatory minimum security baseline for any voting system used in an election for Federal office.
(b) The baseline shall include requirements for—
(1) multi-factor authentication;
(2) access logging;
(3) software integrity and code signing;
(4) removable-media controls;
(5) encryption of data at rest and in transit where applicable;
(6) vulnerability disclosure and patch management;
(7) logic and accuracy testing;
(8) backup and recovery;
(9) physical security; and
(10) personnel background screening and separation of duties appropriate to election security.
(a) A vendor supplying hardware, software, cloud services, or support for voting systems used in an election for Federal office shall—
(1) disclose beneficial ownership interests of 5 percent or more;
(2) disclose any parent, subsidiary, or affiliate relationships;
(3) maintain a software bill of materials;
(4) use secure software development practices;
(5) escrow source code and build artifacts as the Commission may require; and
(6) report material cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents.
(b) No vendor shall be eligible to provide a system used in a Federal election if the vendor is owned or controlled by a foreign adversary, is subject to sanctions relating to cyber or election interference, or fails to satisfy the security requirements of this title.
(a) Each State election office and each covered vendor shall report any substantial cybersecurity incident affecting a system used in a Federal election to CISA, the FBI, the Election Assistance Commission, and the appropriate State election official within 24 hours after discovery.
(b) A public incident summary shall be issued not later than 72 hours after confirmation, except that details whose disclosure would materially increase security risk may be temporarily withheld.
(c) CISA shall provide incident-response assistance upon request.
(a) Each State shall maintain a written continuity-of-operations plan for Federal elections, including—
(1) emergency paper-ballot capacity;
(2) backup pollbooks;
(3) alternative polling locations;
(4) restoration of voter files;
(5) contingency procedures for power loss, cyberattack, natural disaster, civil disturbance, or equipment failure; and
(6) public communication protocols.
(b) Such plan shall be updated at least biennially and tested by tabletop exercise.
(a) Each State shall conduct a risk-limiting audit of every election for Federal office before certification.
(b) The risk limit shall not exceed 5 percent, except that a lower risk limit may be used.
(c) If discrepancies exceed thresholds established by the Commission, the audit shall escalate, up to and including a full hand count where necessary.
(d) In ranked-choice contests, the audit shall be capable of validating the outcome across rounds of tabulation.
(a) Each State shall maintain uniform chain-of-custody procedures for ballots, memory media, ballot boxes, scanners, tabulators, and audit materials.
(b) Each State shall publish ballot manifests, chain-of-custody logs, cast-vote records in anonymized form where technically feasible, round-by-round results for ranked-choice contests, and audit reports.
(c) An automatic recount shall be conducted in any Federal contest where the margin between the final 2 candidates or slates is not more than 0.25 percent of ballots counted or 500 votes, whichever is greater.
(a) The Commission, in consultation with NIST, CISA, the Department of Defense, and disability-rights organizations, shall establish a pilot program for secure remote ballot return only for—
(1) absent uniformed services voters and overseas voters covered by chapter 203 of title 52, United States Code; and
(2) voters with disabilities for whom no equally effective accessible return option is available.
(b) No technology may be approved under this section unless the Commission certifies that it provides end-to-end verifiability, secrecy protections, strong authentication, independent security testing, and a durable audit trail.
(c) Nothing in this section shall authorize general internet voting for the public at large.
(a) It shall be unlawful knowingly to threaten, intimidate, dox, stalk, or harass an election worker with intent to impede the administration of an election for Federal office.
(b) The Attorney General may bring civil actions, and knowing and willful violations shall be punishable by fine or imprisonment not exceeding 5 years.
(c) Grants under this title may be used for physical security, de-escalation training, address confidentiality, and emergency support for election workers.
(a) Each State shall maintain a single official public election information portal for Federal elections that provides—
(1) registration and update access;
(2) polling-place and early-voting location lookup;
(3) drop-box locations;
(4) ballot-tracking access;
(5) accessibility information;
(6) cure-status information; and
(7) official notices of election changes.
(b) Each State shall provide a machine-readable public data feed for the information described in subsection (a).
(a) No local election office may accept private funds, equipment, or in-kind support for the administration of a Federal election except through a State-administered or Commission-approved neutral distribution mechanism governed by public, objective criteria.
(b) All such funds shall be publicly disclosed.
The Commission shall make grants to States and units of local government for compliance with this title, including replacement of insecure equipment, cyber upgrades, audit implementation, accessibility improvements, and training.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, each general election and special election for the office of Senator or Representative in Congress shall be conducted by ranked-choice voting.
(b) Nothing in this title requires a State to use ranked-choice voting in party primaries, but a State may do so and may receive grants under section 507.
(c) If only 2 candidates qualify for the ballot, the election may be conducted and certified as an ordinary majority or plurality contest, provided the ballot format remains compatible with this title where practicable.
(a) A ranked-choice ballot shall permit a voter to rank candidates in order of preference.
(b) A voter may rank as many or as few candidates as the voter chooses, and no voter shall be required to rank every candidate.
(c) Ballot instructions shall explain, in plain language, that ranking an additional candidate does not harm the voter’s higher-ranked choices.
(d) Each ballot shall provide at least 5 ranking columns or as many columns as there are candidates, whichever is fewer.
(a) In the first round, each ballot shall count for the highest-ranked continuing candidate.
(b) If a candidate receives a majority of continuing ballots, that candidate is elected.
(c) If no candidate receives such majority, the candidate with the fewest votes shall be eliminated and each ballot cast for that candidate shall be transferred to the next-ranked continuing candidate indicated on that ballot.
(d) Tabulation shall continue in rounds until a candidate receives a majority of continuing ballots or only 2 candidates remain, in which case the candidate with the greater number of votes in the final round shall be elected.
(e) An overvote at a given rank shall invalidate only that rank and any lower rank not clearly ascertainable, and shall not invalidate higher valid rankings.
(f) A skipped ranking shall not invalidate later rankings if voter intent can be reasonably determined under uniform statewide rules.
(g) The State may use batch elimination where mathematically proper and transparent.
(h) If a tie determines elimination and cannot be resolved by reference to prior rounds, the tie shall be resolved by a publicly noticed random method.
(a) For each ranked-choice contest, the State shall publish—
(1) first-round totals;
(2) round-by-round transfer totals;
(3) final-round totals; and
(4) anonymized cast-vote records where feasible and lawful.
(b) Risk-limiting audits and recounts under title IV shall apply to contests under this title.
(a) Before implementing this title, each State shall file with the Attorney General and the Commission an impact statement describing how the State’s ballot design, voter education plan, and tabulation rules will protect language access and avoid dilution of minority voting strength.
(b) Nothing in this title shall be construed to authorize implementation in a manner that violates the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
(a) This title shall apply beginning with the first general election for Congress occurring more than 18 months after enactment.
(b) The Commission shall make transition grants for voter education, ballot redesign, equipment upgrades, auditing tools, and training.
A State that adopts ranked-choice voting for presidential primaries, State primaries, State general elections, local elections, or other offices may receive additional transition funds under section 803, subject to compliance with civil-rights and accessibility requirements.
(a) Except as otherwise provided, this title shall be enforced as though enacted as part of the Federal Election Campaign Act of 1971.
(b) Definitions contained in such Act shall apply to this title unless inconsistent with this Act.
(a) There is established in the Treasury a fund to be known as the Democracy Trust Fund.
(b) An eligible candidate for President, Senate, or House of Representatives may opt into the small-donor public financing system established by this section.
(c) An opting-in candidate shall—
(1) accept contributions only from natural persons in amounts not exceeding $1,000 per election;
(2) accept no contributions from multicandidate political committees other than party committees as the Commission may allow by regulation, subject to strict limits;
(3) agree to enhanced disclosure; and
(4) satisfy a qualifying threshold of small-dollar support.
(d) The first $200 of each qualifying contribution to an opting-in candidate shall be matched at a rate of 6 to 1 from the Democracy Trust Fund.
(e) The Commission shall prescribe rules to prevent fraud, straw donations, and coordinated evasion.
(a) Any contribution, independent expenditure, or electioneering communication aggregating more than $1,000 during an election cycle shall be reported within 48 hours.
(b) During the 60 days before a general election or 30 days before a primary or special election, any such amount aggregating more than $10,000 shall be reported within 24 hours.
(c) All reports under this section shall be filed electronically and made available in machine-readable form.
(a) Any entity that makes, finances, or transfers funds for contributions, independent expenditures, or electioneering communications aggregating more than $10,000 in an election cycle shall disclose—
(1) its beneficial owners holding 5 percent or more of ownership or voting control;
(2) any foreign beneficial ownership;
(3) the true source of funds used for election spending; and
(4) any covered transfer received for the purpose, or with the reasonable expectation, of election spending.
(b) A person may not make a contribution, expenditure, or covered transfer in the name of another person or through a pass-through entity for the purpose of concealing the true source of funds.
(c) The Commission shall prescribe anti-evasion rules for shell companies, affiliated entities, and covered transfers.
(a) It shall be unlawful for a foreign-influenced political committee or other foreign-influenced covered entity to—
(1) make a contribution, donation, expenditure, independent expenditure, electioneering communication, or disbursement in connection with an election for Federal office;
(2) establish, administer, or control a political committee; or
(3) transfer funds to another person for the purpose of election spending.
(b) For purposes of this title, a foreign-influenced entity is an entity with respect to which—
(1) a single foreign national directly or indirectly owns or controls 5 percent or more of the equity, voting power, or beneficial ownership interest;
(2) two or more foreign nationals in the aggregate directly or indirectly own or control 20 percent or more of the equity, voting power, or beneficial ownership interest;
(3) a foreign national directly or indirectly participates in, directs, dictates, controls, or has the power to participate in decision-making concerning election-related spending or political activity; or
(4) foreign-source funds constituted 10 percent or more of the entity’s gross receipts in either of the 2 preceding years and were not fully segregated from election-spending funds.
(c) A political committee that is sponsored, controlled, substantially financed, or directed by a foreign-influenced entity shall itself be deemed a foreign-influenced political committee.
(a) If the Commission finds probable cause that a political committee is foreign-influenced, it may issue an emergency suspension order prohibiting new receipts or disbursements pending a hearing.
(b) The committee shall be afforded notice and an opportunity for hearing.
(c) If the Commission determines that the committee can cure the violation through divestiture, recusal, segregation, restructuring, or removal of disqualifying control, the Commission may allow a cure period not exceeding 30 days.
(d) If the violation is not cured, the Commission shall order termination of the committee’s registration and an orderly wind-down.
(e) During wind-down, lawful domestic contributions shall be refunded where practicable; unreturnable residual funds shall be deposited into the Democracy Trust Fund.
(f) Final orders under this section shall be reviewable exclusively in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
(a) Any expenditure made in coordination with a candidate, authorized committee, or political party shall be treated as a contribution subject to applicable limits and prohibitions.
(b) Coordination shall be presumed, absent clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, where—
(1) the spender and candidate share a common vendor who has provided strategic services to the candidate in the preceding 2 years;
(2) the spender employs a former senior employee or consultant of the candidate within the preceding 2 years and uses material nonpublic campaign information;
(3) the candidate or officeholder materially participates in fundraising, audience selection, message testing, or strategic planning for the spender; or
(4) the spender republishes campaign-prepared materials outside a de minimis exception.
(a) A Federal candidate or officeholder may not establish, direct, control, or solicit funds in excess of $5,000 per year for any political committee that makes only independent expenditures or electioneering communications.
(b) A Federal candidate or officeholder may not use official resources, staff, or title to raise funds for such committees.
(c) No leadership PAC controlled by a Federal officeholder may accept contributions later than 180 days after enactment, and all such committees shall terminate not later than 1 year after enactment.
(a) Any person who bundles contributions aggregating more than $10,000 in an election cycle for a Federal candidate, party committee, or political committee shall disclose such bundling to the Commission within 48 hours.
(b) Any Federal contractor or grantee making election-related disbursements shall certify that no Federal contract or grant funds were used, directly or indirectly, for such disbursements.
(c) A person registered under the Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938, acting on behalf of a foreign principal, may not bundle or solicit contributions in connection with an election for Federal office.
(a) A covered digital platform may not sell a covered public election communication unless the purchaser has provided—
(1) a verified legal name;
(2) a verified United States address;
(3) a verified payment source;
(4) beneficial-ownership information where the purchaser is an entity; and
(5) a certification that the purchase does not violate sections 605 and 606.
(b) Platforms shall maintain records under this section for not fewer than 7 years.
(a) A civil violation of this title shall be punishable by a penalty not exceeding the greater of—
(1) $50,000; or
(2) 200 percent of the amount involved.
(b) A knowing and willful violation may be punished by a fine under title 18, United States Code, imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or both.
(a) The Federal Election Commission shall be composed of 5 members appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.
(b) Not more than 2 members shall be affiliated with the same political party.
(c) At least one member shall not be affiliated with either of the 2 major political parties.
(d) Three members shall constitute a quorum.
(e) Members shall serve one nonrenewable term of 6 years, staggered as provided by law.
(f) The Commission shall establish a professional enforcement bureau headed by a Chief Enforcement Officer appointed on a nonpartisan basis.
(a) For purposes of this title, a State shall be a covered jurisdiction for 10 years if, during the preceding 25 years—
(1) 15 or more voting-rights violations occurred within the State;
(2) 10 or more voting-rights violations occurred within the State, at least one of which was committed by the State itself; or
(3) 3 or more voting-rights violations were committed by the State itself.
(b) A political subdivision shall be a covered jurisdiction for 10 years if, during the preceding 25 years, 3 or more voting-rights violations occurred within the subdivision.
(c) In this section, the term voting-rights violation means—
(1) a final judgment by any court of the United States determining that a voting practice or procedure violated the Constitution or laws of the United States relating to voting discrimination, denial, dilution, intimidation, language access, or disability access;
(2) a consent decree or settlement in which the jurisdiction admits material facts establishing such a violation;
(3) a final administrative finding under this Act, where judicial review has been exhausted or waived; or
(4) any other final determination specified by regulation that provides equivalent indicia of a contemporary voting-rights violation.
(d) A covered jurisdiction may terminate coverage by obtaining a declaratory judgment that it has complied with this title for the preceding 10 years and has not engaged in a voting-rights violation during that period.
(a) A covered jurisdiction, and any other jurisdiction meeting criteria established by the Attorney General under this section, shall obtain preclearance before implementing any covered change in connection with an election for Federal office.
(b) A covered change includes—
(1) changes to district boundaries or methods of election;
(2) changes from district-based to at-large elections, or the reverse;
(3) reductions in the number of polling places, early-voting sites, or drop boxes exceeding 10 percent in a jurisdiction;
(4) changes to voter identification or documentary requirements;
(5) large-scale purge programs;
(6) reductions in language or disability assistance;
(7) material reductions in mail-voting or cure opportunities; and
(8) any other category the Attorney General identifies by regulation as posing a demonstrated risk of discrimination or denial of access.
(c) Preclearance may be obtained from the Attorney General or from the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
(d) The submitting jurisdiction shall bear the burden of establishing that the proposed change neither has the purpose nor will have the effect of denying or abridging the right to vote on account of race, color, language-minority status, disability, or other protected characteristic under Federal law.
(a) Any jurisdiction administering an election for Federal office shall publicly disclose any material change in voting procedures, locations, hours, eligibility documentation, district lines, ballot-return rules, or cure procedures not later than 45 days before the election, except in genuine emergencies.
(b) Such disclosure shall be posted on the official election portal required by section 411 and provided in accessible and translated formats.
(a) A voter who requires assistance to vote by reason of disability, language need, literacy need, or other substantial need may be assisted by a person of the voter’s choice, other than the voter’s employer or agent of such employer or an officer or agent of the voter’s union.
(b) No State or locality may impose unnecessary restrictions on lawful assistance to voters under this section.
(a) It shall be unlawful to intimidate, threaten, coerce, harass, surveil, block, or otherwise interfere with a person seeking to register, vote, assist a voter, return a ballot, cure a ballot, or administer an election for Federal office.
(b) It shall be unlawful, without lawful authority and individualized factual basis, to—
(1) conduct mass challenges to voter eligibility;
(2) patrol or monitor a polling place or drop box while armed;
(3) obstruct lines or entrances;
(4) photograph, film, or record voters in a manner intended to harass or deter voting; or
(5) interfere with lawful ballot return.
(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit lawful poll observation conducted pursuant to neutral rules that protect voters from interference.
(a) In any action under this title, a court shall give substantial weight to the public interest in preventing disenfranchisement and preserving equal voting opportunity.
(b) Courts shall expedite proceedings under this title.
(a) Any person aggrieved by a violation of this title may bring a civil action for declaratory, injunctive, or other appropriate relief.
(b) In any action under this title, the court may award reasonable attorney’s fees, costs, and expert fees to a prevailing plaintiff.
The Attorney General and the Commission shall collect and publish biennial data concerning polling-place closures, wait times, purges, registration rates, disability access, language access, rejection rates, cure rates, and voting-rights litigation.
(a) The Election Assistance Commission shall be reconstituted as an independent agency with 5 commissioners, not more than 2 of whom may be affiliated with the same political party, and at least one of whom shall not be affiliated with either of the 2 major political parties.
(b) The Commission shall have principal responsibility for standards, grants, audits, public guidance, data collection, and technical assistance under this Act.
(a) There is established an Interagency Election Access and Security Council chaired by the Election Assistance Commission and composed of representatives of—
(1) the Department of Justice;
(2) the Department of Homeland Security, including CISA;
(3) NIST;
(4) the Department of Labor;
(5) the Federal Communications Commission;
(6) the Federal Trade Commission;
(7) the Federal Election Commission;
(8) the Department of State;
(9) USCIS;
(10) the Social Security Administration;
(11) the United States Postal Service; and
(12) such additional agencies, Tribal representatives, disability-rights representatives, and language-access experts as the Commission deems appropriate.
(b) The Council shall coordinate implementation, technical assistance, incident response, and public guidance.
(a) There are authorized to be appropriated—
(1) $1,500,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2030 for implementation of titles I through V and VII through VIII;
(2) $300,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2030 for ranked-choice voting transition grants under title V; and
(3) $100,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2027 through 2030 for implementation and enforcement by Federal agencies.
(b) Amounts appropriated under this section shall remain available until expended.
Funds under this Act may not be used for partisan campaign activity, candidate advocacy, or preferential treatment of voters on the basis of party affiliation, ideology, or viewpoint.
(a) No recipient of funds under this Act may discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, language status, disability, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, or political viewpoint in the provision of voter services.
(b) Personal data collected under this Act may be used only for election administration, security, audit, or enforcement authorized by law.
No employee, contractor, or election worker may be retaliated against for reporting in good faith a violation of this Act, cybersecurity weakness, voter-suppression practice, or fraudulent scheme.
(a) Except as otherwise specifically provided, the Attorney General may bring a civil action to enforce this Act.
(b) The Commission may refer violations to the Attorney General, the Federal Election Commission, the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Communications Commission, or the Secretary of Labor as appropriate.
(c) Private rights of action expressly created by this Act are in addition to any other remedy available under Federal law.
This Act establishes minimum requirements for elections for Federal office. A State may provide greater access, stronger protections, or more rigorous security measures so long as such measures are consistent with the Constitution and laws of the United States.
If any provision of this Act, or the application of such provision to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of this Act and the application of the remaining provisions shall not be affected.
(a) Sections 101 through 103 shall take effect on January 1 of the first even-numbered year beginning after enactment.
(b) Titles I and II, other than sections 101 through 103, shall take effect 18 months after enactment.
(c) Titles III, IV, VII, and VIII shall take effect 1 year after enactment, except where a later date is expressly provided.
(d) Title V shall take effect as provided in section 506.
(e) Title VI shall take effect 1 year after enactment, except that sections 603 through 610 shall take effect 180 days after enactment and section 612 shall take effect upon appointment and confirmation of the new Commission.
This title shall take effect only upon ratification of the amendment to the Constitution set forth in the joint resolution entitled the “American Democratic Renewal Amendment”.
(a) Upon ratification of such amendment, each State shall appoint its Presidential electors based on a statewide ranked-choice vote for slates pledged to candidates for President and Vice President.
(b) The slate receiving a majority in the final round of tabulation shall be entitled to appointment of the State’s Presidential electors, except as Congress may otherwise provide by subsequent law consistent with such amendment.
(c) Ballot design, tabulation, audit, recount, disclosure, and accessibility requirements shall be substantially similar to those of title V and title IV.
(a) Upon ratification of such amendment, each State shall conduct elections for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, State legislature, and statewide judicial office by ranked-choice voting.
(b) A State with multi-member legislative districts may use proportional ranked-choice voting for such districts under standards prescribed by Congress.
(c) Local governments may adopt ranked-choice voting for local offices under State law.
(a) Upon ratification of such amendment, no person shall be placed on the ballot for, elected to, or certified for a covered Federal office if that person will have attained the age of 65 years before the commencement of the term of office.
(b) A person who attains the age of 65 years during a fixed term may complete that term but may not begin a succeeding term.
(c) Candidates for covered offices shall file a sworn age-eligibility certification.
(d) Congress may by law prescribe procedures for resolving disputes under this section on an expedited basis.
(a) Upon ratification of such amendment, an Article III Justice or judge who has attained the age of 65 years on the effective date of such amendment may continue in active service for not more than one judicial year or until the completion of any matter already submitted for decision, whichever occurs later, and shall thereafter retire, assume senior status, or serve only as otherwise authorized by law.
(b) A principal officer of the United States requiring Senate confirmation who attains the age of 65 years while serving may remain in office until the end of the term of the President who appointed that officer, unless sooner removed or resigned, but may not be reappointed after such attainment.
(c) The Judicial Conference of the United States and the Office of Personnel Management shall promulgate implementing rules consistent with this title.
119TH CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. J. RES. __
Proposing an amendment to the Constitution of the United States to authorize uniform national minimum standards, including ranked-choice voting, for Presidential and State elections, and to establish maximum age qualifications for certain Federal offices.
Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled (two-thirds of each House concurring therein),
That the following article is proposed as an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which shall be valid to all intents and purposes as part of the Constitution when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the several States within 7 years after the date of its submission by Congress:
Section 1. Congress shall have power to establish uniform minimum national standards, including ranked-choice or other preferential ballot methods, for elections for President and Vice President, for the appointment of Presidential electors, and for elections for State executive, legislative, and judicial offices, notwithstanding any other provision of this Constitution.
Section 2. No person shall be elected President or Vice President, or elected to the office of Senator or Representative in Congress, if such person shall have attained the age of sixty-five years before the commencement of the term of office. A person who attains the age of sixty-five years while serving such term may complete that term but shall not begin a succeeding term.
Section 3. No person shall be appointed to any office as a Justice or judge of the United States under article III if such person shall have attained the age of sixty-five years before appointment. A Justice or judge who attains the age of sixty-five years while in active service may continue in active service through the end of the judicial year and for the purpose of concluding matters previously submitted, as Congress shall by law provide, but shall thereafter retire, assume senior status, or serve only as otherwise authorized by Congress.
Section 4. No person shall be appointed as a head of an executive department, or as any other principal officer of the United States requiring the advice and consent of the Senate, if such person shall have attained the age of sixty-five years before appointment. A principal officer who attains the age of sixty-five years while serving may continue in office until the end of the term of the President who appointed such officer, unless sooner removed or resigned, but may not be reappointed thereafter.
Section 5. Congress shall have power to enforce and implement this article by appropriate legislation.
Section 6. This article shall take effect on January 1 following ratification, except that Congress may by law provide reasonable transition rules not exceeding one year for persons lawfully serving on the date of ratification.
Consistency. The package keeps ordinary statutory reforms inside Congress’s existing elections, civil-rights, spending, and commerce powers, while moving the age caps and the nationwide reach into Presidential and all State elections into the constitutional-amendment track. That is the cleanest way to avoid the core defects that would arise from trying to do those pieces by ordinary statute alone.
Enforceability. Duties are assigned to agencies that already operate in adjacent spaces: EAC for election standards and grants, DOJ for civil-rights and anti-intimidation enforcement, DHS/CISA and NIST for cyber and voting-system standards, USCIS and related agencies for citizenship verification, DOL for paid leave, FCC/FTC for robocalls and deceptive platform practices, and FEC for campaign-finance enforcement.
Litigation risk. The most likely challenges would target the new preclearance formula, the digital-communications rules if they were applied too broadly, and the campaign-finance restrictions on outside groups. The draft narrows those risks by focusing on false factual election-process claims rather than broad political opinion, by using objective foreign-influence thresholds with due process rather than named targets, and by placing the highest-constitutional-risk structural changes in the amendment.
Key assumptions. The draft assumes that SAVE-style verification and other authoritative records can be integrated into a real-time or near-real-time Federal citizenship verification interface, that paper-ballot and audit upgrades can be funded and phased in, and that recent public preferences for early voting, automatic registration, same-day registration, paper backups, and an Election Day holiday remain a workable basis for a national access baseline.
Optional companion materials: a polished committee-print version with formal subsection indentation, conforming amendments to the U.S. Code, and a section-by-section report.
