YourVoice.Now Summary
Civil LibertiesWorkers & JobsTransparency & AccountabilityCriminal Justice & Due ProcessSends states $2.5 billion a year through 2035 to expand early and mail voting, train poll workers, and upgrade equipment.
Civil Liberties
States could use the grant money to open more polling places, add early voting days, and expand mail voting. Funding would start in fiscal year 2026.
Money can go to voters with disabilities and voters on tribal lands. It can also help language minority groups and voters serving overseas. Each state picks how much of its share to spend here.
Grant money could not pay to drop people from voter rolls when the evidence is not reliable. States could still run roll checks with their own money.
No grant money could pay for acts that scare, threaten, or bully voters, poll workers, or election staff. States could still act with their own funds.
Some people lose the right to vote after a felony conviction and can apply to get it back. Grant money could not pay for activities that stop them from trying.
Grant money could not buy machines that fail to produce a paper ballot the voter can check. Paper records make recounts and audits possible.
Workers & Jobs
States could use the money to hire, train, and keep nonpartisan election officials and poll workers. Each state must say in its plan how much it sets aside for this.
The money could pay to protect election officials from threats tied to their work. This covers both elected and appointed staff.
Grant money could not pay to remove election officials from their jobs. The one exception is firing for neglect of duty or wrongdoing in office.
Transparency & Accountability
The new federal office would post each state's plan, its decision on that plan, and the state's year-end spending report online. Some details could be held back under public records law.
Each state taking the money must set up a complaint process open to any person. If the state's answer falls short, they have 60 days to ask the federal office to review it. A federal court is the next step.
The Attorney General could sue a state in federal court to stop banned uses of the grant money. The court could order the state to halt the activity.
An inspector general could audit the new office and look into how it runs the fund. That power starts 180 days after the director is named.
The $2.5 billion a year is set aside for fiscal years 2026 through 2035 only. Congress would have to act again to keep the program funded after that.
The office could accept gifts and bequests into the trust fund. The bill does not require the office to name who gave the money.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
Grant money could not pay to look into fraud claims backed only by general worry about fraud. States could still look into such claims with other funds.
More about this bill
Your state could get new federal money to run elections. A new trust fund would hold $2.5 billion a year from 2026 through 2035. States could spend it on more polling places, longer early voting, and mail voting. The money could also buy voting equipment, guard against hackers, or hire and train poll workers. Each state's share would depend on how many congressional districts it has. To get the money, a state would have to send a spending plan to a new federal office. Those plans would be posted online. States could not spend the money on things that make voting harder. The bill bans specific uses: scaring voters, dropping voters from the rolls on weak evidence, and buying voting machines that leave no paper record. States also could not use it to restrict food or water for voters waiting in line. If a state skips the plan, the money would go straight to local election offices instead. A new agency, the Office of Democracy Advancement and Innovation, would run the program. The President would pick its director, and the Senate would confirm them for a six-year term. Anyone who thinks a state broke the rules could file a complaint with that state. If they lose, they could ask the federal office to review it, and then a federal court. The Attorney General could also sue a state to enforce the rules.
Congressional Summary
This bill establishes and provides funds through FY2035 for the State Election Assistance and Innovation Trust Fund for purposes of promoting election activities.Specifically, the bill establishes the Democracy Advancement and Innovation Program, through which the Office of Democracy Advancement and Innovation (also established by this bill) shall make allocations to states for carrying out democracy promotion activities. These activities include improving the administration of federal elections, recruiting and training nonpartisan election officials and poll workers, and increasing voting access.The bill requires each state, in order to receive allocated funds, to (1) submit a plan for approval that describes how the state will distribute resources and carry out democracy promotion activities, and (2) establish uniform and nondiscriminatory state-based administrative complaint procedures.The bill prohibits states from using funds for certain activities, including any activity that diminishes the ability of any eligible voter to participate in the electoral process.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-08-05
- Date Added
- 2026-04-06
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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