YourVoice.Now Summary
Civil LibertiesWorkers & JobsTransparency & AccountabilityWould send states $2.5 billion a year through 2035 to run elections, with limits on voter roll removals.
Civil Liberties
The program pays for election upgrades, not just new rules. States could use their share to add polling places, extend early voting days, and expand mail voting starting in 2026.
One of the three funded activity types aims at voters who face barriers. That covers people with disabilities, racial and language minority groups, voters on tribal lands, and military and overseas absentee voters.
A state taking program money could not spend it on rules that block food or drink handouts to people waiting to vote. Handouts based on how someone votes are still restricted.
Program funds could not pay to remove people from voter rolls unless the evidence is reliable. States could still clean up their rolls with their own money.
Machines bought with program funds must produce a paper ballot the voter can check. The ballot must be marked by hand or by a device that does not also count votes.
States could not use program money to look into fraud claims backed only by broad talk of voter confidence or fraud prevention. Claims with actual evidence are not blocked.
Workers & Jobs
Program money could not be used to remove election administrators. The exceptions are negligence, neglect of duty, or misconduct in office.
States could use their share to recruit, train, and keep nonpartisan election workers. The same money can pay to protect them from threats they face on the job.
Transparency & Accountability
A new federal office would publish each state plan, its approval decision, and the state's year-end report on a public website. Material that federal records law protects can be held back.
Every funded state must set up a complaint process open to any person. A decision can be appealed to the federal office within 60 days, and then to a federal court in Washington.
The bill puts $2.5 billion into the trust fund for each year from 2026 through 2035. Nothing is set aside after that, so Congress would have to act again.
The new office is meant to be independent, with a director confirmed by the Senate for a six-year term. Until that happens, the White House budget office would hold the job, capped at 24 months.
One line in the bill lets the office take gifts and bequests into the election trust fund. No donor limit or donor disclosure is written into the text.
More about this bill
Voters could see shorter lines, newer machines, and more days to vote. A new federal program would send $2.5 billion a year to states to run elections. The money would start in 2026 and run through 2035. States could use it to open more polling places and expand early and mail voting. They could also upgrade voting equipment and improve cybersecurity. Each state's share would depend on its number of House districts. No money would go to households directly. Each state would have to file a spending plan and get it approved. Plans would have to show how the money reaches voters who face barriers. That includes disabled voters, tribal communities, and military voters overseas. States that take the money would face limits. They could not use it to drop voters from the rolls on weak evidence. They also could not buy voting machines that skip paper ballots. States could spend the money to recruit poll workers and protect them from threats. Election officials could not be removed except for misconduct. A new federal office would run the program and post state plans online. Anyone could file a complaint about misuse, and appeals could reach federal court. Until a Senate-confirmed director takes over, the President's budget office would run the program for up to two years.
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
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-07-31
- Date Added
- 2026-04-09
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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