YourVoice.Now Summary
Civil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessTransparency & AccountabilityFake voting messages meant to keep you home could bring a year in jail — and you could sue.
Civil Liberties
Anyone harmed by false voting messages could ask a federal judge to stop them. Poll officials who face intimidation could bring the same kind of case, and the judge could make the losing side pay legal fees.
Setting up a ballot box or polling place that pretends to be official would be illegal. So would blocking someone from voting, registering, or helping another person register.
The ban covers knowingly false claims about when, where, or how to vote, or about who is eligible. It only applies when the person means to stop someone from voting, and only in the 60 days before a federal election.
Using an artificial intelligence tool to build false voting messages would be barred under the same 60-day rule. The bill defines this to include fake images, video, audio, and text.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
A new crime in federal law would cover knowingly false statements about election times, places, or voter eligibility. The maximum is a year in prison, a fine, or both. Corruptly blocking someone from voting or registering carries the same maximum.
Federal law already treats intimidating voters as a crime. This bill extends that to people who process, scan, count, check, or certify ballots.
Paying someone to register or vote is already illegal. The bill adds payments made to keep a person from voting.
Transparency & Accountability
When the Justice Department gets a credible report of false voting information and state or local officials have not fixed it, the department would have to put out accurate information. That information could not favor any candidate or party.
Within 180 days after each federal general election, the Justice Department would publish a report on complaints, investigations, corrective steps, lawsuits, and prosecutions. Grand jury material and open investigations would be left out.
More about this bill
Sending false voting information to keep people from the polls would become a federal crime. The ban would cover lies about when, where, or how to vote. It would also cover lies about who is allowed to vote, or about legal trouble for voting. The rule would apply in the 60 days before a federal election. A person would have to know the information is false and mean to stop someone from voting. Penalties would reach a year in prison, a fine, or both. Most people would notice no change day to day. But you could sue in federal court if false voting messages targeted you. A judge could order the messages stopped and could award the winner's legal fees. Poll workers who face threats could sue as well. The Justice Department would have to publish correct information when state and local officials do not. It would have to write public rules for that job within 180 days. Threatening people who count, check, or certify ballots would become a federal crime. Paying someone not to vote would join the current ban on paying people to vote. Using an artificial intelligence tool to make false voting messages would also be barred. After each federal general election, the Justice Department would post a public report within 180 days. That report would list complaints, investigations, and cases brought.
Congressional Summary
Deceptive Practices and Voter Intimidation Prevention Act of 2025 This bill generally prohibits deceptive communications and voter interference regarding federal elections. Specifically, the bill prohibits any person, within 60 days before a federal election, from communicating, causing to be communicated, or producing for communication certain information on voting, if the person (1) knows such information to be materially false, and (2) has the intent to impede or prevent another person from voting in an election. Additionally, the bill prohibits any person, within 60 days before a federal election, from using an artificial intelligence system to produce certain information on voting, if the person has the intent to use the system to (1) produce false information, and (2) impede or prevent another person from voting in an election. The bill also prohibits hindering, interfering with, or preventing voting or registering to vote. A private right of action for preventive relief is established for persons aggrieved by violations of these prohibitions. Criminal penalties are also established for violations. If the Department of Justice (DOJ) receives a credible report that materially false information has been or is being communicated in violation of the prohibitions on deceptive communications, and state and local election officials have not adequately communicated corrected information, then DOJ must communicate to the public accurate information designed to correct the materially false information. The bill extends the prohibition on certain types of intimidation in federal elections to also prohibit intimidation for processing ballots or tabulating, canvassing, or certifying votes.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- Senate
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in Senate
- Action Date
- 2025-09-18
- Date Added
- 2026-04-24
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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