119th Congress Government Operations and Politics
S. 2589: Expanding the VOTE Act
Introduced
- Introduced (completed)
- Passed Senate (not reached)
- Passed House (not reached)
- To the President (not reached)
- Became law (not reached)
Summary
This bill expands access to voting materials for individuals with limited proficiency in the English language.
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) requires covered states and political subdivisions to provide voting materials and other language assistance to persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage and whose ability to speak or understand English limits electoral participation. A state or political subdivision that is subject to Section 203 is prohibited from providing English-only voting materials in an election. Among other requirements, this bill (1) requires the Department of Justice to issue a notice of prohibition, including the trigger threshold at which the prohibition applies, to certain states and political subdivisions; and (2) requires covered states and political subdivisions to provide written translations of all voting materials, with the consent of any applicable tribal government, to election workers.
Additionally, the bill requires the Election Assistance Commission to make incentive grants for states and political subdivisions to provide translated voting materials.
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The bill also directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report on the impact of (1) reducing the threshold requirement under Section 203 of the VRA, and (2) expanding the definition of language minorities to include native speakers of additional languages.
Written by the Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress.
Roll calls
No roll call votes have been held on this bill.
Amendments
No amendments were offered to this bill.
Cosponsors
- Tammy Baldwin D-WIOriginal
- Richard Blumenthal D-CTOriginal
- Cory Booker D-NJOriginal
- Kirsten Gillibrand D-NYOriginal
- Mazie Hirono D-HIOriginal
- Amy Klobuchar D-MNOriginal
- Andy Kim D-NJOriginal
- Ben Luján D-NMOriginal
- Edward Markey D-MAOriginal
- Jeff Merkley D-OROriginal
- Bernard Sanders I-VTOriginal
- Adam Schiff D-CAOriginal
- Tina Smith D-MNOriginal
- Ron Wyden D-OROriginal
- Elizabeth Warren D-MAOriginal
Who scored on this bill
- 1Alejandro Padilla SponsorDrew cross-party cosponsors, introduced2 events+6
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Introductions and cosponsorships count toward weekly caps and show no points.
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History
- Introduced in the Senate by Alejandro Padilla.
Show the full action history (2 actions)
- Introduced in Senate
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration.