II 

117TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 5326 

To modify certain notice requirements, to study certain election requirements, 

to clarify certain election requirements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 20, 2022 

Ms. KLOBUCHAR (for herself, Ms. SMITH, Mr. LUJA ́N, Mr. WYDEN, Mr. MURPHY, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. BENNET, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, and 

Mr. SANDERS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Rules and Administration 

A BILL 

To modify certain notice requirements, to study certain election requirements, to clarify certain election requirements, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Expanding the Vol5 untary Opportunities for Translations in Elections Act’’ 

6 or the ‘‘Expanding the VOTE Act’’. 

7 SEC. 2. LANGUAGE MINORITY NOTICE REQUIREMENTS. 

8 Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 

9 U.S.C. 10503) is amended— 


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1 (1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub2 section (g); and 

3 (2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol4 lowing new subsections: 

5 ‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITY OF STATES PROVIDING VOT6 ING MATERIALS IN COVERED POLITICAL SUBDIVI7 SIONS.—The prohibition under subsection (b) shall apply 

8 to any State that provides voting materials to a political 

9 subdivision subject to such prohibition. 

10 ‘‘(f) NOTICE.—The Attorney General shall submit a 

11 notice of the prohibition of subsection (b), and the thresh12 old at which such prohibition applies, to each State or po13 litical subdivision that is— 

14 ‘‘(1) below the threshold requirement under 

15 subclause (II) of subsection (b)(2)(A)(i) by not more 

16 than 1,000; or 

17 ‘‘(2) below the threshold requirement under 

18 subclause (I) or (III) of subsection (b)(2)(A)(i) by 

19 not more than 0.5 percent.’’. 

20 SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATED TO AMERICAN INDIAN AND 

21 ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGES. 

22 Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 

23 U.S.C. 10503), as amended by section 2, is further 

24 amended— 


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1 (1) in subsection (b)(3)(C), by striking ‘‘1990’’ 

2 and inserting ‘‘most recent’’; and 

3 (2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 

4 following: 

5 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF VOTING MATERIALS IN THE LAN6 GUAGE OF A MINORITY GROUP.— 

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 

8 whenever any State or political subdivision subject to 

9 the prohibition of subsection (b), provides any reg10 istration or voting notices, forms, instructions, as11 sistance, or other materials or information relating 

12 to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall 

13 provide them in the language of the applicable mi14 nority group as well as in the English language. 

15 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

16 ‘‘(A) WHEN WRITTEN AMERICAN INDIAN

17 AND ALASKA NATIVE TRANSLATIONS FOR VOT18 ERS ARE NOT REQUIRED.—In the case of a mi19 nority group that is American Indian or Alaska 

20 Native, if the Tribal government of that minor21 ity group has notified the Attorney General that 

22 the language is unwritten or the Tribal govern23 ment does not want a written translation, a 

24 State or political subdivision subject to the pro25 hibition of subsection (b) shall only be required 


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1 to furnish that minority group, in the covered 

2 language, oral instructions, assistance, trans3 lation of voting materials, and other informa4 tion relating to registration and voting. 

5 ‘‘(B) OTHER MINORITY GROUPS WITH UN6 WRITTEN LANGUAGE.—In the case of a minor7 ity group that is not American Indian or Alaska 

8 Native, if the language of that minority group 

9 is unwritten, a State or political subdivision 

10 subject to the prohibition of subsection (b) shall 

11 only be required to furnish that minority group, 

12 in the covered language, oral instructions, as13 sistance, translation of voting materials, and 

14 other information relating to registration and 

15 voting. 

16 ‘‘(3) WRITTEN TRANSLATIONS FOR ELECTION

17 WORKERS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (2), a State 

18 or political division subject to the prohibition of sub19 section (b) shall provide written translations of all 

20 voting materials, with the consent of any applicable 

21 Tribal government, to election workers to ensure 

22 that the translations from English to the language 

23 of a minority group are complete, accurate, and uni24 form. 


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1 ‘‘(4) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT DEFINED.—In this 

2 subsection, the term ‘Tribal government’ means the 

3 recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska 

4 Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, commu5 nity, component band, or component reservation, in6 dividually identified (including parenthetically) in 

7 the list published most recently as of the date of en8 actment of the Expanding the VOTE Act pursuant 

9 to section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian 

10 Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).’’. 

11 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO JURISDICTIONS TO INCENTIVIZE THE 

12 PROVISION OF VOTING MATERIALS IN LAN13 GUAGES NOT TRIGGERING SECTION 203 COV14 ERAGE IN APPLYING JURISDICTION. 

15 (a) AVAILABILITY OF GRANTS.— 

16 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 

17 Commission (in this section, referred to as the 

18 ‘‘Commission’’) shall make incentive grants under 

19 subsection (b) to States and political subdivisions to 

20 assist the States and political subdivisions in pro21 viding voting materials during an election cycle in 

22 the language of a covered language minority group. 

23 (2) APPLICATION REQUIRED.—In order to re24 ceive a grant under this section, a State or political 

25 subdivision shall submit to the Commission, at such 


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1 time and in such form as the Commission may re2 quire, an application containing such information 

3 and assurances as the Commission may require, 

4 such as a plan for the State or political subdivision 

5 to engage stakeholders with a demonstrated experi6 ence of serving the relevant covered language minor7 ity group. 

8 (b) INCENTIVE GRANTS.— 

9 (1) USE OF FUNDS.—The Commission shall 

10 make an incentive grant under this subsection to a 

11 State or political subdivision to cover the reasonable 

12 costs incurred by the State or political subdivision in 

13 providing voting materials in the language of a cov14 ered language minority group for an election cycle. 

15 (2) CONTINUATION OF PROVISION OF MATE16 RIALS FOR GROUPS IN SUCCEEDING ELECTION CY17 CLES.—If a State or political subdivision receives an 

18 incentive grant with respect to a covered language 

19 minority group for an election cycle, the State or po20 litical subdivision will certify to the Commission that 

21 the State or political subdivision will continue to 

22 provide voting materials in the language of that cov23 ered language minority group for each succeeding 

24 election cycle unless the population of the group dur25 ing the succeeding cycle has dropped by 0.5 percent 


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1 or more from the population of the group during the 

2 first election cycle for which the State or political 

3 subdivision received an incentive grant with respect 

4 to the group. 

5 (3) PROHIBITING MULTIPLE GRANTS FOR SAME

6 LANGUAGE MINORITY GROUP.—If a State or political 

7 subdivision receives an incentive grant with respect 

8 to a covered language minority group, the State or 

9 subdivision may not receive another incentive grant 

10 with respect to that same covered language minority 

11 group. 

12 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

13 (1) the term ‘‘covered language minority 

14 group’’— 

15 (A) means, with respect to a State or polit16 ical subdivision, the members of a single lan17 guage minority who do not meet the require18 ments of clause (i) or (ii) of section 

19 203(b)(2)(A) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

20 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)); and 

21 (B) includes the language minorities de22 scribed in section 203(g) of such Act (52 

23 U.S.C. 10503(g)) and any other language mi24 nority; 


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1 (2) the term ‘‘election cycle’’ means the period 

2 which begins on the day after the date of a regularly 

3 scheduled general election for Federal office and 

4 which ends on the date of the next regularly sched5 uled general election for Federal office; 

6 (3) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 

7 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

8 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

9 American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of 

10 the Northern Mariana Islands; and 

11 (4) the term ‘‘voting materials’’ has the mean12 ing given under section 203(b)(3)(A) of the Voting 

13 Rights Act of 1065 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(3)(A)). 

14 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

15 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

16 $15,000,000, to remain available until expended. 

17 SEC. 5. STUDY ON CERTAIN LANGUAGE MINORITY NOTICE 

18 REQUIREMENTS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 

20 United States, in consultation with the Director of the 

21 Census, the Attorney General, and the Election Assistance 

22 Commission, shall conduct a study on the impact of— 

23 (1) reducing the threshold requirement— 

24 (A) under subclause (II) of section 

25 203(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Voting Rights Act of 


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1 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)(i)) to 7,500 

2 and 5,000, respectively; and 

3 (B) under subclause (I) or (III) of section 

4 203(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Voting Rights Act of 

5 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)(i)) to 4 per6 cent, 3 percent, 2.5 percent, and 2 percent, re7 spectively; and 

8 (2) expanding the definition of the term ‘‘lan9 guage minorities’’ to include native speakers of Ara10 bic, French and Haitian Creole, and any other lan11 guage that the Comptroller General determines to be 

12 appropriate. 

13 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

14 of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 

15 United States shall submit to Congress a report on the 

16 findings of the study conducted under subsection (a). 

Æ 


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