I 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 5295 

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

to clarify certain election requirements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 25, 2023 

Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia (for herself, Mr. NADLER, Ms. BARRAGA ́N, Ms. 

CHU, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. SCOTT of 

Virginia, Ms. GARCIA of Texas, Mr. POCAN, Mr. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, 

Mr. SWALWELL, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. GALLEGO, Mr. TORRES of New 

York, Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi, Mr. MOULTON, Ms. PORTER, Mr. 

GOMEZ, Mr. VARGAS, Mr. EVANS, Mr. SCHIFF, Ms. LEE of California, 

Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Mr. ESPAILLAT, Mr. PETERS, Ms. WILSON of 

Florida, Ms. JACOBS, Mr. KILMER, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Mr. 

CARTER of Louisiana, Ms. CLARKE of New York, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Ms. SCANLON, Mr. COSTA, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. WASSERMAN

SCHULTZ, Ms. MATSUI, Ms. KAMLAGER-DOVE, Mr. MULLIN, Ms. 

BROWN, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. BALINT, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 

Ms. WILD, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. TRONE, Ms. JACKSON LEE, 

Ms. NORTON, Mr. DELUZIO, Mr. HIGGINS of New York, Ms. MCCLELLAN, Mr. DAVIS of North Carolina, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. GRIJALVA, Ms. 

SA ́NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. CASTEN, Mr. NICKEL, 

Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Ms. TITUS, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. GREEN of 

Texas, Ms. TLAIB, Ms. STEVENS, Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. BOWMAN, Ms. ESCOBAR, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI, 

Ms. BONAMICI, Ms. SCHOLTEN, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Mrs. CHERFILUSMCCORMICK, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. RYAN, Mr. RASKIN, Ms. SALINAS, Mr. CROW, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, and Ms. BUDZINSKI) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and 

in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to 

be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 


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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— 

10 (1) by amending subsection (b)(3)(A) to read as 

11 follows: 

12 ‘‘(A) the term ‘voting materials’— 

13 ‘‘(i) means registration or voting no14 tices, forms, instructions, assistance, or 

15 other materials or information relating to 

16 the electoral process, including ballots; and 

17 ‘‘(ii) includes digital and printed ma18 terial or information produced relating to 

19 the electoral process;’’; 

20 (2) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub21 section (g); and 


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1 (3) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol2 lowing new subsections: 

3 ‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITY OF STATES PROVIDING VOT4 ING MATERIALS IN COVERED POLITICAL SUBDIVI5 SIONS.—The prohibition under subsection (b) shall apply 

6 to any State that provides voting materials to a political 

7 subdivision subject to such prohibition. 

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

9 notice of the prohibition of subsection (b), and the thresh10 old at which such prohibition applies, to each State or po11 litical subdivision that is— 

12 ‘‘(1) below the threshold requirement under 

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

14 than 1,000; or 

15 ‘‘(2) below the threshold requirement under 

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

17 not more than 0.5 percent.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATED TO AMERICAN INDIAN AND 

19 ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGES. 

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

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

22 amended— 

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

24 and inserting ‘‘most recent’’; and 


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

2 following: 

3 ‘‘(c) PROVISION OF VOTING MATERIALS IN THE LAN4 GUAGE OF A MINORITY GROUP.— 

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

6 whenever any State or political subdivision subject to 

7 the prohibition of subsection (b) provides any reg8 istration or voting notices, forms, instructions, as9 sistance, or other materials or information relating 

10 to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall 

11 provide them in the language of the applicable mi12 nority group as well as in the English language. 

13 ‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 

14 ‘‘(A) WHEN WRITTEN AMERICAN INDIAN

15 AND ALASKA NATIVE TRANSLATIONS FOR VOT16 ERS ARE NOT REQUIRED.—In the case of a mi17 nority group that is American Indian or Alaska 

18 Native, if the Tribal government of that minor19 ity group has notified the Attorney General that 

20 the language is unwritten or the Tribal govern21 ment does not want a written translation, a 

22 State or political subdivision subject to the pro23 hibition of subsection (b) shall only be required 

24 to furnish that minority group, in the covered 

25 language, oral instructions, assistance, transVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:46 Aug 26, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5295.IH H5295

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1 lation of voting materials, and other informa2 tion relating to registration and voting. 

3 ‘‘(B) OTHER MINORITY GROUPS WITH UN4 WRITTEN LANGUAGE.—In the case of a minor5 ity group that is not American Indian or Alaska 

6 Native, if the language of that minority group 

7 is unwritten, a State or political subdivision 

8 subject to the prohibition of subsection (b) shall 

9 only be required to furnish that minority group, 

10 in the covered language, oral instructions, as11 sistance, translation of voting materials, and 

12 other information relating to registration and 

13 voting. 

14 ‘‘(3) WRITTEN TRANSLATIONS FOR ELECTION

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

16 or political division subject to the prohibition of sub17 section (b) shall provide written translations of all 

18 voting materials, with the consent of any applicable 

19 Tribal government, to election workers to ensure 

20 that the translations from English to the language 

21 of a minority group are complete, accurate, and uni22 form. 

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

24 subsection, the term ‘Tribal government’ means the 

25 recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska 


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1 Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, commu2 nity, component band, or component reservation, in3 dividually identified (including parenthetically) in 

4 the list published most recently as of the date of en5 actment of the Expanding the VOTE Act pursuant 

6 to section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian 

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

8 SEC. 4. GRANTS TO JURISDICTIONS TO INCENTIVIZE THE 

9 PROVISION OF VOTING MATERIALS IN LAN10 GUAGES NOT TRIGGERING SECTION 203 COV11 ERAGE IN APPLYING JURISDICTION. 

12 (a) AVAILABILITY OF GRANTS.— 

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 

14 Commission (in this section, referred to as the 

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

16 subsection (b) to States and political subdivisions to 

17 assist the States and political subdivisions in pro18 viding voting materials during an election cycle in 

19 the language of a covered language minority group. 

20 (2) APPLICATION REQUIRED.—In order to re21 ceive a grant under this section, a State or political 

22 subdivision shall submit to the Commission, at such 

23 time and in such form as the Commission may re24 quire, an application containing such information 

25 and assurances as the Commission may require, 


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1 such as a plan for the State or political subdivision 

2 to engage stakeholders with a demonstrated experi3 ence of serving the relevant covered language minor4 ity group. 

5 (b) INCENTIVE GRANTS.— 

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

7 make an incentive grant under this subsection to a 

8 State or political subdivision to cover the reasonable 

9 costs incurred by the State or political subdivision in 

10 providing voting materials in the language of a cov11 ered language minority group for an election cycle. 

12 (2) CONTINUATION OF PROVISION OF MATE13 RIALS FOR GROUPS IN SUCCEEDING ELECTION CY14 CLES.—If a State or political subdivision receives an 

15 incentive grant with respect to a covered language 

16 minority group for an election cycle, the State or po17 litical subdivision will certify to the Commission that 

18 the State or political subdivision will continue to 

19 provide voting materials in the language of that cov20 ered language minority group for each succeeding 

21 election cycle unless the population of the group dur22 ing the succeeding cycle has dropped by 0.5 percent 

23 or more from the population of the group during the 

24 first election cycle for which the State or political 


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1 subdivision received an incentive grant with respect 

2 to the group. 

3 (3) PROHIBITING MULTIPLE GRANTS FOR SAME

4 LANGUAGE MINORITY GROUP.—If a State or political 

5 subdivision receives an incentive grant with respect 

6 to a covered language minority group, the State or 

7 subdivision may not receive another incentive grant 

8 with respect to that same covered language minority 

9 group. 

10 (c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 

11 (1) the term ‘‘covered language minority 

12 group’’— 

13 (A) means, with respect to a State or polit14 ical subdivision, the members of a single lan15 guage minority who do not meet the require16 ments of clause (i) or (ii) of section 

17 203(b)(2)(A) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 

18 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)); and 

19 (B) includes the language minorities de20 scribed in section 203(g) of such Act (52 

21 U.S.C. 10503(g)) and any other language mi22 nority; 

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

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

25 scheduled general election for Federal office and 


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1 which ends on the date of the next regularly sched2 uled general election for Federal office; 

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

4 States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 

5 of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 

6 American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of 

7 the Northern Mariana Islands; and 

8 (4) the term ‘‘voting materials’’ has the mean9 ing given under section 203(b)(3)(A) of the Voting 

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

11 (d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

12 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

13 $15,000,000, to remain available until expended. 

14 SEC. 5. STUDY ON CERTAIN LANGUAGE MINORITY NOTICE 

15 REQUIREMENTS. 

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

17 United States, in consultation with the Director of the 

18 Census, the Attorney General, and the Election Assistance 

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

20 (1) reducing the threshold requirement— 

21 (A) under subclause (II) of section 

22 203(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Voting Rights Act of 

23 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)(i)) to 7,500 

24 and 5,000, respectively; and 


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

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

3 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)(i)) to 4 per4 cent, 3 percent, 2.5 percent, and 2 percent, re5 spectively; and 

6 (2) expanding the definition of the term ‘‘lan7 guage minorities’’ to include native speakers of Ara8 bic, French and Haitian Creole, and any other lan9 guage that the Comptroller General determines to be 

10 appropriate. 

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

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

13 United States shall submit to Congress a report on the 

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

Æ 


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