I 
119TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7418 
To convert the program of public financing of presidential election campaigns 
to a program of providing grants to States for enhancing the security 
of election systems, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 9, 2026 
Mrs. BICE (for herself, Ms. LEE of Florida, Mr. MCDOWELL, Mr. SMITH of 
New Jersey, and Mr. MILLS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on House Administration, and in addition to the 
Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To convert the program of public financing of presidential 
election campaigns to a program of providing grants 
to States for enhancing the security of election systems, 
and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Securing Tech and 
Election Administration Defenses For All States and Ter-
ritories Act’’ or the ‘‘STEADFAST Act’’. 
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SEC. 2. CONVERSION OF PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION CAM-
PAIGN FUNDING PROGRAM TO STATE GRANT 
PROGRAM FOR ELECTION SECURITY. 
(a) ELECTION SECURITY PROGRAM.— 
(1) PAYMENTS.—Subtitle H of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1985 is amended by adding at the 
end the following new chapter: 
‘‘CHAPTER 97—ELECTION SECURITY 
PROGRAM AND FUND 
‘‘SEC. 9051. PAYMENTS TO STATES FOR ELECTION SECU-
RITY. 
‘‘(a) AUTHORIZATION OF PAYMENTS.—The Election 
Assistance Commission shall establish and operate a pro-
gram under which the Commission shall make payments 
to eligible States for activities to promote the security of 
elections for Federal office by updating voting systems to 
meet security standards. 
‘‘(b) ELIGIBILITY.—A State is eligible to receive a 
payment under this chapter if the State submits to the 
Commission, at such time and in such form as the Com-
mission may require, an application containing the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(1) A plan for the use of the payment. 
‘‘(2) A certification that the State does not per-
mit noncitizens to vote in any election for public of-
fice held in the State. 
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‘‘(3) Assurances that the State will submit re-
ports to the Commission, at such frequency as the 
Commission may require, on the use of the payment. 
‘‘(4) Such other information and assurances as 
the Commission may require. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) ACTIVITIES DESCRIBED.—An eligible State 
may use a payment received under this chapter for 
the following: 
‘‘(A) Acquiring voting equipment. 
‘‘(B) Cybersecurity efforts to protect vot-
ing systems. 
‘‘(C) Providing physical security for the 
storage of voting equipment. 
‘‘(D) Modernizing and replacing the com-
ponents of voting systems. 
‘‘(E) Purchasing and printing paper bal-
lots and implementing security features for pro-
tecting paper ballots. 
‘‘(F) Securing and protecting electronic 
poll books. 
‘‘(2) PROHIBITION.—A State may not use the 
funds provided under a payment received under this 
chapter to pay any of the following: 
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‘‘(A) Costs associated with training for 
election administrators, other than training in 
the use of election system equipment. 
‘‘(B) Costs associated with any litigation 
or for the payment of any judgement. 
‘‘(d) USE OF QUALIFIED VENDORS.— 
‘‘(1) REQUIREMENT.—An eligible State may 
use a payment received under this chapter to carry 
out activities through a vendor, but only if the ven-
dor is certified as a qualified vendor by the Commis-
sion under paragraph (2). 
‘‘(2) CERTIFICATION.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall 
certify vendors as qualified vendors for pur-
poses of this chapter in accordance with such 
criteria as the Commission considers appro-
priate, except that the Commission may not 
certify a vendor as a qualified vendor if the ven-
dor directly provided funds to a State or unit 
of local government to support the administra-
tion of an election for Federal office. 
‘‘(B) DEADLINE.—Not later than 90 days 
after the date of the enactment of the Securing 
Tech and Election Administration Defenses For 
All States and Territories Act, the Commission 
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shall publish the list of qualified vendors for 
purposes of this chapter. 
‘‘(e) PRIORITY
FOR CERTAIN STATES.—In deter-
mining the eligible States which will receive payments 
under this chapter, the Commission shall give priority to 
States which meet each of the following conditions in car-
rying out elections for Federal office: 
‘‘(1) The State uses paper ballots which permit 
voters to verify the vote cast on the ballot and which 
may serve as a paper trail for purposes of post-elec-
tion audits. 
‘‘(2) The State uses available resources to en-
sure that noncitizens are not registered to vote and 
do not vote in such elections, which may include the 
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements Pro-
gram administered by the Secretary of Homeland 
Security 
and 
the 
Social 
Security 
Number 
Verification Service of the Social Security Adminis-
tration. 
‘‘(3) The State requires a voter to, in order to 
obtain a ballot at a polling place, provide to an elec-
tion official any of the following forms of valid photo 
identification: 
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‘‘(A) A valid State-issued motor vehicle 
driver’s license that includes a photo of the in-
dividual and an expiration date. 
‘‘(B) A valid State-issued identification 
card that includes a photo of the individual and 
an expiration date. 
‘‘(C) A valid United States passport for 
the individual. 
‘‘(D) A valid military identification for the 
individual. 
‘‘(E) A valid identification document 
issued by a Tribal government that includes a 
photo of the individual and an expiration date. 
‘‘(F) Any other form of government-issued 
identification specified by the State as valid 
photo identification for purposes of this sub-
section, excluding identification cards provided 
by an educational institution. 
‘‘(f) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 
‘‘(1) NUMBER OF REGISTERED VOTERS.—The 
amount of the payment made to an eligible State 
under this chapter for a fiscal year shall be equal to 
the product of— 
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‘‘(A) the aggregate amount made available 
for payments to eligible States under this chap-
ter for the fiscal year; and 
‘‘(B) the registered voter population pro-
portion for the State (as defined in paragraph 
(2)). 
‘‘(2) REGISTERED VOTER POPULATION PROPOR-
TION.—The term ‘registered voter population pro-
portion’ means, with respect to an eligible State, the 
amount equal to the quotient of— 
‘‘(A) the number of individuals who are 
registered to vote in elections for Federal office 
held in the State, as determined by the State on 
the basis of the most recent information avail-
able; and 
‘‘(B) the total number of individuals who 
are registered to vote in elections for Federal 
office held in all eligible States, as determined 
by the Commission on the basis of the informa-
tion determined by the eligible States under 
subparagraph (A). 
‘‘(g) REPORT REQUIRED.—Each State that receives 
a payment under this chapter shall provide to the Commis-
sion and make available on a publicly accessible website 
of the State a report detailing— 
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‘‘(1) how such payment was spent; and 
‘‘(2) the extent to which the State complied 
with or deviated from the information submitted in 
the application described in subsection (b). 
‘‘SEC. 9052. ELECTION SECURITY FUND. 
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT; PURPOSE.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby established 
on the books of the Treasury of the United States 
a special fund to be known as the ‘Election Security 
Fund’, which shall be used to carry out the program 
under this chapter. 
‘‘(2) LIMIT ON ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.— 
The Commission may use not more than 5 percent 
of the amount in the Fund during a fiscal year for 
the administrative expenses of the Fund during the 
fiscal year. 
‘‘(b) FUNDS DESIGNATED
BY INDIVIDUAL TAX-
PAYERS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall, from time 
to time, transfer to the fund an amount not in excess of 
the sum of the amounts designated to the fund by individ-
uals under section 6096. 
‘‘(c) APPROPRIATION.—There is appropriated to the 
Fund for each fiscal year, out of amounts in the general 
fund of the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, an 
amount equal to the amounts so designated during each 
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fiscal year, which shall remain available to the Fund with-
out fiscal year limitation. 
‘‘SEC. 9053. PUBLIC INFORMATION ON PROGRAM AND 
FUND. 
‘‘(a) PROVIDING INFORMATION
TO PUBLIC.—The 
Commission shall provide information to the public on the 
program established under this chapter and the use of the 
designation of income tax payments under section 6096 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to transfer amounts 
to the Election Security Fund, including by establishing 
and operating a hyperlink to such information on the 
Commission’s official public website. 
‘‘(b) DEADLINE.—The Commission shall meet the re-
quirements of subsection (a) not later than 180 days after 
the date of the enactment of the Securing Tech and Elec-
tion Administration Defenses For All States and Terri-
tories Act. 
‘‘SEC. 9054. DEFINITIONS. 
‘‘In this chapter— 
‘‘(1) the term ‘Commission’ means the Election 
Assistance Commission; 
‘‘(2) the term ‘Fund’ means the Election Secu-
rity Fund established under section 9052; and 
‘‘(3) the term ‘State’ means each of the several 
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 
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of Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, the United 
States Virgin Islands, and the Commonwealth of the 
Northern Mariana Islands.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for subtitle H of such Code is amended by add-
ing at the end the following: 
‘‘CHAPTER 97—ELECTION SECURITY PROGRAM AND FUND 
‘‘Sec. 9051. Payments to States for election security. 
‘‘Sec. 9052. Election Security Fund. 
‘‘Sec. 9053. Public information on Program and Fund. 
‘‘Sec. 9054. Definitions.’’. 
(b) DESIGNATION OF INCOME TAX PAYMENTS TO 
ELECTION SECURITY FUND.— 
(1) DESIGNATION.—Section 6096(a) of such 
Code is amended by striking ‘‘the Presidential Elec-
tion Campaign Fund’’ and inserting ‘‘the Election 
Security Fund’’. 
(2) REFERENCE TO EAC WEBSITE WITH PUBLIC 
INFORMATION
ON
PROGRAM
AND
FUND.—Section 
6096(a) of such Code is amended by adding at the 
end the following new sentence: ‘‘The Secretary shall 
ensure that the individual tax return form includes 
a citation to the hyperlink on the official public 
website of the Election Assistance Commission which 
is established and operated under section 9053.’’. 
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(3) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made 
by subsection (a) shall apply with respect to taxable 
years ending after December 31, 2025. 
SEC. 3. TERMINATION OF TAXPAYER FINANCING OF PRESI-
DENTIAL ELECTION CAMPAIGNS. 
(a) TERMINATION
OF
PRESIDENTIAL
ELECTION 
CAMPAIGN FUND.— 
(1) TERMINATION.—Chapter 95 of subtitle H 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new section: 
‘‘SEC. 9014. TERMINATION. 
‘‘The provisions of this chapter shall not apply with 
respect to any presidential election (or any presidential 
nominating convention) after the date of the enactment 
of this section, or to any candidate in such an election.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for chapter 95 of subtitle H of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘Sec. 9014. Termination.’’. 
(b) TERMINATION
OF
PRESIDENTIAL
PRIMARY 
MATCHING PAYMENT ACCOUNT.— 
(1) TERMINATION.—Chapter 96 of subtitle H 
of such Code is amended by adding at the end the 
following new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 9043. TERMINATION. 
‘‘The provisions of this chapter shall not apply to any 
candidate with respect to any presidential election after 
the date of the enactment of this section.’’. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sec-
tions for chapter 96 of subtitle H of such Code is 
amended by adding at the end the following new 
item: 
‘‘Sec. 9043. Termination.’’. 
(c) TRANSFER OF REMAINING FUNDS TO ELECTION 
SECURITY FUND.—Section 9006 of such Code is amended 
by adding at the end the following new subsection: 
‘‘(d) TRANSFER OF FUNDS REMAINING AFTER TER-
MINATION.—The Secretary shall transfer the amounts in 
the fund as of the date of the enactment of this subsection 
to the Election Security Fund under section 9052, to be 
available as described in such section.’’. 
Æ 
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