I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 8770 
To modify certain notice requirements, to study certain election requirements, 
to clarify certain election requirements, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 2, 2022 
Ms. WILLIAMS of Georgia (for herself, Mr. NADLER, Ms. LOFGREN, Mrs. 
BEATTY, Ms. CHU, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. VEASEY, Ms. 
SEWELL, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. COOPER, Mr. CARTER of Louisiana, 
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. LEE of California, Ms. 
BUSH, Ms. NORTON, Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, 
Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK, Mr. BROWN of Maryland, Mr. CLEAVER, 
Ms. BASS, Mr. TONKO, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Ms. JACOBS 
of California, Mr. BLUMENAUER, Ms. PORTER, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Mr. 
PAYNE, Mr. GOMEZ, Mr. DAVID SCOTT of Georgia, Ms. DEAN, Ms. 
CLARKE of New York, Mr. SWALWELL, Ms. SPEIER, Mr. KAHELE, Mr. 
CARBAJAL, Mrs. MCBATH, Ms. KELLY of Illinois, Ms. JACKSON LEE, Mr. 
ESPAILLAT, Mr. LOWENTHAL, Ms. STEVENS, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mr. 
GARCI´A of Illinois, Ms. NEWMAN, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Ms. ESHOO, Ms. MAT-
SUI, Ms. JAYAPAL, Mr. HORSFORD, Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ, Mr. LIEU, 
Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. LOIS FRANKEL of Florida, Mr. CONNOLLY, Ms. 
JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. CICILLINE, Mr. COHEN, Ms. MENG, Mr. 
CUELLAR, Mr. SUOZZI, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. SOTO, Mr. MOULTON, Mr. 
AUCHINCLOSS, Ms. MANNING, Mrs. AXNE, Ms. BROWN of Ohio, Ms. 
ROSS, Ms. BOURDEAUX, Ms. PRESSLEY, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Mr. 
LARSEN of Washington, Mr. BOWMAN, Mr. KILMER, Mrs. NAPOLITANO, 
Mrs. LAWRENCE, Mr. SARBANES, Mr. TAKANO, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. 
LEVIN of Michigan, Mr. MEEKS, Mr. RUPPERSBERGER, Ms. BONAMICI, 
Mr. EVANS, Mr. MFUME, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. 
QUIGLEY, Mr. CASTEN, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Ms. TITUS, Ms. 
GARCIA of Texas, Mr. TRONE, Ms. STANSBURY, Mr. LARSON of Con-
necticut, Mr. DEFAZIO, Mr. NEGUSE, Mr. CARSON, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS 
of Illinois, Ms. TLAIB, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
LEVIN of California, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. PANETTA, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. 
OCASIO-CORTEZ, Mr. CROW, Ms. PINGREE, Mrs. DEMINGS, Mr. 
MCEACHIN, Ms. ADAMS, Mr. PETERS, Mrs. HAYES, Mr. SAN NICOLAS, 
and Ms. DEGETTE) 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 
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Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To modify certain notice requirements, to study certain elec-
tion requirements, to clarify certain election require-
ments, 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 ‘‘Expanding the Vol-
untary Opportunities for Translations in Elections Act’’ 
or the ‘‘Expanding the VOTE Act’’. 
SEC. 2. LANGUAGE MINORITY NOTICE REQUIREMENTS. 
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 
U.S.C. 10503) is amended— 
(1) by redesignating subsection (e) as sub-
section (g); and 
(2) by inserting after subsection (d) the fol-
lowing new subsections: 
‘‘(e) RESPONSIBILITY OF STATES PROVIDING VOT-
ING
MATERIALS
IN
COVERED
POLITICAL
SUBDIVI-
SIONS.—The prohibition under subsection (b) shall apply 
to any State that provides voting materials to a political 
subdivision subject to such prohibition. 
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‘‘(f) NOTICE.—The Attorney General shall submit a 
notice of the prohibition of subsection (b), and the thresh-
old at which such prohibition applies, to each State or po-
litical subdivision that is— 
‘‘(1) below the threshold requirement under 
subclause (II) of subsection (b)(2)(A)(i) by not more 
than 1,000; or 
‘‘(2) below the threshold requirement under 
subclause (I) or (III) of subsection (b)(2)(A)(i) by 
not more than 0.5 percent.’’. 
SEC. 3. PROVISIONS RELATED TO AMERICAN INDIAN AND 
ALASKA NATIVE LANGUAGES. 
Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 
U.S.C. 10503), as amended by section 2, is further 
amended— 
(1) in subsection (b)(3)(C), by striking ‘‘1990’’ 
and inserting ‘‘most recent’’; and 
(2) by striking subsection (c) and inserting the 
following: 
‘‘(c) PROVISION OF VOTING MATERIALS IN THE LAN-
GUAGE OF A MINORITY GROUP.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 
whenever any State or political subdivision subject to 
the prohibition of subsection (b), provides any reg-
istration or voting notices, forms, instructions, as-
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sistance, or other materials or information relating 
to the electoral process, including ballots, it shall 
provide them in the language of the applicable mi-
nority group as well as in the English language. 
‘‘(2) EXCEPTIONS.— 
‘‘(A) WHEN WRITTEN AMERICAN INDIAN 
AND ALASKA NATIVE TRANSLATIONS FOR VOT-
ERS ARE NOT REQUIRED.—In the case of a mi-
nority group that is American Indian or Alaska 
Native, if the Tribal government of that minor-
ity group has notified the Attorney General that 
the language is unwritten or the Tribal govern-
ment does not want a written translation, a 
State or political subdivision subject to the pro-
hibition of subsection (b) shall only be required 
to furnish that minority group, in the covered 
language, oral instructions, assistance, trans-
lation of voting materials, and other informa-
tion relating to registration and voting. 
‘‘(B) OTHER MINORITY GROUPS WITH UN-
WRITTEN LANGUAGE.—In the case of a minor-
ity group that is not American Indian or Alaska 
Native, if the language of that minority group 
is unwritten, a State or political subdivision 
subject to the prohibition of subsection (b) shall 
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only be required to furnish that minority group, 
in the covered language, oral instructions, as-
sistance, translation of voting materials, and 
other information relating to registration and 
voting. 
‘‘(3) WRITTEN TRANSLATIONS FOR ELECTION 
WORKERS.—Notwithstanding paragraph (2), a State 
or political division subject to the prohibition of sub-
section (b) shall provide written translations of all 
voting materials, with the consent of any applicable 
Tribal government, to election workers to ensure 
that the translations from English to the language 
of a minority group are complete, accurate, and uni-
form. 
‘‘(4) TRIBAL GOVERNMENT DEFINED.—In this 
subsection, the term ‘Tribal government’ means the 
recognized governing body of any Indian or Alaska 
Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, village, commu-
nity, component band, or component reservation, in-
dividually identified (including parenthetically) in 
the list published most recently as of the date of en-
actment of the Expanding the VOTE Act pursuant 
to section 104 of the Federally Recognized Indian 
Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).’’. 
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SEC. 4. GRANTS TO JURISDICTIONS TO INCENTIVIZE THE 
PROVISION OF VOTING MATERIALS IN LAN-
GUAGES NOT TRIGGERING SECTION 203 COV-
ERAGE IN APPLYING JURISDICTION. 
(a) AVAILABILITY OF GRANTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Election Assistance 
Commission (in this section, referred to as the 
‘‘Commission’’) shall make incentive grants under 
subsection (b) to States and political subdivisions to 
assist the States and political subdivisions in pro-
viding voting materials during an election cycle in 
the language of a covered language minority group. 
(2) APPLICATION REQUIRED.—In order to re-
ceive a grant under this section, a State or political 
subdivision shall submit to the Commission, at such 
time and in such form as the Commission may re-
quire, an application containing such information 
and assurances as the Commission may require, 
such as a plan for the State or political subdivision 
to engage stakeholders with a demonstrated experi-
ence of serving the relevant covered language minor-
ity group. 
(b) INCENTIVE GRANTS.— 
(1) USE
OF
FUNDS.—The Commission shall 
make an incentive grant under this subsection to a 
State or political subdivision to cover the reasonable 
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costs incurred by the State or political subdivision in 
providing voting materials in the language of a cov-
ered language minority group for an election cycle. 
(2) CONTINUATION
OF
PROVISION
OF
MATE-
RIALS FOR GROUPS IN SUCCEEDING ELECTION CY-
CLES.—If a State or political subdivision receives an 
incentive grant with respect to a covered language 
minority group for an election cycle, the State or po-
litical subdivision will certify to the Commission that 
the State or political subdivision will continue to 
provide voting materials in the language of that cov-
ered language minority group for each succeeding 
election cycle unless the population of the group dur-
ing the succeeding cycle has dropped by 0.5 percent 
or more from the population of the group during the 
first election cycle for which the State or political 
subdivision received an incentive grant with respect 
to the group. 
(3) PROHIBITING MULTIPLE GRANTS FOR SAME 
LANGUAGE MINORITY GROUP.—If a State or political 
subdivision receives an incentive grant with respect 
to a covered language minority group, the State or 
subdivision may not receive another incentive grant 
with respect to that same covered language minority 
group. 
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(c) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 
(1) the term ‘‘covered language minority 
group’’— 
(A) means, with respect to a State or polit-
ical subdivision, the members of a single lan-
guage minority who do not meet the require-
ments 
of 
clause 
(i) 
or 
(ii) 
of 
section 
203(b)(2)(A) of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 
(52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)); and 
(B) includes the language minorities de-
scribed in section 203(g) of such Act (52 
U.S.C. 10503(g)) and any other language mi-
nority; 
(2) the term ‘‘election cycle’’ means the period 
which begins on the day after the date of a regularly 
scheduled general election for Federal office and 
which ends on the date of the next regularly sched-
uled general election for Federal office; 
(3) the term ‘‘State’’ means each of the several 
States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth 
of Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands, 
American Samoa, Guam, and the Commonwealth of 
the Northern Mariana Islands; and 
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(4) the term ‘‘voting materials’’ has the mean-
ing given under section 203(b)(3)(A) of the Voting 
Rights Act of 1065 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(3)(A)). 
(d) AUTHORIZATION
OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 
are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 
$15,000,000, to remain available until expended. 
SEC. 5. STUDY ON CERTAIN LANGUAGE MINORITY NOTICE 
REQUIREMENTS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Comptroller General of the 
United States, in consultation with the Director of the 
Census, the Attorney General, and the Election Assistance 
Commission, shall conduct a study on the impact of— 
(1) reducing the threshold requirement— 
(A) under subclause (II) of section 
203(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Voting Rights Act of 
1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)(i)) to 7,500 
and 5,000, respectively; and 
(B) under subclause (I) or (III) of section 
203(b)(2)(A)(i) of the Voting Rights Act of 
1965 (52 U.S.C. 10503(b)(2)(A)(i)) to 4 per-
cent, 3 percent, 2.5 percent, and 2 percent, re-
spectively; and 
(2) expanding the definition of the term ‘‘lan-
guage minorities’’ to include native speakers of Ara-
bic, French and Haitian Creole, and any other lan-
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guage that the Comptroller General determines to be 
appropriate. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the 
United States shall submit to Congress a report on the 
findings of the study conducted under subsection (a). 
Æ 
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