Sponsors (2)
The bill aims to standardize redistricting and voting‑administration rules to curb partisan mapmaking and increase verification, but it does so by changing apportionment rules, tightening ID/verification requirements, banning certain access measures (like same‑day registration and RCV), and shifting litigation and administrative burdens—trading broader access and flexibility for uniformity and stricter verification.
Voters across many states: the bill creates federal redistricting criteria that ban maps drawn to favor or disfavor parties, incumbents, or candidates, encouraging more compact and contiguous districts and reducing partisan gerrymandering.
State and local election officials: the bill establishes clearer federal standards for how congressional districts should be drawn after enactment, which can reduce legal uncertainty and produce more uniform criteria across states.
States and apportionment planners: the bill requires representative counts to reflect citizens and lawful immigrants (and adds a lawful‑status checkbox), which aligns apportionment more closely with voting‑eligible populations and provides more lawful‑status data for planning.
People in states with large noncitizen or mixed‑status populations (and the states themselves): counting only citizens and lawful immigrants for apportionment and adding an immigration‑status checkbox risks reducing representation and federal funding for areas with many noncitizen residents and could deter census participation.
Low‑income, elderly, rural, and otherwise ID‑less voters: requiring government photo ID for in‑person voting and stricter signature checks for remote ballots could lead to valid voters being turned away or absentee ballots rejected.
Potential voters who miss registration deadlines (including young, mobile, and low‑income voters): banning same‑day registration for federal elections removes an access point that many jurisdictions use to boost turnout, likely reducing participation among these groups.
Based on analysis of 9 sections of legislative text.
Requires new congressional district maps to be contiguous, compact, and not drawn to protect incumbents or reduce competition, and directs apportionment to use counts of U.S. citizens and aliens with lawful status from the decennial census (starting 2030). Adds a citizenship question to the 2030 and later censuses, centralizes litigation over new congressional maps in federal district court, bans ranked‑choice voting for federal elections, imposes photo ID for in‑person federal voting and signature verification for non‑in‑person federal ballots, and ends same‑day registration for federal elections. Also preserves state control over state and local elections, includes an unclear insertion of a short caption to an existing apportionment statute, and does not appropriate funds; many administrative and compliance requirements would fall to states and election officials.
Sets new redistricting standards, adds a citizenship question to the census, excludes unauthorized residents from apportionment, bans ranked‑choice voting, and tightens voter ID/registration rules.
Introduced January 22, 2026 by Michael Lawler · Last progress January 22, 2026