Sponsors (71)
Introduced January 30, 2026 by Bryan Steil · Last progress January 30, 2026
The bill trades stronger uniform integrity, paper‑trail, and auditing requirements and centralized administration for increased verification paperwork, tighter deadlines, expanded data sharing, higher implementation costs, and significant risks of disenfranchisement and privacy harms for vulnerable voters.
Voters and the public: In‑person voting will generally require photo ID and include a short cure process plus free ID‑copy access at government facilities, which aims to reduce in‑person impersonation and increase confidence in election integrity while still allowing some voters without ID to cure their ballots.
Voters and election officials: Requires voter‑verifiable paper ballots as the official record and enables post‑election audits (with HAVA support) completed before challenge deadlines, improving auditability, recount reliability, and public confidence in Federal election results.
State and local election officials: Creates uniform federal standards and a centralized, computerized voter list to reduce duplicate records, streamline administration, and standardize deadlines and acceptable ID definitions across jurisdictions, simplifying operations for Federal elections.
Low‑income, elderly, rural, disabled, and overseas voters: New photo ID requirements, tight 3‑day cure windows, mail ballot ID/SSN rules, and 'received by polls close' deadlines increase the risk that eligible voters will have ballots rejected or be effectively disenfranchised.
Individuals whose records are exposed and the public: Centralized statewide computerized lists, public posting of names/addresses tied to list‑maintenance notices, and increased interagency data sharing raise significant privacy, security, and due‑process risks if records are wrongfully flagged or breached.
State and local governments (and taxpayers): Implementation of ID access points, system integrations, expanded list maintenance, and compressed timelines will create substantial administrative complexity and costs that may burden budgets and staff.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Imposes photo‑ID and paper‑ballot requirements, mandates centralized statewide registration lists and public record retention, and allows HAVA funds for post‑election audits.
Requires new voter identification and paper‑ballot rules for federal elections, creates statewide computerized voter registration lists with unique identifiers, and changes how states report and retain election records. It allows federal election funds (HAVA) to be used for public post‑election audits and sets technical and security rules for voting systems. Some provisions take effect soon after enactment; others apply to elections in 2027 and later.