Sponsors (71)
Official title: To promote the integrity and improve the administration of elections for Federal office, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 30, 2026 by Bryan Steil · Last progress January 30, 2026
The bill centralizes and standardizes voter ID, registration, and ballot processes to improve roll accuracy and auditability, but it does so through strict documentation, data centralization, and funding conditions that could impose costs, privacy risks, and significant barriers or purges that disproportionately affect vulnerable voters.
State and local election officials get a single federal ID standard plus a centralized computerized registry with unique voter IDs, improving consistency, speed, and accuracy of list management.
Mandated voter-verifiable paper ballots, barcode tracking for mail ballots, and permitted use of HAVA funds for timely post-election audits create a stronger, auditable record for recounts and integrity checks.
Coordinating voter rolls with death and felony records and standardizing verification processes can reduce ineligible registrations and improve the accuracy of the rolls.
Many eligible voters — including low-income people, seniors, rural residents, young adults, and some naturalized citizens — risk being turned away, delayed, or purged by photo‑ID, documentary citizenship requirements, and removal rules, creating a high risk of disenfranchisement.
Centralizing sensitive voter data, expanding data sharing with federal agencies, and publicly posting removal notices raise significant privacy, data‑security, and harassment risks if breaches or misuse occur.
States face substantial administrative and fiscal burdens — IT upgrades, new registry systems, extra verification steps, and sudden equipment changes for paper ballots — imposing costs on state and local governments and taxpayers and straining vendors.
Based on analysis of 7 sections of legislative text.
Requires federal photo ID for voting, mandates voter‑verifiable paper ballots, centralizes state voter rolls, retains voter‑list records, and authorizes post‑election audits.
Creates a federal photo identification requirement for voting in federal elections, requires voter‑verifiable paper ballots, and directs states to maintain centralized, secure voter registration lists and public records about list‑maintenance. It also authorizes use of certain federal election funds for post‑election audits and sets rules for preservation, auditability, and record retention. The bill changes federal voting system standards, adds new verification and documentation steps for in‑person and absentee voting, and requires states to keep and provide specified registration‑maintenance records.