H.R. 4911

119th CONGRESS 1st Session

To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to ensure that voters in elections for Federal office do not wait in long lines in order to vote, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES · August 5, 2025 · Sponsor: Ms. Williams of Georgia · Committee: Committee on House Administration

Table of contents

• H.R. 4911
  • Sec. 305. Unreasonable voter waiting times.

Sec. 305. Unreasonable voter waiting times.

• (a) State plans
  • (1) In general
    • Not later than 60 days before each election for Federal office, each State shall make public (including through the website of the State on which election information is normally published) and submit to the Commission a written plan which meets the public notice and comment requirements of paragraph (2) and describes the measures it is implementing to ensure, to the greatest extent possible, an equitable waiting time for all voters in the State, including for voters with disabilities, and a waiting time of less than 30 minutes at any polling place in the election.
  • (2) Public notice comment requirement
    • The public notice and comment requirements of this paragraph are met if—
      • not later than 30 days prior to the submission of the plan to the Commission, the State made a preliminary version of the plan available for public inspection and comment;
      • the State publishes notice that the preliminary version of the plan is so available; and
      • the State took the public comments made regarding the preliminary version of the plan into account in preparing the plan which was submitted to the Commission under paragraph (1).
• (b) Prohibition on unreasonable voter waiting times
  • Each State shall ensure that no person voting in an election for Federal office shall wait for more than 30 minutes at any polling place for purposes of casting a vote in such election.
• (c) Remedial plans for states with excessive voter wait times
  • (1) Review of voter wait times
    • After each election for Federal office, the Commission shall review voter waiting times for each jurisdiction for which voting in such election took place and make publicly available a report on its findings.
  • (2) State remedial plans
    • (A) Remedial plans
      • Notwithstanding section 209, each jurisdiction for which the Commission, after the review conducted under paragraph (1), determines that a substantial number of voters, including voters with disabilities, waited more than 60 minutes to cast a vote, or in which there were substantial violations of the standards established under section 299, shall comply with a State remedial plan established by the Attorney General to provide for the effective allocation of resources to administer elections for Federal office held in the State and to reduce the waiting time of voters.
    • (B) Coordination
      • Each remedial plan established by the Attorney General shall provide for coordination between the Commission, the Attorney General, and the State involved to monitor the compliance of the State with the remedial plan during the period leading up to the election and on the date of the election and to respond to serious delays in the ability of voters, including voters with disabilities, to cast their ballots at polling places.
    • (C) Termination
      • A jurisdiction shall not be required to comply with a State remedial plan required under subparagraph (A) if the Commission determines that the voter waiting times were less than 60 minutes for 2 consecutive regularly scheduled general elections for Federal office.
  • (3) Jurisdiction defined
    • For purposes of this subsection, the term jurisdiction,registrar's jurisdiction has the meaning given the term in section 8(j) of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (). 42 U.S.C. 1973gg–6(j)
  • (4) Standards
    • Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Attorney General shall establish standards for conducting the review under paragraph (1) and for establishing remedial plans under paragraph (2)(A).
  • (5) Role of Office of Civil Rights and Commission
    • The Attorney General shall carry out this section acting through the Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice and in consultation with the Commission.
  • (6) Appropriations
    • In addition to other amounts authorized to be appropriated to the Commission, there are authorized to be appropriated for each of the fiscal years 2025 through 2034, $5,000,000 for each such year for the Commission to carry out this subsection.
• (d) Emergency ballots
  • (1) In general
    • In the event of a failure of voting equipment or other circumstance at a polling place that causes an unreasonable delay, any individual who is waiting at the polling place to cast a ballot in an election for Federal office at the time of the failure shall be advised immediately of the individual's right to use an emergency paper ballot, and upon request shall be provided with such an emergency paper ballot for the election and the supplies necessary to mark the ballot.
  • (2) Ballot requirements
    • Any emergency paper ballot provided under paragraph (1) shall—
      • include the names of each candidate for each Federal office for which voting occurs at such polling place; and
      • be available in each language for which other ballots provided at the polling place are available.
  • (3) Disposition of ballot
    • Any emergency paper ballot which is cast by an individual under this subsection shall be counted in the same manner as a regular ballot, unless the individual casting the ballot would have otherwise been required to cast a provisional ballot in the absence of the delay, in which case that ballot shall be treated in the same manner as a provisional ballot.