Sponsors (5)
This bill redirects public campaign funds into a dedicated Election Security Fund to strengthen election infrastructure and simplify taxpayer support, at the cost of ending public matching funds for presidential campaigns and reducing taxpayer choice and some transparency over how those dollars are used.
State and local election offices — and voters who rely on them — gain dedicated federal grant funding redirected into an Election Security Fund to upgrade cybersecurity, equipment, and other election infrastructure.
Taxpayers can continue to support election-related funding easily via a tax-return checkbox and will have direct IRS links to official program information, simplifying participation and improving public awareness and transparency about the program.
Ending the public matching program for presidential campaigns reduces administrative burdens and costs for Treasury and the FEC, potentially saving federal administrative resources.
Presidential candidates and campaigns lose access to public matching funds and taxpayer check‑off support for general-election campaigns, reducing a source of public campaign financing.
Taxpayers who previously used the tax-return check-off to support public campaign financing will no longer have that option, removing a civic choice and pathway for funding public campaigns.
Redirecting funds to election security and creating new federal grants could increase federal spending or reallocate limited funds, potentially imposing indirect costs on taxpayers or crowding out other programs.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Converts the Presidential Election Campaign Fund into an Election Security Fund, redirects the tax-return checkoff to it, ends federal presidential public financing, and transfers fund balances to support state election-security grants.
Creates a new federal Election Security Fund by converting the existing Presidential Election Campaign Fund into a state grant program to support election security. It updates the individual tax-return checkoff to point to the new fund, requires the IRS form to link to the Election Assistance Commission for program information, terminates the application of the public financing rules for presidential elections and transfers current fund balances into the new account. The tax-code change to the checkoff becomes effective for taxable years ending after December 31, 2025; the transfer of existing balances and the end of application of the presidential public financing chapters occur on enactment.
Introduced February 9, 2026 by Stephanie I. Bice · Last progress February 9, 2026