Sponsors (51)
The bill substantially expands voting access for people experiencing homelessness through address-flexible registration, shelter-based and mobile services, and data-driven policy tools — but it shifts costs, administrative burdens, and legal/verification challenges onto state and local election officials (and potentially raises privacy and oversight risks) that may complicate or slow implementation.
People experiencing homelessness (unhoused, low-income, urban residents) can register to vote using shelters, transitional housing, unsheltered street locations, and other nontraditional abodes, removing address barriers to enrollment.
Residents of shelters and unhoused communities gain more on-site and mobile registration and voting access through designation of emergency shelters as registration agencies, funded mobile voting centers, outreach, and partnerships with experienced providers.
Residents of supervised shelters and transitional housing have clearer avenues to challenge or stop discriminatory voting practices (private suits and DOJ assistance), strengthening enforceable remedies for access problems.
State and local governments face increased litigation and compliance costs to revise procedures, respond to legal challenges, and defend new rules or definitions.
Election offices and taxpayers may incur significant administrative and fiscal costs — redesigning forms, training staff, updating NVRA/HAVA procedures, running outreach programs, and potential ongoing program funding (authorization of 'such sums as may be necessary').
A broad or ambiguous definition of 'nontraditional abode' and permitting unsheltered street locations as residence can trigger disputes over who qualifies, polling place assignments, and verification burdens for administrators and voters.
Based on analysis of 8 sections of legislative text.
Stops States/localities from denying voting because a person lives in a nontraditional abode, expands registration options for unhoused people, and funds outreach and mobile voting via EAC grants.
Introduced August 5, 2025 by Nikema Williams · Last progress August 5, 2025
Prohibits States and local governments from denying or limiting a U.S. citizen’s right to vote because they live in a “nontraditional abode” (including many forms of homelessness and, where applicable, prisons). It creates enforcement tools (Department of Justice suits and a private right of action), preserves Voting Rights Act protections, and defines which living situations count as nontraditional abodes. The bill also changes voter-registration rules to help people experiencing homelessness (treating emergency shelters as registration sites, allowing hand-marked maps and unsheltered street locations on forms), requires HUD to collect voting-access data for homeless assistance participants, and authorizes an Election Assistance Commission grant program to fund outreach, mobile voting, and other services for unhoused individuals, with special usability requirements for materials and an open-ended authorization of funds for FY2026 and later years. The new rules and programs apply to Federal elections beginning six months after enactment.