Sponsors (15)
The bill substantially expands voter access, convenience, and registration through nationwide mail voting and automatic registration while shifting significant implementation costs and operational burdens to state/local officials and the USPS and raising privacy and integrity trade-offs that states and voters will need to manage.
All eligible voters — including seniors, parents, people with disabilities, and rural residents — will more reliably receive and be able to cast mail ballots sent automatically at least two weeks before federal elections, increasing convenience and likely participation.
Motor vehicle–based automatic voter registration and streamlined processing will increase registration rates, reduce missed registration deadlines, and expand the pool of registered eligible voters.
Shifting to mail voting and simplifying procedures (fewer in-person voters, fewer long lines, reduced need for poll workers) can lower long-term per-voter administration costs and reduce time costs for voters.
Implementing expanded mail voting and associated services (ballot-tracking, drop boxes, prepaid postage, earlier mailings, accessibility features) will impose substantial upfront and ongoing costs and operational burdens on state and local election offices and likely require additional USPS resources.
Automatic registration by default and automatic transmission of citizenship documents can register some people without explicit affirmative consent and raise privacy concerns about DMV data sharing across agencies.
Small and rural election offices may be strained by the logistics of transitioning to and operating large-scale mail voting (printing, mailing, tracking, drop-box maintenance and processing), risking delays or administrative errors during implementation.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires states to mail ballots to registered voters for federal elections, limits extra mail-vote conditions, mandates accessible mailed ballots, and requires automatic DMV-based voter registration.
Introduced May 22, 2025 by Ronald Lee Wyden · Last progress May 22, 2025
Requires states to allow and facilitate voting by mail for federal elections by prohibiting extra state-imposed conditions, requiring election officials to mail ballots to registered voters at least two weeks before federal elections, and ensuring mailed ballots are accessible to people with disabilities. Establishes automatic and streamlined voter registration through state motor vehicle agencies (including transmission rules and presumptive attestations of eligibility), and directs USPS to carry these mailed ballots free and expeditiously. New mail-voting rules take effect for elections in years beginning 2026; DMV-based registration changes take effect 180 days after enactment.