United States 119th Congress Status: In Committee 72 D cosponsors

HR 4917 — Expanding the VOTE Act

Last action — Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

  1. ✓
    Introduced
  2. 2
    In Committee
  3. 3
    Passed House
  4. 4
    Passed Senate
  5. 5
    To Executive
  6. 6
    Enacted

This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced August 05, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.

Next likely step: a committee vote, then a floor vote in the House.

Odds of enactment

Low chance

Based on the sponsor, cosponsors, and committee posture, this bill has a low chance of becoming law.

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A statistical estimate from our own model of past outcomes — an insight, not a guarantee. Policymaking is volatile.

Prognosis

Stalled 26% · moderate confidence

  • In Committee

    Current position in the legislative process.

  • 72 sponsors

    1 primary, 71 co-sponsors signed on.

  • Single-party support

    Sponsorship is currently within one party (72 D).

Based on stage, sponsorship breadth, committee status, recorded votes, and cross-state momentum — a description of the observable signals, not a prediction.

Summary

Expanding the Voluntary Opportunities for Translations in Elections Act or the Expanding the VOTE ActThis bill expands access to voting materials for individuals with limited proficiency in the English language.Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) requires covered states and political subdivisions to provide voting materials and other language assistance to persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage and whose ability to speak or understand English limits electoral participation. A state or political subdivision that is subject to Section 203 is prohibited from providing English-only voting materials in an election. Among other requirements, this bill (1) requires the Department of Justice to issue a notice of prohibition, including the trigger threshold at which the prohibition applies, to certain states and political subdivisions; and (2) requires covered states and political subdivisions to provide written translations of all voting materials, with the consent of any applicable tribal government, to election workers.Additionally, the bill requires the Election Assistance Commission to make incentive grants for states and political subdivisions to provide translated voting materials.The bill also directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report on the impact of (1) reducing the threshold requirement under Section 203 of the VRA, and (2) expanding the definition of language minorities to include native speakers of additional languages.

Bill Text

Action History

  1. Introduced in House

  2. Introduced in House

  3. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

  4. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on House Administration, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.

Sponsors

Sponsorship breakdown

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1 sponsors · 71 co-sponsors · 475 not signed on

Sponsors (1)

Co-sponsors (71)

Not signed on (475)

475 members have not signed on to this bill.

Show all 475 →

"Not signed on" means a member has not sponsored or co-sponsored this bill — it does not imply opposition. Members flagged Voted No have a recorded No vote on this bill.

Whip count is in markup. Polling the chamber and every recorded vote this session. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Calling the roll · Tallying · Engrossing

Subjects

civil-rights elections
Cross-referencing the record. Reading this bill against every other bill in the corpus by meaning, not keywords. Only the first open is slow. It’s instant for you after this. Matching · Ranking · Engrossing

Frequently asked questions

What does HR 4917 do?
Expanding the Voluntary Opportunities for Translations in Elections Act or the Expanding the VOTE ActThis bill expands access to voting materials for individuals with limited proficiency in the English language.Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (VRA) requires covered states and political subdivisions to provide voting materials and other language assistance to persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage and whose ability to speak or understand English limits electoral participation. A state or political subdivision that is subject to Section 203 is prohibited from providing English-only voting materials in an election. Among other requirements, this bill (1) requires the Department of Justice to issue a notice of prohibition, including the trigger threshold at which the prohibition applies, to certain states and political subdivisions; and (2) requires covered states and political subdivisions to provide written translations of all voting materials, with the consent of any applicable tribal government, to election workers.Additionally, the bill requires the Election Assistance Commission to make incentive grants for states and political subdivisions to provide translated voting materials.The bill also directs the Government Accountability Office to study and report on the impact of (1) reducing the threshold requirement under Section 203 of the VRA, and (2) expanding the definition of language minorities to include native speakers of additional languages.
Who sponsors HR 4917?
HR 4917 is sponsored by Williams, Nikema (Democratic), Raskin, Jamie (Democratic), Morelle, Joseph D. (Democratic), Clarke, Yvette D. (Democratic), Espaillat, Adriano (Democratic), Meng, Grace (Democratic), Davids, Sharice (Democratic), Sewell, Terri A. (Democratic), Veasey, Marc A. (Democratic), Scott, Robert C. "Bobby" (Democratic), Adams, Alma S. (Democratic), Amo, Gabe (Democratic), Ansari, Yassamin (Democratic), Brown, Shontel M. (Democratic), Budzinski, Nikki (Democratic), Carson, André (Democratic), Case, Ed (Democratic), Casten, Sean (Democratic), Cherfilus-McCormick, Sheila (Democratic), Cleaver, Emanuel (Democratic), Costa, Jim (Democratic), Crockett, Jasmine (Democratic), Davis, Donald G. (Democratic), DelBene, Suzan K. (Democratic), Deluzio, Christopher R. (Democratic), Doggett, Lloyd (Democratic), Elfreth, Sarah (Democratic), Evans, Dwight (Democratic), Fields, Cleo (Democratic), Figures, Shomari (Democratic), Fletcher, Lizzie (Democratic), García, Jesús G. "Chuy" (Democratic), Green, Al (Democratic), Horsford, Steven (Democratic), Jackson, Jonathan L. (Democratic), Johnson, Henry C. "Hank" (Democratic), Kamlager-Dove, Sydney (Democratic), Kelly, Robin L. (Democratic), Krishnamoorthi, Raja (Democratic), Larson, John B. (Democratic), Lee, Summer L. (Democratic), Lynch, Stephen F. (Democratic), McClellan, Jennifer L. (Democratic), McIver, LaMonica (Democratic), Meeks, Gregory W. (Democratic), Mfume, Kweisi (Democratic), Min, Dave (Democratic), Moore, Gwen (Democratic), Moulton, Seth (Democratic), Mullin, Kevin (Democratic), Norton, Eleanor Holmes (Democratic), Plaskett, Stacey E. (Democratic), Pocan, Mark (Democratic), Pressley, Ayanna (Democratic), Ramirez, Delia C. (Democratic), Salinas, Andrea (Democratic), Schakowsky, Janice D. (Democratic), Simon, Lateefah (Democratic), Stanton, Greg (Democratic), Strickland, Marilyn (Democratic), Sykes, Emilia Strong (Democratic), Thanedar, Shri (Democratic), Thompson, Bennie G. (Democratic), Titus, Dina (Democratic), Tlaib, Rashida (Democratic), Tonko, Paul (Democratic), Scott, David (Democratic), DeGette, Diana (Democratic), Magaziner, Seth (Democratic), Bell, Wesley (Democratic), Pou, Nellie (Democratic), and Balint, Becca (Democratic).
What is the current status of HR 4917?
This bill is in committee in the House. Introduced August 05, 2025. It must pass committee before a floor vote.
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