This bill expands voting rights protections by making it easier for people who speak languages other than English to vote. Right now, certain states and cities are required to provide voting materials in other languages if they have large populations of people who speak those languages. This bill broadens that requirement and adds new support to help make it happen.

The main changes include updating what counts as "voting materials" to include digital information (like websites), not just printed ballots and forms. It also creates a grant program that gives states and cities money to pay for translating voting materials into minority languages. If a state or city gets one of these grants, they have to keep providing translations in that language for future elections unless the population of that language group drops significantly. The bill also requires that written translations be checked by election workers to make sure they're accurate and consistent.

For Native American and Alaska Native communities, the bill recognizes that some tribal languages may not have written forms. In those cases, states and cities only need to provide oral instructions and assistance in that language, not written translations—unless the tribal government agrees to written translations. Finally, the bill directs a government study to look at whether the current rules for triggering translation requirements should be lowered, and whether other languages like Arabic, French, and Haitian Creole should be added to the list of languages that get protection. The bill sets aside $15 million to fund these translation grants.

Expanding the VOTE Act

Williams, Nikema

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&nbsp;persons who are American Indian, Asian American, Alaskan Natives, or of Spanish heritage and&nbsp;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&nbsp;language minorities to include native speakers of additional languages.