Voter Choice Act

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 9634 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 9634

 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to support State and local
        governments making a transition to ranked choice voting.

_______________________________________________________________________

                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 9, 2026

   Ms. Morrison (for herself, Ms. Craig, Mr. Raskin, Mr. Beyer, Mr.
  Moulton, Ms. Pressley, Mr. Thanedar, and Ms. Tlaib) introduced the
     following bill; which was referred to the Committee on House
                             Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to support State and local
        governments making a transition to ranked choice voting.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Voter Choice Act''.

SEC. 2. ASSISTANCE FOR TRANSITION TO RANKED CHOICE VOTING.

    (a) In General.--Title V of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52
U.S.C. 21121 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

               ``Subtitle B--Ranked Choice Voting Program

``SEC. 511. RANKED CHOICE VOTING PROGRAM.

    ``(a) Definition of Ranked Choice Voting System.--For purposes of
this subtitle, the term `ranked choice voting system' means a set of
election methods which allow each voter to rank contest options in
order of the voter's preference, in which votes are counted in rounds
using a series of runoff tabulations to defeat contest options with the
fewest votes, and which elects a winner with a majority of final round
votes in a single-winner contest and provides proportional
representation in multi-winner contests.
    ``(b) Program.--The Commission shall establish a program under
which the Commission--
            ``(1) provides technical assistance to State and local
        governments that are considering whether to make, or that are
        in the process of making, a transition to a ranked choice
        voting system for Federal, State, or local elections; and
            ``(2) awards grants to States and local government to
        support the transition to a ranked choice voting system,
        including through the acquisition of voting equipment and
        tabulation software, appropriate ballot design, the development
        and publication of educational materials, and voter outreach.
    ``(c) Rules for Grants.--
            ``(1) Selection of grant recipients.--To the extent
        possible, the Commission shall award grants under subsection
        (b)(2) to areas that represent a diversity of jurisdictions
        with respect to geography, population characteristics, and
        population density.
            ``(2) Award limitation.--The amount of any grant awarded
        under subsection (b)(2) shall not exceed 50 percent of the cost
        of the activities covered by the grant.

``SEC. 512. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``(a) In General.--In addition to any funds authorized to be
appropriated to the Commission under section 210, there are authorized
to be appropriated to carry out this subtitle $40,000,000 for fiscal
year 2027.
    ``(b) Availability of Funds.--Amounts appropriated pursuant to the
authorization under this section shall remain available, without fiscal
year limitation, until expended.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Section 202(6) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52
        U.S.C. 20922) is amended by striking ``the Help America Vote
        College Program under title V'' and inserting ``the programs
        under title V''.
            (2) Title V of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C.
        21121 et seq.) is amended by striking the matter preceding
        section 501 and inserting the following:

                ``TITLE V--ELECTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

           ``Subtitle A--Help America Vote College Program''.

            (3) Section 503 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21123) is amended by
        striking ``title'' and inserting ``subtitle''.
            (4) The table of sections of the Help America Vote Act of
        2002 is amended--
                    (A) by striking the item relating to title V and
                inserting the following:

                ``TITLE V--ELECTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS

           ``Subtitle A--Help America Vote College Program'';

                and
                    (B) by inserting after the item relating to section
                503 the following:

               ``Subtitle B--Ranked Choice Voting Program

``Sec. 511. Ranked choice voting program.
``Sec. 512. Authorization of appropriations.''.
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