Disability Voting Rights Act
Latest action. Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
Disability Voting Rights Act
This bill requires each state to allow individuals with disabilities to use absentee registration procedures and to vote by absentee ballot in federal elections.
The bill requires each state to
accept and process any otherwise valid voter registration and absentee ballot applications from individuals with disabilities if the applications are received within the deadline for the federal election;
establish procedures for individuals with disabilities to request, and for the state to send, voter registration and absentee ballot applications by mail and through electronic means;
create procedures for securely transmitting blank absentee ballots by mail and through electronic means to individuals with disabilities;
designate a single office to provide information on voter registration and absentee ballot procedures for individuals with disabilities; and
specify a means of electronic communication for individuals with disabilities to request, and for the state to send, voter registration and absentee ballot applications.
Further, each state must transmit a validly requested absentee ballot to an individual with a disability within 45 days of an election. However, the bill establishes a procedure for a state to apply to the Department of Justice for a waiver of this requirement.
The bill also permanently reauthorizes and expands a program under which the Department of Health and Human Services makes payments to eligible states and units of local government to assure voting access for individuals with disabilities.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on February 3, 2021. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 3, 2021: Referred to the House Committee on House Administration.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 117th Congress (2021-22), 362 of the 15,242 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Mary Scanlon (D-PA) introduced it on February 3, 2021. No cosponsors are recorded.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on February 3, 2021, 2045 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2045 days ago, on February 3, 2021.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 117th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2023 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers