Federal Election Modernization Act

The bill regulates the administration of federal elections under the Elections Clause. States must offer at least 14 days of early in-person voting, including at least one Saturday and Sunday. Mail ballots must be accepted if postmarked by Election Day and received within 7 days. States currently set this window anywhere from "received by Election Day" to "received 14 days after."

All voting systems used in federal elections must produce a hand-marked paper ballot or a voter-verifiable paper trail. Direct-recording electronic voting machines without a paper trail are phased out by January 2028.

The bill also creates a national same-day voter registration option for federal elections, applicable in states that do not already offer it, and requires the Election Assistance Commission to certify voting equipment within new federally-set cybersecurity standards.

Funding of $2.8 billion is authorized to help states upgrade equipment.

Election law experts agree that the paper-trail requirement is technically sound and broadly bipartisan; disagreement is concentrated elsewhere.

State election officials, particularly in states with shorter early-voting windows or stricter mail-ballot deadlines, argue that the bill amounts to federal preemption of an area the Constitution leaves substantially to states under the Elections Clause's "manner" provision. Supporters argue that the same clause explicitly grants Congress concurrent authority to "make or alter" state rules for federal elections, and that the federal floor leaves states free to be more permissive.

A second, more empirical disagreement concerns mail-ballot acceptance windows. Research is genuinely mixed on whether longer windows increase turnout enough to justify the lengthened post-election uncertainty, with credible studies on both sides.