[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 4369 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 4369
To repeal an executive order relating to Federal elections, and for
other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 22, 2026
Mr. Padilla (for himself, Mr. Peters, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Schumer, Mr.
Merkley, Ms. Alsobrooks, Ms. Baldwin, Mr. Bennet, Mr. Blumenthal, Ms.
Blunt Rochester, Mr. Booker, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Coons, Ms. Cortez Masto,
Ms. Duckworth, Mr. Gallego, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Heinrich, Mr.
Hickenlooper, Ms. Hirono, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Kelly, Mr. Kim, Mr. King, Ms.
Klobuchar, Mr. Lujan, Mr. Markey, Mr. Murphy, Mrs. Murray, Ms. Rosen,
Mr. Sanders, Mr. Schiff, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Warner, Ms.
Warren, Mr. Welch, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Slotkin, and Mr.
Reed) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred
to the Committee on Rules and Administration
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To repeal an executive order relating to Federal elections, and for
other purposes.
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 ``Absentee and Mail Voter Protection
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Article 1, section 4 of the Constitution of the United
States clearly demonstrates that the power to make or alter any
regulations regarding the time, place, and manner of elections
lies with Congress and the States, not with the President.
(2) On May 20, 1993, President William J. Clinton signed
the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-
31), which was passed with bipartisan support.
(3) On October 29, 2002, President George W. Bush signed
the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (Public Law 107-252), which
was passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.
(4) The Help America Vote Act of 2002 established the
Election Assistance Commission, an independent and evenly
divided bipartisan agency to assist States with new standards
and improve election administration.
(5) Neither the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 nor
the Help America Vote Act of 2002 provide any authority for any
of the actions directed by Executive Order 14399 (91 Fed. Reg.
17125) to create State citizenship lists for Federal election
purposes based on unreliable Federal databases or to bar the
Postal Service from delivering mail ballots unless States use
lists provided to them or approved by the Federal Government.
(6) Pennsylvania and New Jersey enacted some of the
earliest laws to allow voting away from home in 1813 and 1815
in the context of the War of 1812 and many States granted
absentee voting for military service members in 1864 during the
Civil War. In the early 20th century, States such as Virginia,
Indiana, and Wisconsin enacted absentee voting for several
reasons. In 1924, President Calvin Coolidge and First Lady
Grace Coolidge voted by mail according to Massachusetts
absentee voting procedures from Washington, DC.
(7) All 50 States, the District of Columbia, and
territories allow absentee voting. As of March 22, 2026--
(A) 28 States (Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia,
Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Maryland,
Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska,
New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North
Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,
South Dakota, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming) offer
no-excuse absentee voting; and
(B) 8 States (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada,
Oregon, Utah, Vermont, and Washington) and the District
of Columbia provide universal vote-by-mail.
(8) More than 28,000,000 Americans voted by mail or
absentee ballot in 2016, over 66,000,000 in 2020 during the
COVID-19 pandemic, and over 48,000,000 Americans voted by mail
in the 2024 general election. President Donald Trump has voted
by mail on at least three occasions by his own admission,
including in New York in 2018, Florida in 2020, and again in
Florida in 2026.
(9) Vote by mail has been used successfully and securely by
members of the United States military for many decades and
throughout major conflicts. Hundreds of thousands of members of
the United States military and United States citizens living
abroad relied on mail-in ballots to cast their vote in 2024 and
the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (52
U.S.C. 20301 et seq.) requires all 50 States, the District of
Columbia, and the territories of American Samoa, Guam, Puerto
Rico, and the Virgin Islands to permit covered voters to
register to vote absentee, and requires the Federal Government
to expedite transmission of completed ballots.
(10) The United States Postal Service is an independent
establishment governed by a bipartisan Board of Governors which
has the power to appoint the Postmaster General and exercise
postal power, and cannot regulate or refuse to carry State-
issued mail ballot envelopes at the direction of the President.
(11) The Postal Service delivered nearly 100,000,000
ballots for the November 2024 general election and took
extraordinary measures to ensure timely delivery of election
mail in 2024 and will need to take action in the 2026 election
cycle to again ensure timely delivery of election mail,
including State-issued mail ballot envelopes.
(12) Executive Order 14399 (91 Fed. Reg. 17125), issued by
President Donald J. Trump on March 31, 2026, entitled
``Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal
Elections'', greatly exceeds the authority of the Executive
branch, is illegal and unconstitutional, and would
disenfranchise tens of millions of American voters.
SEC. 3. REPEAL OF EXECUTIVE ORDER.
(a) In General.--Executive Order 14399 (91 Fed. Reg. 17125) shall
have no force or effect.
(b) Prohibition on Use of Funds for Similar Orders.--
(1) In general.--No Federal funds may be used to implement,
administer, enforce, or carry out Executive Order 14399 (91
Fed. Reg. 17125) or any similar order.
(2) Postal service.--The United States Postal Service may
not use any funds, including funds available under section 2003
or 2011 of title 39, United States Code, to implement,
administer, enforce, or carry out such Executive order or any
similar order.
SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON USE OF FUNDS WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN OTHER
ACTIVITIES.
(a) National Voter Registration Database.--Notwithstanding any
other provision of law, no Federal funds may be used by the Department
of Homeland Security, the Social Security Administration, the
Department of Justice, or any other agency--
(1) to create a national voter registration database or a
national citizenship database for Federal election purposes;
(2) to use existing databases or systems to compile
citizenship lists for Federal election purposes; or
(3) to provide for the national collection of State voter
registration lists or citizenship lists for Federal election
purposes.
(b) Mail-In and Absentee Ballots.--Notwithstanding any other
provision of law--
(1) no Federal funds may be used by the Department of
Commerce or any other agency--
(A) for any purpose relating to the regulation of
mail-in and absentee ballots in Federal elections; or
(B) to determine the eligibility of a voter to cast
a ballot through the mail in Federal elections; and
(2) the United States Postal Service may not use any funds,
including funds available under section 2003 or 2011 of title
39, United States Code--
(A) to regulate the mailability of mail-in and
absentee ballots in Federal elections; or
(B) to determine the eligibility of a voter to cast
a ballot through the mail in Federal elections.
(c) Compelling Production of State Voter Registration Lists.--
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no Federal funds may be
used by the Department of Justice to bring or continue a civil action
against any State to compel the production of statewide voter
registration lists under section 303 of the Civil Rights Act of 1960
(52 U.S.C. 20703), section 303 of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52
U.S.C. 21083), or any other Federal law.
(d) Sharing of Voter Registration Lists.--
(1) In general.--Nothing in section 8 of the National Voter
Registration Act of 1993 (52 U.S.C. 20507), section 401 of the
Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21111), or any other
provision of law shall be construed to grant any authority to
share statewide voter registration lists between any two
Federal agencies, or to conduct data matching activities with
any such registration lists using any system of records.
(2) Prohibition of funds.--
(A) In general.--No Federal funds may be used by
any agency for any activity described in paragraph (1).
(B) Postal service.--The United States Postal
Service may not use any funds, including funds
available under section 2003 or 2011 of title 39,
United States Code, to carry out any activity described
in paragraph (1).
(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section, the terms
``agency'' and ``system of records'' have the meaning given those terms
under section 552a of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as
the ``Privacy Act of 1974'').
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