§21041 — Title 52 Voting and Elections | U.S. Code

§21041 Grants for research on voting technology improvements

Title 52 › Subtitle Subtitle II— - Voting Assistance and Election Administration › Chapter CHAPTER 209— - ELECTION ADMINISTRATION IMPROVEMENT › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - COMMISSION › Part Part D— - Election Assistance › Subpart subpart 3— - grants for research on voting technology improvements › § 21041

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Commission must give grants to help groups do research and development that makes voting machines, election systems, and voting technology better in quality, reliability, accuracy, accessibility, cost, and security. To get a grant, a group must apply and promise that the work will make equipment fully accessible to people with disabilities (including blind and visually impaired), let them vote independently and privately, and provide language access for people with limited English, as required by the Voting Rights Act. Any invention made with grant money is covered by federal patent rules (chapter 18 of title 35). The Director is the head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Each year the Director must send the Commission a list of suggested research topics. The Commission will send every grant application to the Director for review and may ask the Director to monitor awarded grants and suggest changes. The Director must prepare evaluations when involved, and the Commission must include those evaluations in its annual report. The Commission may share grant information with the Technical Guidelines Development Committee to help its work.

Title 52, §21041

Voting and Elections — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Commission shall make grants to assist entities in carrying out research and development to improve the quality, reliability, accuracy, accessibility, affordability, and security of voting equipment, election systems, and voting technology.

(b)An entity is eligible to receive a grant under this subpart if it submits to the Commission (at such time and in such form as the Commission may require) an application containing—

(1)certifications that the research and development funded with the grant will take into account the need to make voting equipment fully accessible for individuals with disabilities, including the blind and visually impaired, the need to ensure that such individuals can vote independently and with privacy, and the need to provide alternative language accessibility for individuals with limited proficiency in the English language (consistent with the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 [52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.]); and

(2)such other information and certifications as the Commission may require.

(c)Any invention made by the recipient of a grant under this subpart using funds provided under this subpart shall be subject to chapter 18 of title 35 (relating to patent rights in inventions made with Federal assistance).

(d)(1)The Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (hereafter in this section referred to as the “Director”) shall submit to the Commission an annual list of the Director’s suggestions for issues which may be the subject of research funded with grants awarded under this subpart during the year.

(2)The Commission shall submit each application it receives for a grant under this subpart to the Director, who shall review the application and provide the Commission with such comments as the Director considers appropriate.

(3)After the Commission has awarded a grant under this subpart, the Commission may request that the Director monitor the grant, and (to the extent permitted under the terms of the grant as awarded) the Director may recommend to the Commission that the recipient of the grant modify and adjust the activities carried out under the grant.

(4)(A)In the case of a grant for which the Commission submits the application to the Director under paragraph (2) or requests that the Director monitor the grant under paragraph (3), the Director shall prepare and submit to the Commission an evaluation of the grant and the activities carried out under the grant.

(B)The Commission shall include the evaluations submitted under subparagraph (A) for a year in the report submitted for the year under section 20927 of this title.

(e)The Commission may provide to the Technical Guidelines Development Committee under subpart 3 of part A of this subchapter such information regarding the activities funded under this subpart as the Commission deems necessary to assist the Committee in carrying out its duties.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Voting Rights Act of 1965, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), is Pub. L. 89–110, Aug. 6, 1965, 79 Stat. 437, which is classified generally to chapters 103 (§ 10301 et seq.), 105 (§ 10501 et seq.), and 107 (§ 10701 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 15441 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.