§21051 — Title 52 Voting and Elections | U.S. Code

§21051 Pilot Program

Title 52 › Subtitle Subtitle II— Voting Assistance and Election Administration › Chapter 209— ELECTION ADMINISTRATION IMPROVEMENT › Subchapter II— COMMISSION › Part D— Election Assistance › Subpart 4— pilot program for testing of equipment and technology › § 21051

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Commission must give grants to run short-term tests of new voting machines and other voting technology and report the test results to Congress. Groups that want a grant must send an application that promises the tests will make voting fully accessible for people with disabilities (including blind and visually impaired people), let those voters cast ballots privately and independently, and provide language help for people with limited English, consistent with the Voting Rights Act of 1965 (52 U.S.C. 10301 et seq.) and this chapter. Applicants must also provide any other information the Commission asks for. Director — the head of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Each year the Director will give the Commission a list of suggested topics for tests. The Commission must send every grant application to the Director for review and comments. The Commission can ask the Director to monitor awarded grants, and the Director can recommend changes. If the Director reviews or monitors a grant, the Director must write an evaluation for the Commission. The Commission will include those evaluations in its annual report under section 20927. The Commission may also share information about these projects with the Technical Guidelines Development Committee to help that committee do its work.

Title 52, §21051

Voting and Elections — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The Commission shall make grants to carry out pilot programs under which new technologies in voting systems and equipment are tested and implemented on a trial basis so that the results of such tests and trials are reported to Congress.

(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 pilot programs 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 the requirements of this chapter); and

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

(c)(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 pilot programs 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.

(d)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. This chapter, referred to in subsec. (b)(1), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 107–252, Oct. 29, 2002, 116 Stat. 1666, known as the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Tables. Codification Section was formerly classified to section 15451 of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare, prior to editorial reclassification and renumbering as this section.