Expansion and reauthorization of grant program to assure voting access for individuals with disabilities and older individuals

(a) Purposes of payments Section 261(b) of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 (52 U.S.C. 21021(b)) is amended by striking paragraphs (1) and (2) and inserting the following: (1) making absentee voting and voting in an individual's place of residence accessible to individuals with the full range of disabilities (including impairments involving vision, hearing, mobility, cognition, or dexterity) through the implementation of accessible absentee voting systems that work in conjunction with assistive technologies for which individuals have access at their homes, independent living centers, long-term care facilities, or other facilities in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters; (2) making polling places, including the path of travel, entrances, exits, and voting areas of each polling facility, accessible to individuals with disabilities, including the blind and visually impaired, in a manner that provides the same opportunity for access and participation (including privacy and independence) as for other voters; and (3) providing solutions to problems of access to voting and elections for individuals with disabilities that are universally designed and provide the same opportunities for individuals with and without disabilities.. (b) Reauthorization Section 264(a) of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21024(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: (4) For fiscal year 2027 and each succeeding fiscal year, such sums as may be necessary to carry out this part.. (c) Period of availability of funds Section 264 of such Act (52 U.S.C. 21024) is amended— (1) in subsection (b), by striking Any amounts and inserting Except as provided in subsection (b), any amounts; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: (c) Return and transfer of certain funds (1) Deadline for obligation and expenditure In the case of any amounts appropriated pursuant to the authority of subsection (a) for a payment to a State or unit of local government for fiscal year 2027 or any succeeding fiscal year, any portion of such amounts which have not been obligated or expended by the State or unit of local government prior to the expiration of the 4-year period which begins on the date the State or unit of local government first received the amounts shall be transferred to the Commission. (2) Reallocation of transferred amounts (A) In general The Commission shall use the amounts transferred under paragraph (1) to make payments on a pro rata basis to each covered payment recipient described in subparagraph (B), which may obligate and expend such payment for the purposes described in section 261(b) during the 1-year period which begins on the date of receipt. (B) Covered payment recipients described In subparagraph (A), a covered payment recipient is a State or unit of local government with respect to which— (i) amounts were appropriated pursuant to the authority of subsection (a); and (ii) no amounts were transferred to the Commission under paragraph (1)..