Congress mandates high schools register voters, funds the effort
H.R. 10202 — High School Voter Empowerment Act of 2026 · Filed by Frederica Wilson (D-FL) · 6 cosponsors · Introduced Aug 31, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill amends the National Voter Registration Act to require all public high schools to be designated as voter registration agencies and to conduct at least one voter registration drive per academic year targeting students aged 17+ in civics/economics classes who are eligible to vote. The Secretary of Education is directed to establish a grant program to reimburse schools for the reasonable costs of running these drives, with open-ended appropriations authorized for fiscal 2026 and beyond.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is straightforward: it expands the infrastructure for voter registration by mandating high schools serve as registration agencies and funding the administrative cost. This is a direct civic participation measure, not a regulatory carve-out or narrow benefit.
What the text implies
- Schools must absorb operational responsibility for voter registration drives even before federal reimbursement arrives; timing and adequacy of grant funding will determine whether schools can fully comply.
- The bill targets students in American Government or Economics classes specifically, potentially excluding eligible 17+ students in other curricula; this may create uneven registration access within schools.
The full analysis lists 3 implications of this text.
Who stands to gain
public high schools (reimbursement for voter registration drive costs)