States can now prioritize veterans and disabled workers for election jobs
H.R. 5734 — Hiring Preference for Veterans and Americans With Disabilities Act · Filed by Gabe Evans (R-CO) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Oct 10, 2025 · Referred to committee
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What it does
This bill clarifies that states and local jurisdictions may (but are not required to) give hiring preference to veterans, people with disabilities, and nonresident military spouses/dependents when hiring election workers. It does not mandate preference, impose quotas, or restrict other hiring criteria—it simply permits jurisdictions to choose to prioritize these groups if they wish.
Why we flagged it
The bill is a narrow procedural clarification that permits (rather than mandates) hiring preferences for specific groups in election administration. It is not a substantive reform of election law, but rather a statement of permissible discretion for state and local authorities.
What the text implies
- The bill does not require jurisdictions to adopt these preferences, so impact depends entirely on voluntary adoption by individual states and localities—some may ignore it entirely.
- Definition of 'individual with a disability' tracks the ADA standard (substantial limitation of major life activities) but does not specify how election authorities should verify or assess disability status during hiring.
- Nonresident military spouse/dependent waiver may increase election worker availability in areas with large military populations, but could also create administrative burden if verification of military status is required.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill expands hiring discretion for election administrators to include groups historically underrepresented in civic roles (veterans, people with disabilities, military families), potentially improving representation and trust in election administration without restricting access or creating barriers for other candidates. No citizen loses a right or protection.
Named in the bill
State and local election authorities, Veterans, Individuals with disabilities, Nonresident military spouses and dependents, Uniformed and Overseas Citizen Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA)
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Oct 10, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Oct 10, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on House Administration · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on House Administration”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $310,451 in lobbying spend. A filing names 170 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Gabe Evans, the sponsor, reported $1,523,467 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Disabled American Veterans — $310,451 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 21, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,441 characters) on Aug 29, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 21, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“States can now prioritize veterans and disabled workers for election jobs” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr5734 Report an error
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